Reminiscences of a sportsman

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Reminiscences of a
Sportsman

By

J. Parker Whitney

Author of " The Silver Mines of Colorado " ; " The Reclamation and

Cultivation of Tidal Overflowed Lands " ; " Colonization ";

"The Orange and its Cultivation in California," etc.

Forest and Stream Publishing Co.

New York

igo6

Copyright, 1906

BY

J. PARKER WHITNEY

■ttbe Unfclicrboclicc ptesB, Wcw IPotli

PREFACE

OOME time ago I was induced at the request of a
^ friend who had charge of a Sporting Review to
write some articles for his paper.

These were continued longer than I had originally
contemplated, and I give them with some additions m
this volume.

From youth I have been very fond of out -door life,
and sports of all kinds, and although for many years
engaged extensively in business affairs, I have never
failed in giving way for these pursuits. Often such
indulgence was seemingly to m}^ disadvantage, but
after half a century of gratification in this respect, I
am well satisfied in believing I have no occasion for
regret, for one cannot be deprived of enjoyments once
possessed. I may add, that in pursuit of adventure,
I have gained some important pecuniary advantages
from opportunities offering.

The material in this volume of reminiscences is
given in the order as first contribvitcd, and not classi-
fied as it would be if written lately.

281G82

Reminiscences

FISHING has been my predominating pastime, to
which I have given more time and attention than
to any other. At eight years of age, my father then
being a resident of New Orleans, I commenced the
gratification of this taste along the route of the Pont-
chartrain canal running from the city by the shell
road to the lake of the same name.

I well remember now, after many years have
elapsed, the exciting joy I felt when with my short
rod and line I drew forth from amid the tree roots
and rushes skirting the canal the small perch which
I afterward fried in buttered tins by the kitchen fire.
They tasted good, as well as the soft -shell crabs
which I netted at the lake. And I remember how
late on Saturday afternoon, after school, I prolonged
my stay at the canal and lake until darkness came
on and how frightened I became as I sped my way
home at running speed, imagining the logs and roots
by the canal to be bears or alligators, which abounded
in the neighboring swamps.

At ten years of age I accompanied my two elder
brothers upon a bear-hunting excursion in Texas,
where my action was a minor part, but which resulted
in the capture of two.

At twelve years of age I passed the summer
near my birthplace in Massachusetts, where I spent the

2 Reminiscences of

most of my time in trout and pickerel fishing. The
former was fairlj' good, and the latter particularly
so over the many ponds in the vicinity, and I trudged
many miles for constantly alluring prospects at more
promising ponds at a distance, when my results were
less than I could have accomplished nearer home.
Thus ever is the sportsman beckoned on to distant
fields by the ignis fatmts of expectation, and too often
misled.

I remember one day, although I fished for pickerel
generally with a skittering bait of frog's legs, of set-
ting a quantity of lines off the dam of a mill-pond
in the deep water, bai ted with live minnows, and
making a great catch. I employed a number of boys
who caught bait and attended the lines, using quite
a number of winter lines belonging to my uncle. I
paid the boys in fish, but had so many, and more than
could be eaten at home, that, with the boys, I lugged
them two or three miles to a neighboring hotel and sold
them for a small handful of silver, which I was not
above making pocket-money of, and' thought at the
time I was making great headway in finance. This
success inspired so much attention toward the pond
that it soon became depleted of its precious holding.

I noted in later years, when visiting the trotit brooks
I fished that summer with tolerable success, that
these brooks had dwindled away in volume and life,
owing to the denudation of the forests, a result which
is now clearly evident with many New England brooks,
and which is shown on a larger scale in many countries
and particularly in Spain in the country about Madrid,
where are seen large bridges of iron and stone con-
structed in the sixteenth century over then large

A Sportsman 3

streams, which have now dwindled down to insignifi-
cant volume.

At the time of founding Madrid in the early part of
the sixteenth century, which was centrally located in
Spain, it was surrounded by forests of magnitude,
all of which have disappeared from view. They
were rain breeders and moisture holders, and with
their loss the country became deprived of water
supply and dependent upon irrigation.

I was strongly reminded while there, and viewing
the desolate appearance of the environs of the city,
of those about the comparatively treeless region
of the city of Santa Fe in New Mexico, where one
looks out upon a desert country, but scantily re-
lieved by habitation.

I have noted in New Mexico the effect of forest
denudation, as it is well known that at the time
of the Francisco Vasquez de Coronado Spanish invasion
in the early part of the sixteenth centviry, diverted
from the Hernando Cortes, that considerable parts
of New Mexico were forest -gro\vn, now barren, which
supported a much larger native population than found
at the time of the acquisition of that territory by
the United States in 1848.

Frequent forest fires were the occasion which, even
before the Coronado advance in search of the golden
cities of Mexican tradition, had made prominent
ravages, and diminished a population which had so
far as indications show, been the most dense at one
time in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado
that existed upon the North American continent.

I have witnessed on the Estancia plains, and at
Algodones and other localities in New Mexico and

4 Reminiscences of

Southern Colorado, and especially about Algodones,
comparatively unsettled now, the plentiful remnants
of pottery, which can be dug up at about every shovel-
ful, ancient watercourses, and adobe walls extending
over many square miles, which have withstood the
exposure of centuries. Ruins of stone watch-towers,
and walls of immense community houses which were
occupied by hvmdreds of the earlj^ Toltecs, remain as
monuments of a departed race.

The question of forest preservation is becoming
one of increasing importance, not only for game life
but for commercial purposes, and the consumption
at present by fires, and the demands for lumber, and
especially wood pulp, and for domestic uses, is reach-
ing alarming proportions; and in view of a rapidly
increasing population on the North American conti-
nent, which in another century will be four or five times
greater than now, one may readily see that the ques-
tion of wood supply and its preservation and cultiva-
tion will be one of vital interest.

At fourteen and fifteen years of age — in 1849-50 —
I had plentiful experience in Illinois over its plains
and in the wooded region along the Mississippi River.

The State was then young, containing about one
twentieth of its present population. Game was
plentiful : bear, deer, raccoons, opossum, wild turkeys,
water-fowl, prairie chickens, and quail. SquiiTels
were common about the hickory groves — gray, fox,
and some black — and many of the gray and fox fell
before my gun. I was very fond of this shooting, and
I have never seen such quantities of squirrels else-
where as were in evidence at that time. The fox
squirrels here moved about the com bins and fields,

A Sportsman 5

while the gray I found more plentiful about the trees.
These were more cunning in escaping observation, and
had a habit of rapidly disappearing around the oppo-
site side of the trees, where they were securely hid-
den from view, excepting a small portion of their
heads, projecting for observ'ation. As I would pro-
ceed around the tree I would be baffled by the alert
squirrels, which would slip arovmd in sequence with
my movements.

It has been a mooted question if, in circling a tree
in this manner, one who made the circuit with a
squiiTel upon the opposite side of the tree would
actually go aroimd the squirrel while going around
the tree. This question I will leave open.

I soon overcame this difficulty by throwing a con-
venient stone or stick of wood as far as I could to the
opposite side of the tree, which landing with some
noise would almost invariably throw the squirrel
momentarily off guard, when he would flash quickly
to my side of the tree to investigate the probably
new source of danger. The stay would scarcely be
more than half a second, but sufficient in my pre-
paredness to accomplish the end.

One day I bagged four grays out of five from a
single hickor}" tree, which set the color vividly in
mind. This was equalled on a moonlight foray we
made with dogs for 'coons.

One evening we secured a family of four from a
single tree where they had taken refuge. This hunt-
ing at night on horseback with dogs was a pastime
much in vogue in my locality, and an occasional wild-
cat was taken in. I had an adventure with a 'coon one
day which was not very pleasant. It was after a light

6 Reminiscences of

fall of snow when I sallied out with axe and gun with
two old, almost toothless dogs, the only ones about,
and after tracking a 'coon to a hollow tree I proceeded
to cut it down. No 'coon appeared, but while inspect-
ing the upper part of the decayed tree a large one in
its fright leaped out directly upon me. Down I fell in
confusion, and upon me the 'coon and my two old dogs.
To save myself I struggled hard, but the more I strug-
gled the more I seemed to be the centre of attack, and it
was an occasion of pleasant surprise when I succeeded in
removing myself from the conflict, when the dogs had dis-
abled the 'coon, to find I had received no bites, although
sadly scratched, and with my clothing badly torn.

Wild turkeys aboimded in the neighboring for-
est, and their gobblings could often be heard at a dis-
tance in the early mom. Small-brained and stupid
as they are in many respects, they are nevertheless
very quick and alert to take alarm, and when dis-
tiarbed depend more upon their running than on flying.
Stupid they are to allow themselves to be trapped in
a rough structure of logs of a few feet in height, with
open spaces between the logs, but not sufficiently wide
to allow their egress.

One part on one side is left open to a height of
twelve or thirteen inches from the ground. Com is
strewed plentiftiUy on the ground inside of the struc-
ture and in a stringing way leading in several direc-
tions from it. The turkeys, reaching the com leaders,
follow up and unsuspecting enter the open way to the
interior. After a while a sense of confinement occurs,
and one flies up to escape between the logs, and, failing,
gives panic to the balance, who lose their heads and
all become frantic in their efforts to escape in the same

A Sportsman 7

manner without seeking the place of ingress. This sim-
ple method is often followed with nnich success.

We occasionally in the autumn caught turkeys in
the cornfields, where they were seen, attracted by the
com in husk pendent upon the stalks. This was
done by chasmg with dogs. Those hard pressed
behind would take flight over the fence into the
woods beyond, but those in advance would run to
the fence to get through, and finding they could not,
as the fences about the field were of rails zigzag
and hog-proof at the bottom, in their close quarters
nmning along the fence for possible openings and
vmable to rise abruptly enough to get over, would be
seized by the dogs.

One day, while riding through the woods and ap-
proaching a settlement, I came upon a flock of turkeys
which moved about near me with so little alarm that
I thought it domestic, but having, after leaving
them, a suspicion that it might not be, inquired at
a near-by house and found that it was a wild one.

Prairie chickens were in great plentifulness at that
time, and I can remember seeing the farm fences
so loaded with them on frosty mornings as to be in
danger of breaking down. On one occasion when I
accompanied some older hunters upon the plains for
chicken shooting we filled the wagon body with birds.
The prairie chicken — pinnated grouse, — indigenous over
a large area of the middle-western country of the United
States, existed in great waves of plentifulness in the
grain regions of Illinois at this time — 1849, — which in
abundance gradually diminished as the State became
settled up, and the wave of plentifulness extended
westward.

8 Reminiscences of

In August, 1880, when I accompanied a party
from Chicago in a special sportsman's car into Min-
nesota and Eastern Dakota, we found this great
wave of plentifubiess there, and I remember my first
day's shooting in the fields, when I bagged twenty-
eight birds. We had a box freight -car accompanying
with ice, and were enabled to preserve our birds for
forwarding back to our friends, though we ate a great
many, as well as blue- winged teal, which were in force
about the waterways.

The region was then settled largely by Danes
and Norwegians, and entirely open from fences ; and
chicken hunters were in some abimdance, to the an-
noyance of the settlers, who came out to warn us
off their lands.

Dear Uncle Jake (J. K. Armsby, of Chicago, now
deceased) was with us. How gently and well he would
take the hurrying-out settlers as we drove up to their
houses to ask permission to shoot over their lands !

Before they could speak a word he would conciliate
them with a hearty greeting, and, having a big flask
of whiskey and sundry small bags of smoking-tobacco
and cigars, and children's picture books, he would
have them placated before they could deny, which
would result in a hearty invitation to make ourselves
at home over the harvested fields.

THE pinnated grouse, or prairie chicken, is a purely
indigenous American bird, and like the ruffed
grouse, or partridge, commonly called, was formerly
foimd extensively scattered over the continent, and

A Sportsman 9

until late years existed upon some of the small islands
of the Atlantic Coast.

The male bird has on each side of the neck a dis-
tensible orange-colored sac, which at mating season
it inflates and dilates with a single booming sound,
which is supposed to be very attractive to the gentler
bird, or of challenging quality to its own kind.

When rising, it flies very evenly, presenting a fine
mark for the sportsman. It has a most remarkable
quahty in its ability upon a comparatively bare
ground to hide itself from observation. I have often
observed this feature when without a dog I have
marked down and followed a covey from a short flight.
Approaching cautiously imtil I stood in the place of
descent I have looked in vain for the birds which I
knew were immediately about me, in fact almost under
my feet, and I have stood for minutes gazing intently
upon every nubbin of earth and spear of grass for a
bird and not one could I see. Advancing, finally, one
would fly up within a few feet of me, which would be a
signal for the balance to rise, and ofE they would go
from aU arovmd me.

I do not accoimt the prairie chicken — though very
tender and juicy when young — as particularly at-
tractive for continuous eating, or in any way equal
to the white meat of the ruffed grouse or partridge,
which to my taste is superior, when in condition and
well kept, to any bird in permanence of appetite hold.
I have observed in the latter bird a marked differ-
ence in flavor, in favor of those of the Atlantic Coast
over those of the Pacific. The latter I have often
found too highly flavored with odors of various kinds
arising from their particular food.

lo Reminiscences of

The hen partridge is very courageous in the de-
fence of her tender young, and I have more than
once been amused by seeing my pet colhe — who has
more gentlemanly qualities than most dogs — chased
out of sight by an enraged partridge mother, sur-
prised with her young. Several times in the Maine
woods I have warded off with my hands the sudden
attacks of a hen partridge when so surprised, and in
those solitary forests, where human beings are not
often seen, I have often watched for some minutes
a clucking cock partridge strolling about me, ob-
livious of any danger. They are often snared in
Maine woods by boys, with moderately long poles
with nooses attached. A feature I have also ob-
served has been the increasing tameness of these
birds about the sunset hour, more evident than at
any other time.

For several years I had one frequent my fishing
residence at the Rangeley Lakes, which would bud
on the poplar in front, and made free with the store-
room and woodshed, and would feed on the food
thrown out.

The spruce partridge of Maine is a bird still tamer
than the ruffed grouse, but is not of pleasant flavor,
though beautiful in plumage. It inhabits the swamps
and spruce trees, taking its flavor from the latter.

The sage cock of the great plains is another of the
grouse family which is not of agreeable eating flavor,
being tainted with the brush it inhabits and feeds on.
This bird has the distinguishing feature of being un-
like any of the grouse family, being gizzardless, hav-
ing no muscular development of that character, but
a membranous sac in its place.

A Sportsman ii

The ptarmigan is, I think, the poorest eating of all
the grouse family, not excepting the spruce grouse,
and is as tame in its home localities as the latter.
I have often encountered them in the heights of the
Rocky Mountains. When with tender young chickens
they will exhibit the actions of the domestic hen
and bustle about in a similar manner, and I have
taken up the young chickens in my hands and held
them momentarily, while the mother would flutter
around, and when let go would scamper away with
the brood. I have seen them in the winter fly into
vincrusted snow banks, when following them up would
be a useless effort, as the ptarmigan will travel faster
in a loose snow bank than one can dig after it.

I think our great American turkey may be put at
the head of the "gizzard" family, and may lead the
digesting procession, for it is capable of digesting
about anything which enters its crop, be it vegetable,
animal, or mineral. I have killed them when they
were unable to fly from the weight of their over-
loaded crops, which swept on the ground as they
walked, and have taken from single crops nearly a
quart of acorns and other nuts, which would surely
have been digested had the turkey lived.

The gizzard of a turkey is a wonderful piece of
muscular mechanism of great power, through which
the contents of the crop pass with the auxiliary
grinders of stones, and the great muscular exertions
of the gizzard pulverize the hardest acorns, some of
them being as large as a man's thumb. Experiments
have been tried with turkeys by setting stout needles
in glass marbles, and being covered with dough these
have been swallowed and, after a few days, have been

12 Reminiscences of

recovered from the gizzard and found with the needles
gone, and the glass pretty well worn away. The
turkey may be regarded at the head for its digestive
qualities, as well as for its delicious flavor.

Those were very happy days I passed in Illinois,
to which my memory frequently reverts, and while
many say they can only find pleasure in the expecta-
tions of the future, I find much in the contempla-
tion of the past ; and although I have committed
many follies, and probably but few wise acts. I
have certainly enjoyed life to a large extent, which
more than balances the disappointments I have ex-
perienced.

Some twenty years after leaving there, being near
the scenes of such pleasant memory, I procured a
vehicle and drove over to the old Stone farm, but —
sic transit gloria mundi — what a shock I received!
What an obliteration of all the old landmarks had
occurred! The woods on the south had disappeared
and in their place was an extensive cowfield inter-
sected with trails, and beyond cornfields and houses.
The dense forest extending to the river, and so wild
and sombre I hardly dared to penetrate its far depths,
had entirely disappeared. The brooks seemed to
have dwindled away, and the old hickory trees of
lofty height, which had appeared to me as sentinels
of time, were gone. In vain I inquired of the set-
tlers for the families of yore, only to be answered by
the response, " Moved over to Missouri," or " Gone to
Kansas." The tears unbidden came to my eyes, and
I departed for new scenes, never to return.

After leaving Illinois, I attended school at West-
minster, Mass., where I gave more attention to duck

A Sportsman 13

and partridge shooting and fishing than I did to
studies.

One Ossian E. Dodge, a spirited singer, came
along, accompanied by several minstrels of like
character, whose concerts interested the town. One
of their songs pertaining to California was given
with great effect, of which I remember only the fol-
lowing lines:

'T is there they say the gold is found.

In great big lumps all over the ground.

Who'll go? Who'll go?

And we all sleep sound on the cold damp ground

Except when the wolves come howling around.

Who'll go? Who'll go?

I thought I would.

Another thing influenced me somewhat in that
direction. One of the boys at school who had lately
returned with his parents from California indicated
a considerable degree of affluence by prodigally
throwing oranges at some of the boys, who so as-
sented for the privilege of keeping the oranges thrown.
How slight are the circumstances which seriously
affect ovu- lives!

In 1852, at seventeen years of age, I arrived in San
Francisco with my double-barrelled shotgun, a revolver,
and a large, double-edged knife with a blade thirteen
inches long, made from an old sword my elder brother
had acquired in the Mexican War of 1846-47. I made
a long passage of 142 days around Cape Horn, a
monotonous trip diversified occasionally by catching
sharks when becalmed in the tropics, spearing por-
poises, and! trolling for bonita and dolphins. Off
Cape Horn, where sea birds were plentiful, we caught

14 Reminiscences of

several varieties, and one day I caught a barrelful
of cape pigeons, so called from their resemblance to
that bird, but web-footed. These afforded several
good meals for all hands, and they seemed very good
eating at the time. I caught these with a long line,
to which was attached a good-sized morsel of salt
pork, below which extended a string of hooks on a
strip of wood, on which the feet of the birds became
entangled as the vessel moved on. This was a base
and unfair method, which I now regret.

I landed in San Francisco well armed, but com-
paratively penniless, ten cents being all of my remaining
capital of sixty dollars I had started with; fifty-nine
dollars and ninety cents having been diverted by poker
games, in which I was initiated by several yoimg men
on the voyage at one-cent ante and ten-cent limit.

An unfortunate incident occixrred in connection
with a family of Braggs, who had engaged passages
and had their baggage aboard our ship, by being left
behind. Our ship was delayed in loading for several
days after the date fixed, and this family, depend-
ing upon its being still longer delayed, were visiting
in an adjoining town and overlooked. The family
sailed two weeks afterguards for San Francisco in a
succeeding ship of the same line.

When we pulled in at San Francisco, Mr. Bragg
was on the wharf awaiting our arrival, having been
in the city two weeks before our arrival, our ship
being a month longer in passage than the one he
sailed on with his family. On this following ship,
which had .been loading some time before our ship
sailed, he had loaded all of his goods in trade, valued
at $10,000, consisting principally of furniture, giving

A Sportsman 15

up that business in Boston in view of continuing it
in San Francisco. He had insured it against loss,
but upon being left behind rescinded his insurance
to save the premium, concluding, as he should take
passage on the same ship with his family, that in
case of shipwreck resulting in the loss of his goods
he would probably with his family be lost also, and
have no advantage from insurance. When the ship
conveying him and his family and goods was entering
the Golden Gate entrance to the city, it struck on a
hidden rock, and sunk beneath the water a total
loss, although all the passengers and crew were safely
landed. Poor Mr. Bragg shed tears as he related to
me his tale of sorrow, and I expressed much pity
and sympath}^ for him; what became of him after-
wards I never knew.

San Francisco, at that time, was a bustling city of
some 30,000 inhabitants, and it was the flush period
of the State, when money was plentifvil, as well as the
comforts of life. The latter were expensive, but
money flowed freely and business was driving. Open
gambling was at its height, and one could go through
the centre of several blocks in the large gambling
halls by crossing the streets. These saloons were
ornamented with spacious bars, from which the
plungers were supplied with free drinks, and soft
music was dispensed with free hand. Side tables
were supplied with free lunches, and all possible aid
was extended to the sturdy miner, with his bag of
gold dust, to induce his belief that the true Eldo-
rado had been finallj' reached, and that he was a
prominent stockholder and director in it.

The awakening was sometimes abrupt when he

lb Reminiscences of

discovered that his interest had expired, and that his
orders at the bar were ignored. Surprised and dis-
pirited and restricted to free kmch, a conviction
gradually formed in his breast that his experience
had been a dream, and that his wakefulness shovild
consist of another turn at the sluice boxes. Fights
and murders were common ; forty murders were said
to have been committed in San Francisco in 1852
and only one murderer hanged — Jos^ Fomie, whose
body we on the good ship Polynesia saw hanging in
plain sight on Telegraph Hill the day we rounded
the Golden Gate to dock.

Times were stirring; the roughs terrorized the
citizens. A band calling itself "regulators" preyed
upon the people instead of protecting them. One
Casy, a gambler, shot in cold blood James King, of
William, a prominent editor of the newspaper Bul-
letin, for exposing his crimes. Thugs and ballot-
stuffers controlled the polls. The bell tolled one day
and the vigilance committee was formed of good
citizens, with its mN^sterious and unknown secretary,
otherwise than No. 33, whose mandates became law.

Arrests were made right and left; Casy and Cora
were hanged; Yankee Sullivan, a noted prize-fighter
and ballot-stuffer, committed suicide in his cell upon
arrest, fearing that he would be hanged. Roughs
were largely banished and prohibited from returning.
I saw a lot leaving on a departing steamer — Billy
Mulligan, Charley Duane, and others. I saw one day
hanging on the hoisting tackle of a commercial house
on a principal street the bodies of Whittaker and
McKenzie, hung by the vigilance committee. Order
was soon largely restored.

A Sportsman 17

PENNILESS though I was, my heart was most
courageous. Was not the world my oyster,
as with ancient Pistol, and could I not open it with
my sword blade? My three elder brothers had pre-
ceded me in 1848 and 1849 to California, and two were
engaged in San Francisco in profitable business, and I
had pressing invitations to join them, but I had no
taste for it. Had I not my gun, and could I not have
more fun to my liking in the country? Besides, I
had visions of those lumps of gold said to be lying
about at the mines, and hearing that near Auburn,
in Placer County, over one hundred and fifty miles
north of San Francisco, miners were making great pay,
I went up there. How I got up to Sacramento
— ^which was en route, up the bay one hundred miles
distant — I cannot remember, but I do vividly re-
member that I walked up the distance of forty miles
to the mines, and back to Sacramento again. The
game I killed gave me welcome for meals and lodg-
ings; welcome with the miners was more hearty in
those days, when the professional tramp was vmknown.
Apropos of tramps, no country is more infested with,
or more favorable from its mild climate for, those
vagabonds than California. Here sleeping out in the
open or camping out is a pleasant pastime, where the
blanket brigade is in great force, and where, owing to
the thoughtless liberality of the people, it can depend
upon liberal "handouts." The magnitude of this ele-
ment was a legacy from the Civil War of 1860-65, as
all can note who remember how rare it was prior
to the war. Of late it has been an increasing evil
for which no remedy has appeared adequate, but
will ultimately be relieved in the grand march of

i8 Reminiscences of

civilization as well as many other social evils by
which humanity is retarded.

It will be remembered that the history of the ani-
mal man has been very brief compared with time —
a history which extends back but a few thousand
years, and which by its extraordinary progress,
despite the horrors of war and kindred demoralizing
evils, will ultimately reach a level when a retro-
spection of present conditions will create surprise
that beings so intelligent as those now existing
could have submitted to such pernicious errors.

The country beyond Sacramento to the placer
mines of Aubuni was the most attractive I had ever or
have since seen, comprising valleys and moderate hills
grown over with groups of live and white oaks, in-
habited by quantities of magjMes, robins, larks, and
other small birds. Beneath the trees were many
quails and hares, with antelopes to be seen in the
distance.

It was midwinter, yet the weather was bright
and warm, and the temperature seldom fell to
freezing.

How trivial are the incidents which oftentimes
become important in our after lives! The casual ob-
servation of a fellow foot -traveller who walked on
with me for a while, that it was an ideal sheep region,
gave a color to my thoughts, which half a dozen
years afterwards matured in my mind to the com-
mencement of an industr}' there in which I engaged.

An elder brother had imported from Australia a
few hundred high-grade sheep, of which all but one
himdred and twenty had died upon the passage to
San Francisco, and my brother's death occurring

A Sportsman 19

shortly afterwards, I became interested in them, and
they were placed on a tract of one hundred and sixty
acres midway between Sacramento and Auburn as a
desirable locality, and I have carried on the business
vmtil the present time in connection with other interests,
and now after nearly half a century the interest has
grown to an area of thirty thousand acres with nearly
twenty thousand sheep.

My rambles about the mines and along the sluicing
ditches failed to give me the welcome sight of nuggets
I had expected my keen vision to discover. I had ex-
pected in my embryotic experience to sight a few of
the size of hen's eggs, which might have escaped the
observation of the miners, but afterwards concluded
that I would be satisfied with some of more moderate
dimensions, and finally thought I would be content
with a few small ones sufficient to set off some scarf-
pins; but none did I find, and returned somewhat dis-
appointed to San Francisco. Here I again declined
opportunities for business, and frequenting the markets
and game stalls more or less, which interested me more
than anything else, I saw that game and birds, though
plentiful, were fetching large prices.

Obtaining particulars of the sources of supply, I
concluded that the situation was very favorable for
adventures to my liking. Small table birds, quail,
larks, snipe, robins, etc., were selling at five and six
dollars per dozen retail; venison, sixty and seventy-
five cents per pound; turkeys, ten dollars; chickens,
three dollars; eggs, three dollars per dozen; butter,
one dollar per pound. Here was my opportunity. I
learned that the Santa Clara Valley, at the south
end of the bay of San Francisco, was one grand field

20 Reminiscences of

of birds; and that I could obtain three dollars per
dozen for any kind.

Securing tag cards of the most promising city
market-men, I directed myself to the port of Alviso,
at the foot of the bay adjoining the promised land.
Though my finances were low, not having even the
fifty cents to defray my passage down the bay, I was
exultant, breathing freely of hope and oxygen. The
absence of base lucre was a trifling item when ex-
pectation loomed so brilliantly before me, and I had
no difficulty in gaining the consent of the captain
of the boat for a free passage when I explained the
object of my trip, and he seemed very much amused at
my enthusiasm.

My eldest brother, who was much opposed to my
absurd scheme, as he termed it, and annoyed at my
refusal to engage with him in business, learning of
my proposed departure, made his appearance at the
wharf just about as the boat pulled out, and vainly
besought me to desist, which I positively refused,
and also the pecviniary aid he proffered. As the boat
parted from the wharf I stepped upon it, and my
brother, as a dernier, tossed a twenty-dollar gold
piece at my feet, which I promptly threw back at his
own, and bid him adieu.

At Alviso, where I arrived before dark, I had no
difficulty in getting credit for a good lay-in of pow-
der, shot, and percussion caps, the latter then being
in use for the muzzle-loaders in vogue, and in the
latter respect I was equipped with m}^ much-treas-
ured double-barrelled companion, which that night I
placed for safe-keeping under my pillow when I re-
tired. I pushed on two or three miles from the

A Sportsman 21

village to a farmhouse, plentifully surrounded by wild-
mustard fields, where birds seemed plentiful. Here
I engaged board and lodgings at eight dollars per
week.

The following morning at daylight I was in the
fields, and early in the afternoon had about three
dozen assorted birds which, tagged, went off that day
to my market customer. This pastime I followed
for several weeks, and although I did not average
my first day's shooting, I rolled up a pretty fair
profit over my expenses. The labor, however, I found
rather wearing, despite my 3'outh and activity; for,
besides my necessitated walking in the fields, I had
to give daily three or four miles more to the boat
and back in forwarding my birds to market. This
worked down my flesh somewhat, and though weigh-
ing now 175 pounds, I was down to 120 pounds at
that time.

One day a man came along bleeding from a broken
head, leading a spirited mustang stallion, which had
thrown him, and offered to sell it, with the ordinary
Mexican saddle and bridle, for $25. I had in view
the joining of a small party of hunters, who were
killing deer and elk in the neighboring mountains for
the San Francisco market, so I purchased the horse,
and in a few days joined the mountain party, which
consisted of four, my interest being one half that
allowed to the other hunters, and took up my abode
with them at an open encampment in the mountain
hills back of the San Jos6 Mission.

This party consisted of a German, a well-educated
young Englishman, and two Americans. The latter
were both from the State of New Hampshire, and

22 Reminiscences of

one of them, Bennet, was a remarkably good and
successful shot, very muscular, and noted for his
adventures with and killing of grizzly bears. The
latter were quite plentiful then in mountain regions
about the Santa Clara Valley, in a region now taken
up wholly by settlements, from which the grizzHes
have been pretty effectually eliminated.

In the early days grizzlies were very plentiful
about the valleys in the State, and John Bidwell, an
early settler in the Sacramento Valley, gives fre-
quent mention of them in his diary, lately published,
and of often seeing from eight to ten in a single day.
These grizzly monarchs, once so fierce and tenacious
and disputants of the regions they inhabited, are now
but rarely seen, excepting in menageries or parks,
where they humbly accept peanuts and sweets from
well-protected visitors.

Elk have entirely disappeared, and deer are re-
stricted to comparatively limited ranges. Antelope,
once so plentiful, are about gone. It was not uncom-
mon in those early days to see large bands of elk
frequently, and deer were so plentiful as to occasion
cessation at times from shooting by the party I accom-
panied, from inability to transport to Alviso, the
shipping station to San Francisco.

Our system comprised three pack mules, carrying
six deer, and required two days for the trip, one day
to Alviso, and one for retvim. These trips were
taken by the hunters in sequence, in which I took
part. I remained with this party for three months
until the shooting season ended. When it terminated
I had a small pot of money as my share, which con-
stituted my commencement capital for the business

A Sportsman 23

of my life, and I had the pleasure at a later period
of making a gift of 825,000 to my elder brother,
whose wants were greater than mine.

One of our New Hampshire men was a graduate
of Yale College, and after the hunting trip I saw
him engaged in the water business in San Fran-
cisco, he having acquired, with his capital obtained
in hunting, an artesian well, from which he was
distributing the water in carts.

Bennet was a remarkable character in his way,
and never went out of the way to avoid a grizzly
bear, and killed three during our excursion. He was
of medium height and very muscular, and double-
jointed. He was very jolly and good-natured when
normal, but quick to quarrel when in liquor, which
was not infrequent, and would often fill up on his
trips to the bay, and on one excursion to the boat
engaged in a terrific hand fight with the burly land-
lord of the Alviso Hotel, w-hom he laid up for re-
pairs. He was a very fast runner, and claimed he
could outrun a horse on a spurt. I saw him kill a
large grizzly in an open wild-oat field one morning,
which w^e observed at a considerable distance, as we
arose. This, Bennet immediately claimed he would
kill. The bear was dangerously situated for reaching
and attacking, from being so far in the open without
any sheltering trees or rocks. The bear was feeding
upon wild oats, a favorite food.

After a hasty breakfast, we mounted and accom-
panied Bennet, and, being at the leeward, passed
down a declivity and through some timber as near
as we thought we could without being observed,
and here separated. Bennet picketed his horse, and

24 Reminiscences of

stripped down to his drawers and stocking feet, and,
hatless, with his rifle and big knife, crept cautiously
toward his victim. His knife was a feature, weigh-
ing three or four povmds — ^his grizzly knife, as he
called it. It was somewhat like a cleaver, except that it
was sharpened on the back from the point for three
or four inches. He claimed that he was once fol-
lowed up a tree by a wovmded bear, where the latter
could by reaching the lower branches lift himself up,
and that he reached down with his big knife and
lopped off the bear's claws, and mangled his feet so
badly that he fell oft' the tree and quit the attack.
Bennet based his safety largely — upon failure to kill
— on his speed as a sprinter, and upon his knife as
a last resort.

He soon passed out of sight, and after a little
while I concluded to picket my horse and climb up
a tree with my gun, from which I was able to view
the field. I saw the bear was still feeding, oblivious
of our approach and of Bennet's proximity, creeping
through the tall wild oats and occasionally rising
cautiously for a view. It was a bold, hazardous
imdertaking. Bennet kept on vintil he seemed to be
within about sixty yards of the bear, and bruin was
still vmsuspicious. Here, cautiously peeping over the
oats, he gave a light whistle, which brought the bear
up and turning slowly around inspecting the origin
of the sound. As he turned his side toward Bennet
with his forepaws hanging dowTi, the latter fired, and
I saw the bear fall where he stood, and Bennet like-
wise dropped in his place for a moment, when he
carefully arose to see if any advance had occurred,
and, not seeing an3% withdrew cautiously, keeping

A Sportsman 25

an eye on the spot the bear had occupied until
he had placed himself some hundreds of yards off,
where he waited from five to ten minutes watching
any movement which might occur. Not seeing any,
he carefully approached the bear, and found him
in place, in the last faint struggle of life. It was a
large bear in good fur and flesh, but no advantage
was taken of either, as the fur was out of season,
and the weather was too warm for holding the meat,
and the latter was of little value at any season as
an edible.

The g^zzlies of the Pacific Coast, though larger
than those of the Rocky Mountain ranges, and of
great ferocity, are not considered as tenacious of life
as those of the latter. Repeated instances are recited
where the Rocky Mountain grizzlies after being
fatally wounded have committed acts showing sur-
prising vitality, mention of which has been made by
all the prominent explorers of the West, commen-
cing with the accounts of the famous Lewis and
Clark expedition across the American continent in
1804. It is related in the jovunals of that first ex-
ploration party to cross the Rocky Mountain regions
that grizzly bears were an especial terror, which
swam rivers and killed hunters after being shot
through the heart.

Hunters have remarked the effect upon animals
resulting from the active or passive condition the
animal was in at the time of being wounded. A
ferocious animal in pursuit of its prey, or in defence
of its young, will exhibit a far stronger hold on life
than when engaged in resting, or quietly feeding. It
was quite common in the earlier days of California

26 Reminiscences of

for the Mexican riders, fearless, and expert in the
casting of the lariat, to siorround a grizzly bear found
in the open, and to hold him secure by numerous lines
kept taut. Despite the enraged and frantic efforts of
the bear, he became powerless while held by so many
lariats straining in various directions from the pommels
of well-cinched saddles, directed by the intelligent
mustangs and their riders. When exhausted, the
bear was despatched with a few shots or dragged to
some stockade for a future bull and bear fisjht — a
sport common in early days.

The Mexican vaqueros, in early days, when more
plentiful than now, cherishing a prejudice and dis-
like of American invaders, and relying on their skill
attained in the field in throwing the lariat, often
illustrated their proficiency in this line by lassoing
strangers who, travelling in an isolated manner,
were met with. These, once being circled by the
tightly drawn hide cord, were dragged from their
footing or saddle over the rough ground imtil in-
sensible, when they were despatched, and their bodies,
after being rifled of any valuables, were thrown in
some obscure place. Early Califomians ■«-ill remem-
ber the frequency of such events, and a number of
bodies were found so despatched in the region about us
during our mountain sojourn.

This condition put us on our guard in this re-
spect, and I had reason to believe one day, when I
was passing mounted along a valley trail of solitary
aspect, that I was an object of interest to a rascally-
looking Mexican, who was following me in saddle
with his lariat coiled at his pommel head, and I in-
creased my speed only to find that his was increased

A Sportsman 27

correspondingly, whereupon I quickly halted and put
myself on foot beside my horse, and drew a bead
upon him with my rifle; at which he, being beyond
casting distance, made an extensive detour around
and below me, and, after seeing him disappear on the
trail below, I mounted and retraced my way back
to our encampment. I was not much alarmed, for,
though my rifle was a muzzle-loader, I had my navy
revolver at my belt, with which I was tolerably
proficient, and I felt qviite competent to stand off
one or two Mexicans before they could come within
casting distance.

Some portions of the region about us were oc-
cupied as cattle ranges, and some of the semi-wild
bulls met with were well to avoid. We made no
scruples in knocking over a calf or a young heifer
occasionally for a change of diet, at which no in-
quiries ever arose. At one time near us there was
an encampment of cattle rustlers engaged in scoop-
ing small herds, which they would cut out and drive
to the extent of a day's trip and turn over to an
associate band, which in turn would deliver to another
which would market or distribute at some distant
point. Those camped near us were a bad lot, being
mostly Americans from the Middle West, and our
relations w^ere the least friendly with them. They
were soon after driven away by the settlers in the
valley.

Some wild horses were about, but it was seldom
that we saw any, and when seen they were a long
distance away.

A few Digger Indians still inhabited the region,
but kept well out of sight, although their presence

28 Reminiscences of

was indicated by the removal of deer entrails, which
was of frequent occurrence. This was evidenced by a
clean removal of the offal, instead of being scattered
about, as it would be by coyotes or other animals.
The Digger Indian is pretty nearly extinct in the
State now, and belongs to the lowest class of aborigines,
living on roots, acorns, and offal of ancient date.
I have seen them in some parts of the State, whole
farnilies, by the hour industriously engaged beneath
some spreading pine tree, eating the meagre pit
meats of the cones. The native clover flower tops
are specially attractive to them, which they will sit
among, and fill up their stomachs and skin bags.
Grasshoppers they simply revel in and grow fat upon.
Some years these are pests of such extent as to
devastate large portions of the State, eating every-
thing in sight, and are said to impudently ask the
distracted farmer for chewing-gum and cigarettes.
This season, however, is one of the Diggers' delight.

The oak groves about me now (my residence in
California) were once the habitat of many Digger
Indians. No monuments have they left, and all that
tells of their existence are the thousands of mortar
holes in the flat rocks, many of which still contain
the pestles of i-ude form with which they crtished the
acorns for bread-making. On many flat rocks there
are a dozen or more of mortar holes, large and small,
and some of them worn down to a foot in depth,
and many hundreds of such mortar holes are to be
seen within a radius of a mile from where I am now
writing.

Ten or fifteen years ago a small band of these
Indians yearly came about here, but I have not seen

A Sportsman 29

any about of late. Capt. John, the chief of a small
band, was an old friend of mine, but has evidently
gone the way of his fathers. Attended by a small
group of bucks and squaws he would regularly round
up at my house, and, after a pleasant greeting, would
accept an invitation to grub up with a load of cold
meats, hams, bread, canned goods, etc., accompanied
by sundry parcels of old clothes and hats; then, with
an oleaginous smile over his swarthy visage, he would
go to the clover valley below for encampment.

Almost weekly during Capt. John's stay he would
call around for a personal interview, the substance
of which was to procure a dollar to purchase powder
and balls to kill wild-cats, in evidence of which he
would pull out of his hunting and grub sack a badly
worn pelt of some ancient nondescript of abnormal
origin, which would immediately satisfy me with the
importance of his request.

One of the first duties of Capt. John and his at-
tendants was to disrobe and roll in the unctious
mud of the mineral springs in the valley, and after-
wards to sit in the sun on the ground for an hour or
two coated with the mud, which was replenished at
intervals by another application. The new portions
added were poured down from the top of the head,
and the appearance of those mud-cure zealots would
discount any appearance yet given of the witches in
Macbeth. From the mud to the water, and then
with invigorated appetite to the clover beds, and in
sequence to sweet repose, restful to the savage breast
as to the luxurious visitor of modem curative sta-
tions, was a frequent act of our first families of
America. Capt. John seriously assured me that it

30 Reminiscences of

was a heap good for bone sick — evidently meaning
for rheumatism.

These Indians often engaged in gathering grass-
hoppers when they were plentiful, in the following
manner: First, by sinking a well -hole in a convenient
locaUty, of some five or six feet in depth and of
equal width, keeping it half full of water; then en-
gaging all hands with bushes and tree branches in
beating forward the grasshoppers on the ground to-
ward and into the well, where they were soon drowned ;
then heating some large stones on a fire made for the
purpose, from which the stones were rolled forward
when sufficiently heated into the well, and the
water, heating up, cooked the hoppers. When ac-
counted done by the head chef, the hoppers were
raked out upon the adjoining ground to dry; the
latter effect being reached, they were then packed
away in skins for use.

With them a good and prosperous season occurred
when acorns and grasshoppers were plentiful. Even
if the clover were deficient, it may be assumed that
a good acorn stew enriched with a few handfuls of
grasshoppers, and possibly a bunch or two of clover,
would make a very appetizing meal for a Digger
Indian as a change from pine cone, nuts, and ground
squirrels.

Although the Digger Indians in the State are now
reduced to very small numbers, there are still a good
many of other tribes, more conspicuous than the
Diggers were for intelligence, some of whom in early
days were conspicuous for their opposition to the
white invaders. A few thousand of these still exist,
huddled together in small squads in various sec-

A Sportsman 31

tions, on lands which they do not possess. Neither
the State nor the General Government has ever given
them any reservation or aid. Some work and others
beg, but are unable to compete with the white people
in the economic struggle for life. Exertions are now
being made for them by the Northern California
Indian Association, in which I am interested, from
which it is expected that the remaining Indians in
the State will have their conditions improved.

AFTER returning to San Francisco from the moun-
tains, I foimd myself still indisposed toward the
confining life of business, and besides I was more in-
dependently situated than before, having funds to
my credit.

Australia was attracting attention, and several
newly-made friends of mine were engaging passage
in a ship about to sail for Melbourne, and I se-
riously thought of going with them, and selected
a berth in the ship, but delayed in taking passage, and
finally gave it up. I was largely influenced in this
decision from the appearance of the ship, as it was
a bad-smelling, vinattractive old tub which gave me
an vmfavorable opinion of its capacity. Fortimate
for me that I gave it up, for the ship was never heard
of again after sailing, and it is not likely to be now,
after the lapse of half a century.

I continued to frequent the markets and shipping.
One day I saw on a freshly arrived ship from China
a lot of canary birds, several hundred in a large
cage on the cabin deck, which interested me, and
which I found belonged to the captain of the ship,

32 Reminiscences of

who had brought them over on a personal specula-
tion, and that he had a lot of nested cages of bamboo
to fit them out with for selling. I thought this a
favorable opportunity for some work on my part,
which ended in my purchase of the lot, birds and
cages, for a thousand dollars, which gave the cap-
tain a good profit. I did not have enough money to
pay down for the lot, but easily arranged with the
rotund navigator to pay down what money I had
and the balance in instalments, as I should take the
birds away.

I then set at work putting up the cages on the
deck, with a bird in each, and, with some assistance,
carried the cages with birds to different stores I had
arranged with, where they were exposed for sale,
and being the first lot of this character to anive in
that budding city, my expectations were fully real-
ized by rapid sales at full prices, and, although I
shared liberally with the shop sellers, I considerably
increased my capital.

Somewhat with the air of a capitalist, I then pro-
posed to the market-man whom I had had dealings
with in game that I shoiild associate with him in
his branching out in a more extensive business; that
he should attend to the business in the city and I
Would go up to the alluvial lands in the bay, at the
estuaries of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers
where they debotiched out over the flat tule lands,
a great field for aquatic birds and salmon, and sup-
ply him with such products for sale. He was a
pretty clever business man, but intemperate and in-
clined to various dissipations, which put me on guard,
but he was willing, so we engaged.

A Sportsman 33

Although the game season was practically over,
no laws existed for preservation — or at least were
not regarded — and eatable birds of all kinds were
freely sold. Salmon were running, and were ex-
tensively seined by Italians and other fishermen, and
a miscellaneous lot of fishes were netted, and birds
were plentiful. I purchased and forwarded freely,
and my man seemed capable of getting away with
all I sent him, and generally at large profits. Salmon
at times were so plentiful that I would occasionally
buy them at ten or fifteen cents apiece and the city
markets would become so glutted that the sales would
be slow at five cents a poimd, though the retail price
would be a bit, or twelve cents.

One day I met a Scotchman looking for employ-
ment who claimed he was an adept at smoking salmon,
and could at a moderate expense put up a smoking-
plant. I engaged him and proceeded in this line, to
great advantage, as it opened a market in the mines
where fresh salmon could not reach; but others soon
caught on, and on a more extensive scale than mine,
and selling prices fell off. In fact the business of my
associate began to diminish in profits, and considering
his habits, as prosperity seemed to increase his ex-
travagances, I concluded to pull out, which I suc-
ceeded in doing with my full share of profits, which
augmented my capital considerably. I concluded to
retire and return to Boston by the Nicaragua route,
where I arrived after a stay of a little less than a year
in California.

The familiarity gained with the overflowed lands
of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers led to some
extensive reclamation works of mine in later years.

34 Reminiscences of

I established my residence in Boston for a series
of years, though I made five round trips to Cali-
fornia before i860, and have since made those jour-
neys over a score of times, besides eighteen round
trips across the Atlantic to Europe. I crossed the
great plains from the Missouri River to the Rocky
Mountains four times from 1865 to 1867, before the
completion of a railroad there.

After my return from California I foimd a great
difficulty in reconciling myself to the quiet of town
life, however much the necessity existed for appli-
cation to business pursuits, as my inclinations were
strongly for adventurous ramblings. Always a con-
stant reader, I found quite perceptibly to myself that
my tendency was directed largely to the perusal of
sporting articles, which conflicted with my resolutions
to follow business affairs. This determined me to
give up entirely the perusal of books treating of
sporting and adventurous affairs, which inflamed my
imagination with longings, and for several years I
adhered strictly to this resolution.

From Boston I made frequent winter trips for
pickerel fishing through the ice at favorite New Eng-
land ponds, a sport which I enjoyed very much for
a change, for, although the fishing was somewhat tame,
the auxiliaries of the skating, tramping, and lunching
by the open fires at the pond sides gave a pleasant
relaxation. During the summers I gave much of my
time to brook fishing in the White Mountain regions,
where I felt that I acquired a dexterity in trans-
ferring the brook -trout to my creel, after scoring from
three to five hundred in a day's fishing.

I am almost ashamed to relate what I would now

A Sportsman 35

shrink from doing, even if I had the physical activity
to accomplish it, concerning a score that I made one
day on a branch of the Saco River. Then, before the
railroad invasion and the present overrunning of the
region about Conway and Jackson, the brooks were
alive with trout.

There had been a rivalry among the comparatively
few summer visitors as to a day's catch, and I then
imdertook to make a record — a foolish effort of young
aspiration, and I will acknowledge the folly of such
actions, although the demand for the delicate and tooth-
some brook-trout served to prevent any useless waste.
I camped over night upon the stream with two com-
rades, W. T. Bramhall, of Boston, now deceased, and
Gilbert E. Jones, of New York, at one time the owner
of the New York Times and an enthusiastic sports-
man, who also made a great record for the day. I
commenced fishing at five o'clock in the morning
and fished fourteen hours, until seven, scarcely wait-
ing for any rest or lunch, and quit earlier than I
should have but for a severe thunder-storm which
wet us to the skin, and whose vivid flashes of light-
ning were required to get us out of the woods to
our team at a neighboring town. My catch was
seven hundred and sixty-eight trout, or an average
of fifty-five trout an hour. In verification we counted
over the catch twice upon our return to the Kearsarge
House, where they were all consumed.

Such fishing was devoid of the pleasant contem-
plation of nature's attractions, which should be the
main object of a sportsman's life, and an illustration
of the feverish excitement which too often reigns
within the human breast. I will own that many

36 Reminiscences of

times in my early sporting life with gun and rod,
I have overlooked the calm consideration I should
have given preference.

In 1858 I made in the winter an excursion in
Maine to the Rangeley Lakes near the Canada line,
which set a color upon my sporting horizon which
has never been effaced, and since that period I have
never failed, amid the cares of an active business life,
to visit that region annually. Those trips at times
have been difficult to arrange when I have been
absent in distant places, but I have not failed in some
month of each year since 1858 to rendezvous at the
Rangeleys for from one to four and six months.

Reports of unusually large trout at those lakes
had reached me for a year or two before the trip in
December of 1858, and some question existed if those
trout were of the Fontinalis species, as they had not
been so designated by a competent ichth3^ologist. I
arranged with three friends equally interested in the
subject for an excursion there, and after two days
from leaving the Grand Trunk Railroad, breaking
otir way with team for forty miles through the snow,
we arrived at one of the lakes of the chain. The
last half of the distance through the forest was over
an old logging road which had not been broken out
that season, over which our progress was slow.

It was about dark when we installed ourselves in
a dilapidated old logging camp at the foot of the
lake, and the following day proceeded over the ice
and its accumulated snow for a distance of six miles,
camping at and making headquarters in a compara-
tively good logging camp by the shore. We had
a single horse "pung" which we retained, sending

A Sportsman 37

back to the last settlement, twenty miles distant, our
double team sled, after depleting it of our personal
effects, provisions, guns, lines, etc., with instructions
to return for us in ten days. We had two guides,
one of whom, Milton Cutting, for thirty-three years
afterwards regularly accompanied me in all my trips
to the lakes, until his advancing years compelled
his retirement thirteen years ago, but is still living
at about eighty years of age upon his small farm ; I have
since contributed to him the yearly sum of dollars equal
to his age, and he has frequently remarked to me the
increasing interest he has taken in growing old.

The ice was thick, but we soon got through it
with our chisels, and in retired coves we caught bait
of chubs and shiners, which equipped our set lines,
and we foimd trout enough to enable us to fetch out
upon our return to civilized regions between five and
six hundred pounds in a frozen state to dispense
among our friends.

Frozen fish in the ordinary sense is not usually
acceptable, for one cannot tell how long it may have
been between catching and freezing, or how effectual
the freezing was, or if there may not have been
a thawing out and refreezing, or exposure to sun
while frozen, or various other causes affecting the
quality. But any fish well frozen immediately after
catching, and so kept without exposure to sun,
and slowly thawed out in water in a cool place, will
be found to retain all the delicate qualities of fresh
life despite all prejudices to the contrary. In fact
with care the most delicate fish, being cold-blooded,
can be frozen up before life has gone, and so kept
frozen for a period of days and then be thawed out

38 Reminiscences of

to active life again, which I have often clearly dem-
onstrated, but of which I shall not here go into de-
tails, reserving that feature for more particular men-
tion and details of in extenso which will be included
in the chapters I shall hereafter give concerning trout
and its habits.

We fovmd the trout plentiful and in fine condition,
as they are apt to be in favorable waters beneath the
ice in the month of December. In that month in
northern climes they are in good form, and also in
Jantiary, although from February and through March
and April they are more sluggish, and very many go
down to a depth and even into the soft mud at the
bottom of the lake, where they remain in a semi-
dormant condition, and those which continue to
circulate about are by March comparatively slow
in movement and appetite. As the weather moder-
ates in April more activity is shown, and in May,
when the ice generally goes out of the Maine north-
em lakes by the early part or the middle of the month,
they are again in full activity.

The same semi -dormant feature is shown in all
the varieties of the small fry of minnows and chubs,
which can be plentifully caught with a small hook
for bait for a few weeks after the ice makes, and in
fact seem more plentiful after the first freezing over
than at any time; almost wholly disappearing by
March, and so difficult have I found it in the latter
month to get live bait at the lakes that I have had to
send out twenty or thirty miles at times to get bait
from spring holes in the adjoining country. Then a
good bait would be almost equivalent to a trout.

I have found that for the first week after the

A Sportsman 39

freezing over of the lake, when the fresh ice would
not be more than two inches in thickness, phenom-
enal catches could be made of trout, as they would
seem to be exhilarated by the new condition as much
as lads would be with fresh skating. After ten or
twelve days a noticeable falling off in activity and
feeding occurs, which continues to increase until
warmer weather comes.

We kept a careful weight of all ovu- trout, noting
down our catch each night, and we found our average
to be one and a third pounds ; our largest trout weigh-
ing a fraction over eight, and our smallest were a
quarter of a pound. Upon our return to Boston I
carried out several of the largest to Louis Agassiz,
the distinguished naturalist and scientist, then living
at Cambridge at the head of the Museum of Compar-
ative Zoology, who made careful examination and
proncninced them of the true Fontinalis family, but
gave them a distinctiveness over other trout from
their large size and habitat.

It would be difficult to find more beautiful and
perfect trout than those of the Rangeley waters, or
any of higher game qualities. At all seasons of the
year they are full and superior in flavor excepting
the meagre milters in the autumn, who may be well
discarded from the table despite their brilliant hues.
But the spawners even up to the time of their
emissions are of delicate taste. I have since 1858
yearly fished these lakes, and taken many thou-
sands of trout there, and have found them in the
qualities I have designated more uniform than from
any other waters, although no shadow can be cast
upon many other localities.

40 Reminiscences of

Maine is famous for its rivers, lakes, and ponds,
which cover nearly one tenth of its surface. Its
waters are mainly clear from excess of organic matter,
where fish life is conspicuous for game qualities,
which I have evidenced from personal experience
at several score of localities in that State. It is
not essential that trout waters should be of high
translucent character as ordinarily supposed, and I
have observed that trout waters of that character
are generally lacking in numbers and size of trout
compared with those more opaque and plentiful with
infusorial life. The protozoa element is the basic
fovmdation of fish life, and possibly of all other.
It consists of an endless variety of Poligastrica and
Rotatoria, white pulpy substances of life, which in
favorable waters are of pin-head size, while the bulk
are invisible to the naked eye. This infusorial ele-
ment is the primary constituent essential to young
fish life. The young trout or salmon, when relieved
of the umbilical sac, is of minute proportions, and is
unable to live tipon the surface ephemera or food of
after life, and subsists wholly upon the infusoria, as
do all the small fry generally designated as minnows,
of which there are a dozen varieties in the Rangeley
waters. It is also the principal food of the fresh-
water smelts.

The profusion of small fish in the lakes supplying
the principal food of the trout and salmon accounts
for their number and superiority, without which they
would be lacking, so that in reality the ]M-iinitive
cause is the infusorial element. This element abounds
in all ponds, lakes, rivers, and even ditches where
decaying vegetable and animal matter exists, and in

A Sportsman 41

covintless profusion. It is found in thermal springs,
and rivulets flowing from snow-banks and glaciers,
and in salt as well as fresh water. No form of life
can be more universal and extensive, while of so
minute a character in the sea and in many fresh
waters as to require the strongest magnifying j)ower
to clearly observe. Even distilled water, upon ex-
posure to the air, mil exhibit the life. Freezing
does not destroy it, nor will a deprivation of its watery
element. It may be dried in the stm for many days,
but its germ form when drifted with the dust to
reviving waters will again take on active life. Ehren-
berg, a celebrated German authority upon the subject,
estimates the reproduction capacity of a single one to
exceed 200,000,000 in the space of a month. The
variety of infusoria is extensive, more than a himdred
being classified.

The remarkable feature of this element in the
Rangeley Lakes, which by no means is limited to
these waters, is the comparatively large size of the
infusoria, which is undoubtedly gained by the large
quantities of vegetable stain from the adjoining
forests. The water is by no means clear, occasioned
by the excess drainage from the woods. On a favor-
able day, with the sun's rays aslant, the protozoa
element is clearly discernible to the naked eye. The
most favorable occasion for observing it without
magnifying power — for I have never applied the
latter — is in the winter at the surface of a hole cut
through the ice. Here, after a day or two, the larger
infusoria will collect, doubtless attracted by the light,
when those of a large size will be observed.

On this my first trip in the winter to the lake I

42 Reminiscences of

was attracted by this feature while playing with
trout through the ice. I would select a good locality
where the water was not over eight or nine feet in
depth, with a sandy bottom. Lying upon some
blankets, with a single one over my head, and a hook-
less line with a small chub tied at the end and a
sufficient sinker, I would bob for the trout, which after
a while wotdd come swimming along, and, noticing
the bait, would, first indifferently, but afterwards more
vigorously, engage with it. By drawing away the
bait at the critical moment, after considerable teasing
the trout would follow it up, and having a fair-sized
hole of something less than a foot sqtiare, I would
shortly get the trout up near the bottom ice, and finally,
at a last excited dash, rapidly withdraw the bait en-
tirely, with my hand at my side. The trout, following
to the surface in its excitement, would for a moment
be too confused to dive below, giving me in that
moment the opportunity to rapidly put my hands
below and cast him out upon the ice, unharmed, but
much alarmed. This may appear difficult to do, but
is really quite simple, and I have taken four or five
trout in a forenoon from a single hole in this manner.
The clear, sandy bottom, and the thin blanket head
cover, which by no means excluded the light, gave
abvmdant opportunity to observe that the white
specks at first mistaken for pollen, or other foreign
intrusion, had a motion equal to several inches in
a short time, and could be observed in the still water
moving in various directions, some apparently with
a revolving motion, and others without visible ac-
tion. Many have advanced the spontaneity or pro-
toplasm theory concerning the protozoa, which is a

A Sportsman 43

subject of much discussion, and lately a prominent
German savant has advanced the theory that this
element is the primitive origin of all life — all vege-
table and animal — which now exists upon the earth.
This is a somewhat startling theory, but that life must
necessarily have started upon this once molten mass
in a very primitive form is clearly evident, but how,
may or may not be solved.

The snow was between two and three feet deep
at the period of otir visit, with frequent new falls,
and I amused myself by making snow-shoe excursions
in the forest about the lake.

ONE day I came across the footprints of an ani-
mal, evidently of more magnitude than those
made by a deer, and upon brushing out the tracks I
fovmd the imprint evidently of a cow or ox. I related
this to the guides, and observed their immediate
fixed attention and interest. They informed me no
cow or ox could be found in the region about, and
that I had certainly fovmd a moose track, which we
could easily trail, for he could not be many miles off,
and that we would go after him the next day.

With lunch in our pockets we started at an early
hour, fully prepared for a brush with a monarch of the
northern woods. An examination of the tracks speed-
ily determined the direction to take, and we had no
difficulty in following them, although a foot of snow
had fallen since the passage of the moose — for the
tracks clearly indicated such to be the maker of
the tell-tale guides. My men said his escape was

44 Reminiscences of

impossible, it being only a question of time and dis-
tance, and that it would' not travel far in the deep
snow, over which we would proceed with little fatigue.
It was some hours, however, before we grew warm on
the trail, and about noon before we reached a place in
the black growth where the moose had apparently
yarded for several days, from which he had broken
out upon our approach, before we saw him. At
this time we redoubled our speed, and in less than a
mile brought him at bay where the snow was too heav'y
for his further rapid progress. Here the moose broke
down the snow about him to give himself foot room,
and stood facing us in defiance. It was an exciting
moment, and taking as careful aim as I could, I fired
at his front. My shot seemed to have little effect, for,
instead of breaking away, he commenced to increase
his circle of enclosure, about which he moved with
alacrity foreboding possible harm if he should charge
us, and we each sought the shelter of neighboring trees
to be prepared for his possible advance, and from
here I gave a shot which brought him down on
his knees, from which he soon toppled over, and the
end came. It was a large bull and in good flesh,
but bereft of horns, which had been lately shed.
Skinning and dressing him, we hung up all to freeze
excepting a hind quarter and a few parts which my
men dragged on an improvised sled to camp. The
following day the men returned for the balance,
making two trips, and were enabled to portage all
to camp on the long packing sled with which we
were provided, but attended with much labor. We
were three miles from camp, and did not arrive until
some time after sundown.

A Sportsman 45

No legal restrictions aflfecting moose or deer ex-
isted in Maine at that time, or if there were any,
no attention was given, but game laws of late years
have been rigidly guarded by wardens, under extreme
penalties. Despite wardens and penalties, however,
quite a sprinkling of killing has annually occurred
in remote districts; but the general protection af-
forded, and the prohibition of market game selling,
has had a very salutary result in increasing big game,
especially deer.

Moose still are found about the lakes, in a forest
yet unbroken which extends far into the wilder-
ness. Though still scarce, they have of late increased,
owing to the rigid enforcement of laws restricting
their killing to a very short period during the year.
A penalty of S500 is exacted for this killing out of
season. The killing of caribou is entirely prohibited
at any time. Moose killing, when permitted, is con-
fined wholly to biills beyond two years of age. It
has always seemed to me as if the moose were a
modem survival of the ancient period, to be linked
with the Irish elk and mastodon, and other prehistoric
animals, and most likely with the musk ox, elephant,
giraffe, and other unwieldy, cumbrous creations doomed
to disappear before the progress of man, as we have
seen the buffalo in our day.

I note quite recently the approaching extinction
of the great Kadiak bear of Alaska — the largest in the
world, exceeding even the mammoth grizzly of the
Sierras, — which, inhabiting a limited district about
the estuaries of the Karluk River, where within
a few years as many as fifteen were sighted by an
observer in one day, are now difficult to sight at all,

46 Reminiscences of

and have by last accounts had their comparatively
limited tract invaded by the ever-penetrating do-
mestic sheep.

A conflict is now on between the sheep men and
the bears. The latter evincing their taste for mutton
in the waiting season for salmon — their main food —
have arousedt he former in defence, and the almost
inevitable .result will be extermination. A friend
of mine has in his possession a Kadiak bear skin of
enormous proportions, measuring from nose to end
of body nine feet, with a width in the middle of eight
feet. This may be a champion brown bear skin, and
from one which was estimated, although not au-
thenticated by sufficient evidence, at 2400 pounds.

I have measured an enormous polar bear skin
which measured about the size of the Kadiak skin,
but the polar bear does reach the weight of the grizzly
family, being more sinuous in form.

I would not now hunt and kill moose in the snow,
and at this time I look upon it with regret and con-
sider it unworthy of selection by a sportsman unless
necessitated by need of food, and confess to having
aided in killing two others in a similar manner, as
well as deer. There are many things in later life I
have to regret of acts in early days, as I doubt not
others have. Youth is more eager and thoughtless,
and less governed by reflection than age, as eagerness
overtops reason, and I fear there are many of mature
age who fail to recognize the claims of right over
inborn selfishness and destructive impulses.

I have occasionally met moose in the Maine woods.
One day in a birch canoe, rounding a point on the
Megalloway River, we ran close upon a large cow

A Sportsman 47

feeding on the lily pads, with her calf on the shore.
She was just raising her head with a mouthful of
pads, and stood motionless for a few moments gaz-
ing at our sudden intrusion, and then leisurely moved
to the shore and with her offspring quietly disap-
peared in the woods. Another day, while being driven
on a buckboard from the lake over a long logging road,
and some miles from any settlement, we encountered
a large bull feeding by the roadside. He exhibited no
alarm, trotted along the road ahead of us for a quarter
of a mile, and finally turned and faced us from the
centre of the road. As the rutting season was on, and
occasions were not rare when at that season moose had
attacked teams, we came to a halt. Our horses
exhibited alarm, and we felt some ourselves, and
looked about for tree shelter in case of a charge. But
the moose relieved us in a few moments by side-track-
ing in the woods, leaving us a free road. Another day
I came upon a bull in the closed season for moose,
but an open one for deer stalking, which I was
engaged in, when the attitude of the bull convinced
me of the prudence of retreating, which I expedited
without delay.

It is quite common for bull moose at certain sea-
sons to charge any one met with in the woods, but
they are more easily evaded by one active of foot
than one would suppose, by dodging around trees,
and especially windfalls if they are adjacent, and
I know several hunters who have escaped such at-
tacks, and in some instances have been treed for
hours. Moose have been known to swim out in
the water and upset boats which have excited their
resentment.

48 Reminiscences of

A few years ago a friend of mine, Captain Barker,
while rtmning his steamer across a lake, observed a
large bull swimming ahead for the shore, upon which
he ran his boat up, and skilfully threw a noosed
rope over the bull's horns, and conducted him to
the shore, where, after some manoeuvring, he man-
aged to secure the end of the rope to a tree, and held
the moose there for several days. He indicated a
very fierce disposition, refusing to eat, and charging to
the end of his reach any who approached his vicinity.
After a few days' captivity he was released by cutting
his rope with a knife fastened to a long pole, and
the moose went off with his head-works adorned
with a dangling tie of doubtful comeliness.

As I was engaged one morning on my first trip
to the lakes attending alone a few set lines, I was
startled in looking up to see three deer standing not
far from me on the ice, but presently, after satisfy-
ing their curiosity, they trotted off into the woods
below me. After my success with the moose, I was
excited for a chase after the deer, as the snow was
favorable, and leaving my lines I returned to camp
a mile distant, when, securing my gun, hatchet, and
a pocketful of lunch, I started back alone for the
trail. No one was at camp but the cook, whom I
told to mention to my comrades that I was off on a
hunt, and to have no anxiety if I did not return at
night. I returned to the trail from the lake, and
followed the deer.

The days were then short, and the deer had travelled
better than I expected they would, and it was near
dark before I came near enough to get in a shot,
which was harmless, while the}- were moving on with

A Sportsman 49

a speed increased by my near approach. If it had
been earlier in the day my method would have been
to press them to the utmost, but it was too late, and
I had to look around for a camping spot, which I
selected by a large dead fallen pine partly imbedded
in the snow, but having limbs to pull upon for fuel.
It was bitterly cold, as it had been growing colder all
day, and somewhat below zero, as I found upon my
return to camp. My hatchet was a poor substitute
for an axe, but I managed to pile up a good supply
for my night fire, but which proved insufficient before
morning, and at three o'clock I had again to supply
more wood, but considering it was the first night's
camping in the snow, which generally is not so com-
fortable as the following, I got along by the fire pretty
well, though not overburdened with sleep, and I felt
quite ready to go on as soon as the first glimmerings of
light appeared.

I foimd within a quarter of a mile where the deer
had lain down in the night, and the beds had not
frozen where they had rested, which was very en-
couraging, showing that their departure had but
briefly preceded my arrival. They, however, got
along better than I expected, and more than an
hour passed before I overtook them, which was a
signal for them to divide, as they usually do when
hard pressed. Selecting the largest one I followed
it for a mile or so before I brought him up, which
proved to be a pretty good-sized buck, which I quickly
gave the quietus to from my rifle. Giving the finishing
stroke with my knife, I disembowelled him, hanging
him up to freeze, and followed my trail back to the
lake, between four and five miles. It was a bright,

50 Reminiscences of

cold morning, and my steps were light from elation
at my success, and I inwardly \'owed I would have
more of it.

That following night was the coldest we experi-
enced on our trip, the mercury sinking down to twenty-
six degrees below zero, but we were very comfortable.

It is not so cold as it would seem, in the dry alti-
tude of the lakes, 1500 feet above sea level, at twenty
degrees below zero, when top coats are discarded
in the woods and on the lake when knocking about.
But when the wind blows it is another matter, and
even with a gentle breeze at twenty degrees of freezing
it will cut, and with a gale or blizzard at fifteen or
twenty degrees below zero — which is not infrequent —
one must be well housed, or, if not, snugly ensconced
in the lee of the gale in a deep sunken pit in the snow
with plenty of firewood.

When camping out in the snow one hardly needs
blankets, and it has not been my habit to pack
them in many camping-out trips I have made in the
winter, excepting sometimes a half one. I have de-
pended upon keeping up a good fire all night, and
of sleeping on a thick layer of hemlock boughs,
where with feet to the fire and fully clothed, with
sleeping-cap and ear-pads and thick woollen gloves,
I have passed many comfortable nights, and my
memory now often vividly reverts to the overflowing
happiness I experienced upon those excursions as the
most enjoyable of my life.

A Sportsman 51

IN California, short as my stay was, I made some
friends with whom for many years afterwards I
sustained pleasant relations, all of whom have now
passed away. It was in San Francisco I met Edwin
Booth, at the rooms of a fencing master, where we
were both receiving instructions, and formed a friend-
ship with him which continued through his life. His
father, Junius Brutus Booth, then near sixty years
of age, was playing the last engagement of his life at
the American theatre, and died that year, soon after,
on a Mississippi River steamer. Edwin at that time
had not appeared on the stage, excepting in a few
minor parts, and I accompanied him at his invitation
several times to witness the performances of his father.
The latter was then exhibiting the peculiarities of his
disposition, bordering on insanity, and accentuated
by his over-indulgence in spirituous liquors. One night
while playing Richard III. with his accustomed energy
and fire, he left the stage and strode into a lower box
adjoining, which was empty, and commenced singing
a bacchanalian song to the boisterous admiration of
the audience. Edwin, much chagrined, left my side
for his father, whom he persuaded to retire, and
after awhile to go on with his part in the play.

Another evening performance was the occasion of
an amusing incident in one of the second-tier boxes
occupied by a man and woman. The attention of the au-
dience was drawn by the bibulous attentions of the
man, evidently a returned miner with dust, and whose
companion indicated her classification with the fanciful
order ; and' she seemed also imder the effects of infla-
tion. This side-play had been apparent for some time,
while the actors were quite oblivious of the amused

52 Reminiscences of

attention they were attracting. This became so conspic-
uous that finally Booth paused in the midst of the part
he was playing, and, advancing toward the box and
pointing his hand toward it, said, in his dramatic man-
ner, which brought down the house: "When this side-
play is over, we will proceed." It required a little time
for the audience to settle down to the regular bill of
the evening, while the box players retired from the
front to the obscurity of the rear.

I did not see Edwin again until a number of years
had passed, when he had become famous, meeting
him at the Tremont House in Boston, where I was
residing, and there became acquainted with his wife,
his mother, and sister Rosalie, and his brothers,
John Wilkes and Joseph. John Wilkes Booth, after-
ward so infamous as the assassin of our President
Lincoln, appeared to me as very companionable and
cheerful, and many pleasant smokes I had with him,
Uttle suspecting that he would achieve the infamous
notoriety he did. Though having some extrava-
gant and peculiar ways, they were less conspicuous
than those which Edwin evinced, or those seen in
two others of the family. There was, however, a strain
of peculiarity in the children, doubtless inherited from
the father, which was quite evident. But if I had
been asked to designate one of the children most free
and sensible, I should have given John Wilkes, for
despite his somewhat rollicking and moderately reck-
less way, he seemed very sensible. He was then
playing an engagement, as was Edwin, in the city.
Both were handsome and attractive, and received
many missives from the gentler sex, who admired
them. To those Edwin gave little attention, not only

A Sportsman 53

from having married a few months before, but from
a disinclination and principle, as he on several occa-
sions remarked to me, and that he immediately de-
stroyed such letters, excepting in some instances,
when he returned them with sensible advice to desist.

One evening while we were all after dinner in the
Booths' sitting-room, a card was brought in from a
young lady who requested an interview with Edwin.
He smiled and told the boy to say he was engaged,
when his wife, amused, said:

"No; let her come up. I am anxious to see what
kind of young ladies are after you, and how she will
appear with us all here."

So the yoimg lady was brought up — and a bloom-
ing, exuberant young lass she was — ushered in,
holding a large bouquet for Edwin. She was com-
pletely staggered by the standing committee which
received her, and it was rather distressing to see
her confusion and awkward dilemma and hear her
choking words, that she had "brought the bouquet
for Mr. Booth." Edwin accepted the flowers, and
thanked her, at which she retired, with an experience
unlooked for.

From Boston we all, including Walter M. Brackett,
the celebrated artist, his wife, and young son, — except-
ing John Wilkes, — made an excursion to the Umbagog
Lake in New Hampshire, stopping at a moderate -sized
hotel at Upton, kept by S. F. Frost. I remember his
initials distinctly because we called him Superfine, at
which he would give a winning smile. Dan Setchell,
a comic actor and a particular friend of Edwin's,
accompanied us; also some Baltimore friends of Ed-
win's— a gentleman and his not long-wedded wife.

54 Reminiscences of

We remained at Upton about two weeks and had a
merry time, making excursions on the lake to fishing
places on an old tub of a boat which towed logs,
proudly commanded by Captain Bennett, who had
acted as guide in the woods with me on several occa-
sions, and who now approached work about as near
as he ever allowed himself. We made picnic trips
to neighboring brooks, and altogether had an enjoy-
able season. Dan Setchell, a most amusing comic
actor of good taste, never allowed the hours to flag,
and the practical jokes he perpetrated are beyond
recotmt. Poor Dan — ^iinknown to present fame — ^was
lost at sea not long afterwards, his ship going down
in a gale with all on board.

Even then, the anti-liquor movement in Maine had
commenced, and spirituous fluids were restricted from
sale, but our landlord. Superfine, kept a private stock,
limited, however, to one kind, and that was gin, which
he had — of probably doubtful quality — in his cellar.
Setchell made the discovery, and upon request Super-
fine brought up a medium-sized pitcher full, and placed
it on the sitting-room table. The pitcher was a glass
one, and had an appearance of containing the limpid
fluid of the well. Booth had not yet come in, and Dan
immediately conceived the idea of putting up a joke
on him, as he would be likely to join in a pull on a some-
what neglected line. Obtaining an empty bottle he
poured a portion of the gin into it, leaving the balance
in the pitcher, and calling in Booth informed him of the
discovered essence of juniper, and having lemon and
sugar at hand prepared a gin toddy for good old times.
We watered our toddies from an adjacent supply,
leaving Booth to fill his from the pitcher on the table,

A Sportsman 55

which led him from the first taste to denounce the
strength of his portion and to add more from the
pitcher, filhng his glass nearly to its brim. We had
a difficulty in concealing our hilarity, while Booth,
with a wry face, bolted the greater part of his glass,
and declared by the horns of the sacred bull that if
liquor restrictions in Maine resulted in yielding liquors
of the strength of ours, there was still a balm in
Gilead. Pretty soon he gave us a hornpipe jig in
double time, and discovered our excess of mirth, which
no longer had cause to be concealed.

Booth was in his prime, and constitutionally sub-
ject to varying moods ; at times highly elated, followed
by great depressions, and both would go to extremes.
He fought hard against these tendencies, as against
his disposition to indulge too freely in drink, and in
the later years of his life largely overcame these
features.

In fishing he would exhibit the impetuosity of a
Petruchio, and this cost me several rods, which he
broke into smithereens over small trout. He got in
one day from a neighboring town a new fairly good
bamboo fly rod, which I assisted him in setting up,
arranging the reel and line and pliable soaked leader,
and left him afterwards noosing on a scarlet ibis.
The rod was lying on the dining-room table. I was
no sooner out of the rooms on the porch, when I heard
a tremendous rumpus in the dining-room, and enter-
ing found Booth flying about the room like a mad-
man. He had left his fly hanging over the side of
the table, which the half-grown family cat present,
seeing, struck at with its paw, which the sharp hook
caught in, and the frightened cat bolted vinder the

56 Reminiscences of

table with rapid speed, breaking the rod tip and drag-
ging the rod after, while Booth, crying "scat, cat,"
had no effect on the now crazed feline, which he
was following after in great excitement at high pres-
sure with adjectives of singular note. The sequel of
this was the escape of the cat with the gaudy fly well
hooked in its foot, and a well smashed-up rod. I was
too much convulsed, with the others drawn in by the
commotion, to render any aid, and Booth soon joined
in with our laughter, confessing that his fishing ex-
perience was a failure, and that he would not have any
more of it.

Booth frequently regaled us with stories of his
stage experience, and I remember of his saying that
his father was at one time very friendly and intimate
with Edwin Forrest, after whom he was named, and
how well he remembered the affection of Forrest for
him in his youth, and how often Forrest had held him
in his lap, and told him little stories, and how soon
that affection passed away when he was reaching
success on the stage, and commenced playing parts
which Forrest considered his own; that this jealousy
of Forrest's concentrated to an intense hatred, as
indicated on several occasions afterwards. Forrest
was a man of intense prejudices and dislikes, and yet
of gentle and loving disposition toward those he
trusted. He was as simple as a child in many ways,
and as appreciative as a sensitive woman to delicate
attentions. His physique was magnificent and power-
ful, and among the parts he played Othello would
seem to have been more his prototype than any other
character illustrated by the divine poet. He nourished
an unfortunate inherent hatred and vindictiveness

A Sportsman 57

constitutional with him against those he considered
his enemies, for real or fancied wrongs, and would go to
any extent to express, unworthy of the natural no-
bility of his caste. I had occasion to meet him a good
many times.

Edwin Forrest's most intimate and ever-trusted
friend — in whom he placed implicit faith and who
was worthy of it — was James Oakes, of Boston, now
with Forrest gone away. He was a man among men,
and of most sterling qualities and as true as steel in
his friendship, which exceeded that of any man I
have ever known for devotion, and for befriending
those whom misfortunes had prostrated. I am famil-
iar with numerous instances. No matter what oc-
curred from poverty or disgrace to any friend of his,
he held to his unwavering friendship to the grave,
and would foUow to the last rites of burial, and I
have known him to lay out the bodies of his dear
friends without aid from others. I felt great satis-
faction in his friendship, which I clung to through his
life, and which I now hold in pleasant memory. He
lived at the Tremont House, where I resided for a
number of years, and we were companions at the
dining-table, and of many pleasant evenings passed
in converse.

Forrest made frequent visits from Philadelphia, his
home, to pass some days with Oakes, whom he so
often told me was his dearest friend on earth, and
whom he treasured beyond words. Mr. Oakes was
cultivated in his literary taste, and was acknowledged
as a forcible critic of dramatic works and dramatic
renditions. Forrest told me that Oakes, as his dearest
friend, was the severest critic on his acting of any he

58 Reminiscences of

had ever encountered, and from him Forrest sub-
mitted to anything. I beheve if Oakes had requested
him to go out and walk around the block half a dozen
times, without assigning any reason, that Forrest
would readily have done it. The first time he came to
visit Oakes at the Tremont House, I saw him seated
with him at the table ; I quietly took a seat at another,
leaving the two loving friends together. Forrest ob-
serving this, from evident remarks of Oakes, asked
him to invite me to my usual seat, which I afterward
occupied and which led to further intimacy, and I was
after invited by them to pass the evenings in Oakes 's
sitting-room, where Forrest made free in familiar
conversation. Oakes often asked Forrest to recite,
and read extracts from favorite authors, especially
from Shakespeare, which Forrest was ever willing to
do, and there was an interest and impressiveness in
such which exceeded that of stage renderings. Oakes
would sometimes require Forrest to repeat or read over
passages several times, expressing his critical review,
which Forrest would assent to with most gracious
gentleness. The Lord's Prayer I have several times
heard Forrest repeat with an impressiveness which a
pulpit orator could well envy. Scriptural readings
were favorites, especially the psalms and proverbs.

Oakes was well known in the earlier days from his
critical articles and reviews over the signature of
"Acorn," and his stepson, Thomas K. Batelle, was
also a sporting writer of considerable prominence,
over the signature of "Corinthian Tom." I knew
him during my earliest days in California, and our
friendly relations were continued iintil his death,
some twenty-five years ago.

A Sportsman 59

The father of Batelle was a prominent shipping
merchant of Newbury port, Mass., in the eariier days
when that town was more prominent in extended
commercial affairs than now, and from this town
came several prominent men I have known : Caleb
Gushing, George Peabody, George Lunt, and others.

Two sisters of Tom Batelle, Garafelia and Caro-
line, were the wives of the two Chickering brothers,
Thomas and Frank, sons of Jonas Chickering, the
inventor and large manufacturer of the Chickering
piano. All are gone of whom I write, and it would
seem that soon the reader and I will join the "in-
numerable caravan."

An incident occurred at Upton which had a sequel
twenty-five years afterward, that I am reminded of.
The young wife of Booth's friend from Baltimore,
with her husband, were to accompany us one day on a
general party picnic we were jointly to give at a brook-
side a few miles from our hotel. Some were to go
in a large wagon, and the balance on horseback on
the somewhat motley collection of equines found by
Edwin in our vicinity. Mrs. Booth and Mrs. Bro\^'Tl,
the Baltimore wife, Edwin Booth, Dan Setchell, and I
were to go ati cheval. It was with difficulty that we
foxmd two ladies' saddles, and they were not particu-
larly attractive or efficient. But the two ladies were
determined to go mounted and were both accounted
good equestriennes. The wagon started off in ad-
vance, as there was some delay in getting on the
steeds, and as the last of all was mine and the one
preceding for Mrs. Brown, I assisted her to mount,
and everything seemed to be tight and complete, but
just as she started off, whipping up to overtake those

6o Reminiscences of

in advance, her clumsy charger stumbled badly,
throwing her over its head to the ground, where she
struck heavily. I being the nearest raised her up,
and, finding her insensible, carried her without aid
into the hotel, and then, aided by her husband, to her
apartment. The country doctor was sent for, and we
were much alarmed, and gave up the excursion. The
next day Mrs. Brown became the mother of a daughter,
the arrival being somewhat in advance of expectations,
accelerated by the unfortunate accident. Years rolled
by, a quarter of a century, and although I met Mr.
Brown occasionally I never saw his wife or daughter,
tmtil I met him one summer at a Long Branch hotel,
twenty-five years after the Upton incident, when I
learned of the death of his wife, and that his daughter,
then married, was at our hotel with her husband.
That evening I was presented to her as an old friend of
her father's, and was left in conversation with her.
After a while I expressed my pleasure in seeing her,
not only as the daughter of my old friend, but from
the fact of once having carried her in my arms, with-
out ever having seen her, or having her see me, I
most naturally experienced more than an ordinary
satisfaction. She gazed upon me with a look of sur-
prise and requested a repetition of my remarks, and
afterwards said she then had doubts of my sanity.
I told her briefly the story of the accident and of my
carriage of her mother to the hotel and of the unex-
pected denouement.

[N these reminiscences I shall ramble more or less
^ in the remembrances of the past as they arise in my

A Sportsman 6i

mind, which if I do not take up as they come, will
not otherwise appear, and though they may not be
of general interest to the reader, or directly concerned
with sports, will give me some satisfaction to recoimt.

I have noted the strong affection of some eminent
men I have known for others, and often the opposites
in dispositions — ^as of Booth for Setchell; of Forrest
for Oakes; of Daniel Webster for Peter Harvey; and
Henry Irving for Toole, the comedian. I was in-
vited one evening in London to meet the two latter
at a midnight supper at the Garrick Club, and I was
struck with the particular affection which each bore
toward the other. The affection of Webster for Peter
Harvey is well known.

I heard the last great speech of Webster, in Faneuil
Hall in 1852, the year I sailed away from that port
for California. Webster died that year. Faneuil
Hall had been denied to him for some time owing
to the sectional feeling which existed, arising from
Webster's action in the Missovui Compromise bill,
which Webster keenly felt. He had met with a
carriage accident a short time before, from which he
had not fully recovered. An intense interest existed
in the city among the friends and admirers of Webster
to hear this address, and the old hall was packed as a
box of sardines. I accompanied my most dear and
lamented friend Peter Butler, and Peter Harvey, each
particular friends of the other, and the most dear
friends of the immortal Daniel, to the small apartment
where Webster sat alone in a large arm-chair waiting
for the moment when he should be called to the plat-
form. I had never seen him before, and I was awe-
struck with his grand and magnificent proportions

62 Reminiscences of

and impressive features. His large dark eyes, well
sunken over his prominent cheek-bones, imparted a
singularly attractive effect. But his countenance
bore a friendly greeting over its sombre sternness. I
was shocked to hear Harvey familiarly say: "Well,
Dan, how do you feel to-day?"

From our seats on the platform, where many
friends of Webster were seated, we heard his last im-
pressive words to the citizens of Boston. The standing-
room of the large hall was entirely absorbed, and the
standing audience, compressed so closely, took on a
swaj'ing motion from side to side which threatened
the stability of the building. This continuing when
Webster arose, he raised his hand, and impressively
uttered the following words, which are about all I
remember :

"Let every man stand still in his place."

The effect was instant. I have always had a love
for oratory and good acting, and oratory often car-
ries one beyond reason. I can imagine the ancient
orators were remarkable for their stirring power,
but I can hardly beUeve they surpassed those of
modem days, — Chatham, Fox, Patrick Henry, Rufus
Choate, Henry Clay, and our own orators of note —
in their specialties — of whom I have heard Wendell
Phillips, John B. Gough, and Thomas H. Marshall,
of Kentucky. I deemed them the most effective of
any I have heard.

I was present at the first inaugural address of
Abraham Lincoln, at Washington, of simple and
heart-feeling words, which proved of no avail, and
in several political meetings in Illinois I heard the
combating stump speeches of Lincoln and Stephen

A Sportsman 63

A. Douglas. I have also heard Samuel Houston,
in Tremont Temple, Boston, and frequently Edward
Everett; also Henry Ward Beecher, Anson G. Bur-
lingame, Salmon P. Chase, Caleb Cushing, Franklin
Pierce, N. P. Banks, Gladstone, Robert IngersoU,
and others of prominence. I account Wendell Phil-
lips— although by no means his disciple — one of the
cleverest, and in language the most graceful and
classical of orators I ever heard, surpassing the studied
elegance of Everett in his seeming spontaneity and
fitness of words, and I am doubtful if Cicero surpassed
him.

I think for impassioned eloquence with lofty ex-
pression and personal magnetic power Rufus Choate
in his address on Daniel Webster surpassed any I
ever heard. This was delivered in the Revere House,
in 1853, upon the anniversary of Webster's death,
at a banquet given by the immediate friends and
admirers in memory of that event. Choate had
been a lifelong friend of Webster, and no one could
have been selected more fitting for the event. Choate,
of tall, thin, and angular form, with a countenance ex-
hibiting the emotions of thought and genius in its
worn and wrinkled features seamed with singular
interlineations, indicative of his intense nervous-san-
guine temperament, surmounted with a brow o'er
which "the pale cast of thought" seemed enthroned,
was confessedly the leader of the Massachusetts
Bar, in effective force. In an intellectual sense I
was an ardent admirer of the man, and I often stole
away in busy hours to listen to and admire the il-
luminations and magnetic power of his persuasive
eloquence in noted cases.

64 Reminiscences of

One instance I recall in a criminal case where
Choate was engaged for the defendant, which was
of prolonged period, and excited an absorbing inter-
est from the community, when his summing up of
the evidence consumed several hours; and when the
condition of the jury was plainly evident to the
assemblage, being clear that eleven of the jury were
for acquittal, while the twelfth sat stolidly in the
front centre of the box, assuming an indifference
vmfelt by any other in the court. The case was one
where the defendant had slain the seducer of his
honor, clearly and premeditately. In the sense of
the law it was a clear case for conviction. But who
can account for the conclusions of a jury, which may
act from sympathy, with its impulses strained to a
forgetfulness of the mandate, "Thou shalt not kill."
The twelfth juror became aware as all present that
he was the conspicuous object of attention, and con-
scious that his attitude was apparent to his fellow-
jurors, as well as to the orator of defence, and that
the latter's efforts were particularly directed toward
him, and prolonged for his conversion. He was a
singular man, of sturdy make-up and decided cast,
with frontal head retreating to rear prominence;
one of that sort of men who occasionally get drawn
on a jixry where the other eleven are wanting in good
sense and reason. He had long since ceased to allow
his sight to be obscured by the presence of the orator
who held entranced with magnetic power the rest of
the jury, and, affecting a stupid languor, sat with
downcast head and eyes. Choate sought but one
glance to hold with his conquering power, but in vain.
It was an exciting period, a waiting one, to exhibit

A Sportsman 65

the mastery of one mind over another, of an efTort to
establish the Une of transmission by the visual organ
from brain to brain for the torrential outpouring,
negatively diverted by the dam of obstinacy. The
impassioned orator advanced and withdrew by turn
over the open space between himself and the object of
attack, vainly seeking an opening for his spellbinding
power, until with a final advance accompanied with a
flow of words in rapidity beyond the power of the sten-
ographer's art, holding all present in breathless quiet,
brought down his clenched hand with resovmding
force upon the flat bar by the downcast head which
held the ransom of a human life. Thus startled,
and much confused, the head quickly rose with an
inquiring glance, which was fated to lose its domina-
tion, and the battle was won, for Choate caught it
before it could slink away again, and held it with an
intensity from which there was no mortal escape;
and into the now receptive brain of his victim with a
communication now established he poured forth a
flow of alternate commanding and persuasive logic,
which even the befuddled intelligence of his now
terrified quarry could not withstand, coupled with the
apparent conspicuousness of his position and a clear
condemnation of his previously held attitude. There
was little doubt felt when the jury retired what its
conclusion would be, and a unanimous acquittal was
soon declared.

The assemblage of 1853 at the Webster banquet
on the first anniversary of his death was of most
devoted friends of the departed statesman, and repre-
sented a distinguished element of advanced intelli-
gence gleaned from the surrounding region. It was

66 Reminiscences of

a question if any one covdd arise to the expectations
of the event in a sufficient tribute to the memory of
the departed one whose majestic presence and grand
oratorical powers had been unequalled in the records
of history — of one whom nature's mould had never
given another of grander personification of manhood.
When the moment arrived for the rising of Rufus
Choate, all movement and conversation ceased and
the stillness of expectation prevailed. All knew the
careworn countenance of the orator of the evening
with its graven lines, the brow whereabout struggled
the furtive locks now silvering from time, the chin of
firmness and classic movild ; the mouth of expressiveness,
from which issued the honeyed words of persuasive-
ness or those of disdain, contempt, or denunciation;
the form moderately tall and spare, of nervous mus-
cular build without tendency to fulness, quick in
movement or quiet as occasion required, natural and
tmaffected, yet trained by years of active practice.
The commencement was quiet, moderate, and of clear
enunciation, of gentle tones seeking way into the
hearts of the lovers of Webster, and finding place
there; and thus on, with slowly increased recitations of
moment, which found willing response. The orator
knew full well the union he had found, without hand
recognition. It was not required, for the words of
the master mind in sorrow and regret and in sym-
pathy and love and admiration were but the breathing
form of united thought. And so on, with gradual
increase of emotion so apt and natural that admira-
tion of the orator was forgotten in the perfection of
illustration.

There are many forms of oratory: The smooth

A Sportsman 67

Addisonian flow of perfect English as rendered by
Edward Everett, beyond criticism, possibly brilliant
in a conservative degree, with well rounded sen-
tences, accompanied by graceful gestures, but cold and
emotionless. That of the often uncultivated and
awlcvN'ard delivery, but well founded on fact and rea-
son. That of the extravagant type, which may
interest and amuse. That of commonplace which
in lack of evidence, manner, or fact is uninteresting.
That of homely and kind delivery which touches the
heart to its depths. That of Webster, the Great
Expounder, in depth and comprehensiveness exhibit-
ing the grandeur of the human mind to its extent, and
whose very presence and simple words imparted an
inexplicable interest. That of Choate, the creator of a
school by itself, of magic power self-inherited; of
form, head, and countenance indicating the restless
and impetuous soul within ; of imaginative mind in
sentiment and tenderness; of analytical faculty and
consecutiveness of illustrations; of education in the
classics most exact: a rare combination of will power
and though tfulness, and possessing that magnetic
ability — if such we will call that mysterious and un-
known power which exists without tongue, picture, or
tangible evidence — to hold, enlist, and affect the hearts
and minds of others. It is the innate offspring from
hidden source which is not of thought and education
and exists more or less in all, often unconsciously,
and without which one cannot attain great power.
This, in my view, was possessed by Choate to an
eminent degree.

One can imagine the sublime influence of this
sense from an orator possessing the general qualifi-

68 Reminiscences of

cations of Choate, and for an hour the assemblage
was held by an eloquence siupassing any it has been
my experience to have witnessed. Perhaps I dwell
too long upon this digression, and sometimes I think
my receptive condition — ^being at that time in my
teens — exceeded that of my present, but my recol-
lection is vivid, and I would not deny myself the
memory, and I can see as plainly as of yesterday
the living countenance and animated form of Choate.
I think it quite probable that I was too receptive,
for I am reminded of the intense interest I felt at
that period in the dramatic recitations and acting
of the famous French tragedienne, Sarah Felix Rachel,
who visited the United States at that time, and the
effect upon me exceeded any I have since experienced
or approached by the representations I have witnessed
of Ristori, Janauschek, Matilda Heron, Charlotte
Cushman, and others of less note. Her fragile and
delicate form, of pliant mould, and her pale coun-
tenance, of not particular impressiveness when at rest,
became illuminated in action with the most intense
expressions which only high genius (or was it talent ?)
could render. Her rest of classic cast, her movement
of gentle or violent action ever graceful, her enuncia-
tion of sweetness or severity, although in foreign
tongue, ever clear and penetrating, habitated her
presence in my estimation beyond the possibilities of
expectation, and I clung to her representations of
Medea, Phrede, and other leading parts with a fer-
vency and absorbism never since equalled. Rachel
died soon afterwards in Paris at the age of thirty-
eight, consumed, it is claimed, by the intensity of her
own nature.

A Sportsman 69

In later years I have experienced the intensity of
admiration and regard for the acting of the elder
Salvini, whom I account the peer in natural presenta-
tion and reserved power of any other actor. In
whatever play I have seen him, I have followed him
with great interest, and I can hardly believe that
Talma or Garrick could have been his equal.

LET us return to the sporting line. In the early
history of Maine, game of the character now
existing there was plentiful, and wolves were abund-
ant, although they are now quite unknown except
occasionally in the extreme northeastern part, and
have not been known about the Rangeley Lakes for
fifty years, which is rather singular, considering that
such expansive forests abound, where the conditions
are comparatively similar to those before existing.

Owing to the absence of protecting-game laws, and
the ease with which moose and deer were killed in
the deep snow in February and March, — becoming
crusted over by slight day thawings and night freez-
ings,— the slaughter was simple enough, and such
killing was extensively pursued by the inhabitants,
with a consequent diminution of both animals, and
between the years 1850 and i860 moose and deer
became pretty scarce about the frontier settlements
of the State.

This condition aroused public attention and game
laws more stringent than before existing were enacted,
and from i860 deer became more plentiful, although
slaughtering in the crusted snow was still continued
to a limited extent in the outlying districts and by
the winter loggers, but the laws became more drastic

70 Reminiscences of

under the present commissioners who were appointed
by the State, and who continue still in office.

Let us consider the benefits of protecting-game
laws in a region where they have been of notable
and conspicuous effect — more so, perhaps, than else-
where in the United States; in an extensive region
where a fair trial has been made, and where an op-
position has constantly appeared, though of late
much diminished, since the advantages of protec-
tion have become more apparent. A large increase
of deer is now clearly shown in Maine, as well as
moose, now appearing in districts from which they
had become almost exterminated.

Especially in the department of fisheries have the
advantages of protection been shown by the pro-
hibition of winter fishing, and the limitation of the
open season. These fish laws particularly have been
in force against much opposition, from the objective
element of the State, and this objective disposition
is ever present more or less in all restricted districts
from the unthinking and often reckless element.
Such opposition comes largely from those who in
reality have but little at stake.

The State of Maine can be cited conspicuously as
one where efficient game protection has resulted in
great gain, for the material benefit, not only for the
State in its income derived from licenses, and money
expended within its borders by visitors, but for the
sportsmen who regularly frequent the lakes and
rivers for fishing and the forests for hunting. It is
estimated that from ten to fifteen millions of dollars
per annum are expended directly and indirectly in
the State by visitors who are attracted by the fishing

A Sportsman 71

and shooting advantages offered; and about twenty-
five thousand dollars per annvun are obtained from
the sale of licenses, which funds are contributed to-
ward the expenses of supervision, wardens, and the
propagation of fish.

In 1875 there were but four lakes or ponds which
contained land-locked salmon, which have now been
introduced into more than eight hundred, and hun-
dreds appropriate for black bass have also been
stocked. The salt-water smelt, which is suitable
for many fresh waters — although seldom reaching
the size attained in the sea, — is ver}- generally dis-
tributed throughout Maine waters, and entirely
throughout the Rangeley waters, which cover about
one hundred square miles; it has furnished a new and
very important source of trout and land-locked salmon
food, and seems to be the chief food in the spring
after the ice clearing. They are seen in large schools
at the surface, of about two inches in length, and I
have counted out from the stomachs of large trout
and salmon as many as fifty or sixty from a single
fish.

Under the intelligent action of the game com-
missioners, the breeding of trout and salmon has
been most extensively prosecuted, and besides stock-
ing home waters, young fry has been very extensively
and freely distributed throughout the country, even
to the Pacific Coast. In fact, the protection of game
and sporting interests, prosecuted in the successful
manner it has been, has largely increased the pros-
perity of the State, and United States Senator Frye,
himself an ardent sportsman, in the course of a recent
address, said:

72 Reminiscences of

"In all the times of business depressions and dis-
tress, financial panics and consequent unemployment
of labor, so seriously affecting the country, the State
of Maine has suffered much less than any other State
in the American Union, mostly, if not entirely, due
to the large amount of money left there by the fisher-
men, the summer tourist, and the Fall hunter, the
seeker after change, rest, and recreation."

The quinnat or king salmon of the Pacific Coast
has also been introduced into the waters of Maine
with success, and can now be caught up to a weight
of ten or twelve pounds. The salmon is a fresh-
water fish, although its habitat is the sea, and
after a sea life it cannot be transferred to fresh
water without losing its prime qualities; if taken
from the hatcheries as a fingerling or smolt and con-
fined in fresh water it will becoine domesticated there
and breed as other fish, but will never reach the size
or the peculiar delicious flavor of the sea salmon.
It will, however, retain the peculiarities of its congener
in taking the fly and leaping from the water when
hooked with all the game qualities of the trout, and in
this respect is considered superior by many fishermen.

In some waters the land-locked salmon will gain
more weight than in others. In the Sebago Lake,
for instance, and also in the Rangeleys, they will
reach a maximum of fifteen or eighteen pounds.

For a while moose practically disappeared about the
Rangeley Lakes and one could travel long distances
through the forests without seeing any or a deer-
yard. By a provision of instinct, which is indicated
so prominently with many animals, the moose and
deer will, in a region of heavy snows, select before

A Sportsman 73

the maximum of depth is reached, and the season
when surface crusting occurs, a location generally
in black growth where browsing is favorable, and
yard, so to say. This yard is not particularly limited
in extent, sometimes extending over several miles,
depending somewhat upon the nimiber of animals
yarding. Here they will remain unless disturbed
until the full snow season is on. The traversing of
the yard keeps the soft snow broken up, and when
the day thawings come along the indentations of the
feet not only pack the snow at the foot imprints, but
extend several feet outside, which, freezing, makes a
stronger surface crust than over adjoining untouched
tracts. Crossing and recrossing, as moose and deer
will do a great deal of in a yard, imparts a favorable
footing, and one passing over will readily discover
that he is in a yard, though he may see no other signs
of animal existence, and sometimes it requires a good
deal of travelling to find the occupants when a yard is
extensive.

The deer in a winter yard will evade the search by
keeping out of sight, though their fresh tracks may
be observed. If the snow outside is deep and heavily
crusted they will show a great deal of reluctance
in leaving a yard. Sometimes they will lie down
in the yard together in the best place of shelter, and
in such cases will allow the seeker to pass pretty near
before taking flight, and will then perhaps round
about in the 3'ard, well aware of the difficulties which
await them. Although accompanied by a dog, which
will materially aid him, a hunter will often find great
difficulty in ousting a herd of deer from a yard.
I came into a deer yard in the winter of 1859 — the

74 Reminiscences of

first winter trip after the fishing excursion — in the
early morning with my hunting guide, Nay Bennett,
and his mongrel undersized dog — but clever with
moose and deer, — and we spent the whole half -day
searching for the deer which we had clear evidence
were in the yard. It was some two miles long by
a mile wide, and indicated the holding of a goodly
number by the numerous fresh tracks, twig browsing,
and other signs, and though we hunted industriously
over it for four or five hours, no deer could we find,
and as we had an objective point to reach that night
several miles off, we concluded to lunch and push on.
So, with a brisk fire, and some tea made with water
from melting snow, and a rasher of broiled salt pork
and bread, we relieved our somewhat fatigued legs
by a rest.

We had one gun, a half blanket, and some pounds
of bread and salt pork, some tea and a small pot and
cups, extra thick socks, and a few other incidentals,
including a few hooks and lines for catching trout
through the ice. We were in a wilderness of forest
where we could: go a hundred miles or more without
seeing a settlement, and were bound for Parmachene
Lake, the headwater of the Androscoggin River, some
thirty miles distant. What more could we desire
than the prospect before us? I was reluctant about
giving up further search for the deer, and not joining
Nay in his accustomed smoke after eating, I left him
to pack up our extensive holdings, with the gun, and
follow, and taking a compass line in the direction we
were to go, started on accompanied by our canine,
which bore the euphonous name of Zip. I was about
passing out of the yard north, when up sprang a dozen

A Sportsman 75

deer from their beds in the snow and in mass broke
from the yard and down the somewhat steep hill
in the direction I was heading. They were soon
out of sight, leaving a deep furrow which Nay after-
wards said looked as if a loaded cart had gone down
there.

There was no time to lose as they should be hard
pressed at the start before they could recover from
the first fright, and settle down to a steady, moderate
pace, or separate. So calling loudly to Nay, uncer-
tain if he could hear me, I hastened on with Zip,
who already was about out of sight ahead on the
trail. He was a knowing dog, this mongrel Zip,
who had served his apprenticeship for some years
with Nay, his master being a noted hunter, and fonder
of moose and deer hunting and life in the woods than
work on the small farm he had at the Megalloway
settlement. I was quite light and quick on the snow-
shoe, and I soon overtook and passed Zip, whose oc-
casional slumping in the' snow retarded his progress,
but gave no cessation of his excited yelping. I soon
left him far behind, but he had no discouragement
in his bones, and afterwards came up in good season.

Not more than half a mile more did I go, before
I had the deer in sight ahead; they, being confused
and floundering in the deep snow, were still together.
Pitiful sight was it not? I think so, but did not
then, as I was too eager for the killing and fresh meat.
But as I came up to them they parted in different di-
rections, as was their habit when close pressed. Hast-
ily selecting the largest of the herd for my particular
attention, and to hold as I could only until Nay came
up, I pressed him to bay, for he could not make

76 Reminiscences of

progress equal to mine, so he beat down the snow
about him and faced me, and I was holding him when
Zip arrived full of fury and yelping.

My quarry upon this broke off again, when Zip,
with still more frightful yelps, fastened momentarily
on the rear, letting go in season to avoid the front-
foot strike so habitual with the deer at close
quarters. A dog of this character is more efficient
with moose and deer at bay, and in fact with bear
or other large animals belonging to the dangerous
class, than a large and courageous one depending
upon his power untaught by experience, which often
occasions his sudden exit from the scene, and con-
sequent peril to his master.

I noted lately an account of the escape of a hunter
in the mountains from a wounded grizzly bear by the
active distracting work of a fox-terrier which accom-
panied him.

All the rest of the deer had broken away out of
sight, and I saw no difficulty in holding mine until
Nay should come up with the gun. But he was
slow in arriving, and my buck kept moving along,
and I kept after him, impeding him with Zip as much
as possible, which worked him up into a great fury in
which he would charge at his tormentor with a hissing
sound, striking at him with his feet, which Zip managed
to keep well clear of, but came very near being trod-
den under several times owing to the broken snow,
which troubled him as much as the buck.

I worked up pretty closely with my cheering
on, but thought prudent to have my long-bladed
knife in hand in case I should receive a charge, and
sure enough it came rather utiexpectedly, and so

A Sportsman ^^

suddenly that in my haste to avoid it, I locked my
snowshoes and came down in a heap with the buck
on top of me, but whose sharp feet I managed to
avoid as he came down. Zip managed to get in on
the rear, but I lost sight of him in the flurry, and
had no way to avoid an up-and-down churning, ex-
cepting to throw my arms up over the neck of the
deer, still retaining my knife in hand. In this situ-
ation I was lifted up and down very quickly several
times with no ability to use my knife, and I saw that
something would have to result very shortly, or I
should be hors dc combat, as my weight and strength
seemed of slight avail in contrast with the apparently
increasing strength of my adversary, who was hissing
with fright and rage and whom I would have been glad
to cry' quits with, if I could only have been relieved
from him. But the combat ended in a moment. I
managed with my left arm hooked over the neck as
I came down to get a handful of hair and skin, to hold
at, and support my weight, and as quickly liberated
my right arm and hand, and thrust my knife to the
hilt in the chest of the deer at the neck. It was a
lucky thrust, splitting the windpipe and heart, and
we came down together, but I had to turn in the
snow to avoid the ruddy flow from the nostrils of my
dying victim. I had now to find if I had received
any injury, and found I had but a few scratches to
show, though my snowshoes had more serious damages,
requiring more or less patching up during the balance
of the trip.

When Nay came up we dressed and hung up the
buck after taking a few choice strips for present
use, and the deer remained for ten days or so frozen.

78 Reminiscences of

Being but a few miles from a logging camp.we had the
buck afterwards dragged out by the camp tote-sled,
and on to the Megalloway settlement to take back
with us, and its weight dressed up was one hundred
and eighty-seven pounds.

Upon another occasion I killed with the same
knife a still larger buck which came suddenly upon
me in the snow when wounded. The conflict was
brief, although several thrusts were required, and
I escaped with but few bruises.

We pushed on for Parmachene Lake at the head-
waters of the Androscoggin area of drainage, be-
ing situated near the Canada line twenty-five miles
from the Megalloway River settlement, passing nearly
two weeks on this my first snowshoe excursion to
that region, which I was so much delighted with
that I made four more excursions to the same region
in the following winters with the same guide, meeting
with many adventures and minor experiences too
numerous to give much mention of at this time.
These were made in the months of February and
March, when the snow was from four to seven feet
deep on the level, and when the conditions were favor-
able for securing large game.

The method of camping out was very simple, and
consisted of breaking up primarily the snow crust
over a space of ten feet by seven, in a sheltered place
where firewood was favorable, and then shovelling out
the loose snow with snowshoes to within a foot or two
of the bottom. Then a good mattress of hemlock
boughs is laid upon the soft bottom snow, and a supply
of dry pine and green birch or maple wood secured

A Sportsman 79

at the side of the pit, and a fire made at the end
braced up against a good-sized log of green wood.

Then comes a change of footwear, and the three
pairs of woollen socks worn in snowshoeing, if wet, are
hung up to dry, where they will without scorching,
and then comes the delicious supper of broiled bird or
venison or fish, with which the larder may be supplied.
Melted snow supplies the water for tea, without lacteal
or saccharine addition, and ye gods ! what feasts can be
taken in a comfortable snow pit by one who loves that
sort of thing, with healthful rest, so gratifying to the
fatigT-ied hunter after a day's tramp. Then perhaps a
fragrant pipe, sweeter than can be had amid the haunts
of men, away and alone in the beautiful and enchant-
ing forest. Think of it : No bells, or buzzing street cars ;
no evening papers, or postman ; no notices of servants'
quittance, or leaking pipes, discussion of gas bills or
electric lights; no engagements for next evening — all
away and forgotten, as one reclines upon the fragrant
boughs, and watches the ascending smoke and sparks
rising through the overhanging tree limbs toward the
twinkling stars. Perhaps it may be stormy; then a
shelter overhead of a few sticks and boughs, and the
home grows more fascinating in change than when
the sky is clear, so soul filling and rapturous that, in
excess of joy, I have been inclined to leave it and roll
in the snow and cry out in very fulness of heart, and
as I look now, nearly half a century backward, my
soul swells again to fulness, and the recollection
drives away the forcing cares which unbidden would
prevail. Happy days were those, perhaps the hap-
piest of any.

How I would love, even now, to be thrown out

8o Reminiscences of

into the depths of the forest again, and revel in the
allurements belonging thereto. Would I enjoy it as
much as before? Yes, I am sure I would, but the tur-
moils of later responsibilities are upon me, and it is
more difficult to pull away. But how fragrant the
memory! How it softens the asperities of life.

WITH advancing years, one becomes more averse
to the rough features of sporting life enjoyed
in early days, and more reluctant to face the nipping
cold, and rest upon unyielding beds, and so in late
years I have reared comfortable abodes in the wilder-
ness of the Rangeleys in Maine, where I could com-
bine some semblance of personal comforts in the midst
of the primitive forest. There I have made annual
and sometimes prolonged visits for nearly half a cen-
tury, where I have been able to observ-e the many
peculiar features of the Fontinalis family, and to
gratify my taste for solitary rambles in the unbroken
forest, especially in the inclement seasons of winter
when the charms dispute in attractiveness with all
others.

When stalking deer in the open months of No-
vember and December — at which time the snow is
likely to be moderately plentiful in Maine, through
which, soft and yielding, even to a depth of two
feet, the deer have no sort of difficulty in travelling
rapidly, and at a speed beyond the possibilities of
a stalker upon snowshoes — the stalker must depend
wholly upon stealing upon an animal which possesses
the sense of scent and hearing far keener than human
possession, although it may be doubted if it has a

A Sportsman 8i

superior perceptiveness in sight. All hunters have
seen that wild animals will observe a moving body
with interest if not suspicion, but if one stands per-
fectly still, at first, not being detected, wild animals will
often approach very near, as I have repeatedly had
deer, bears, and foxes do. Deer, seeming to be aware
of this feature, will frequently stand motionless, sup-
posing themselves to be unobserved, and will allow
an intruder to pass very closely. Foxes, despite their
cunning and suspiciousness, appear to be more dim-
sighted than other animals, and will come upon you
ver\' frequently in the fields about the settlements,
when hunting field-mice, in which pursuit they seem to
be wholly absorbed, and by standing still and imitating
the faint squeak of the mouse, one may tempt them
to approach within a few feet.

I wish I could do justice to the subject of deer
stalking, but it has so many aspects, varying so in
effect upon the appreciation and receptiveness of the
stalker, that it is not likely that one's own views
may be fully shared by another. Still, I can believe
that with many, the enjoyment does not wholly con-
sist in the killing of deer, although it is the primary-
object, but, as in fishing for trout, the auxiliaries are
the attractive features.

There is a wholesomeness and vitality about the
Maine forests in winter which is not found elsewhere.
The cold, the ice, the snow, the changing rough
weather, invite to the robust recreations of skating,
ice-boating, tobogganing, and snowshoeing. They
heighten the comforts of indoors. Restful sleep,
appetite and digestion, and blazing birchwood fires
solve the question, "Is life worth living?"

82 Reminiscences of

Whatever season it may be, the Maine forests are
lovely, and it is difficult to say when they are the
most so. One might say in the early spring, when
the buds of the deciduous trees are expanding and
the ferns and brakes unfolding, or when full-fledged,
or in the decadence, when the autumnal tints appear ; or
in the winter, when garnished with wreaths of snow.

The period of falling leaves is exceptionally charm-
ing. As the leaves fall they exude the various odors
of their belonging, so that one with closed eyes may
tell the character of the prevailing trees. I have
often thought of the pleasure I should take if I were
blind in walking among the localities I am familiar
with, when the pleasant recognition of well-known
trees would guide my steps.

In my taste the late fall and first half of the winter
dispute with any other season, and I am not sure if
I do not prefer the rough and changing time of winter
at the lakes, with its accompaniments, to any other.
At least the summer is too short and the scene must
lap over. Tell me not of orange groves and flowers,
and vines with clinging clusters, but of the winter
forest in its kaleidoscopic beauty, and of the lakes in
their broad mantles of ice and snow. The singing of
the wind around the tree-tops and the whirling flakes
have more charm for my accustomed sight and ear
than the cooing of the dove in midsummer bower.

There are scarcely any Maine forests, however
tangled they may appear, which do not possess
pleasant and accessible reaches of park -like valleys
and hillsides, or rounded ridges of hardwood growth
or pine, allowing comfortable travelling for the stalker.
Possessed with the unerring compass and a tolerable

A Sportsman 83

familiarity with the region marks, he advances upon
the proposed Une, which may include some miles of
circuit. There must be an object in all efforts to give
zest, whether we walk, drive, sail, bike, or shoot;
somewhere to go, something to realize. So with the
deer stalker, his primary object is to get deer, and it
matters little in one sense if he succeeds or not, and
the latter is generally the case. But if he is of an ap-
preciative cast, the surroundings are inhabited with
charming life and enjoyment.

Most stalkers will concede that at no time of the
year are their rambles more agreeable than when the
ground is half carpeted with the yellow, brown, and
crimson leaves which announce the opening of the
hunting season.

The deer are now found more in the open growth,
and with the cooler weather range about extensively.
It is the approach of the mating season, and frequent
are the saplings with scarred bark, caused by the
whetting of antlers preparatory to rival encounters.
Here and there are bare spots and scattered dead-
wood which have been pawed in the impatient spirit
of combat.

The deer — timid as supposed — is possessed of an
indomitable and persistent courage in conflict with
its own kind, and will fight to the extremity of weak-
ness and even death before yielding. I have witnessed
a good many scenes of this character, where the
trampled ground and broken shrubs indicated des-
perate encounters.

At one place, a few miles from the lake, I witnessed
in December a scene which indicated a meeting of
particular ferocity. I had tracked a large buck

84 Reminiscences of

through eight inches of snow. The buck had evi-
dently found several others in conflict, and being a
free lance, and at a free fight, had immediately engaged.
The snow was completely crushed and tumbled over
an area somewhat larger than an ordinary circus ring,
and it was decidedly apparent that a stag circus of
unusual magnitude had occiirred without the super-
vision of a ringmaster, or the encoiiraging plaudits
of spectators. I counted five departing trails, and the
performance had probably terminated several hours in
advance of my arrival. Probably one by one the
vanquished had departed, until the acknowledged
champion held the field. Such seems to have been
the case, as the trails were diverging. One champion
exhibited the hasty and kidicrous method of his exit
by leaping over a broken tree six feet in height, when
a projecting fractixre had creased his body the whole
length in passing, leaving a bountiful handful of hair
and fragmentary cuticle in evidence. This might be
accounted a feeling instance of the P. P. C. order of
etiquette with the Cervus family. The trampled area
was flecked with enough hirsute scrapings to fill a
good-sized pillow, with occasional spatterings of scarlet
coloring.

It is seldom that a buck, however large and sav-
age, will charge a stalker when wounded, but occa-
sionally— though very rarely — he will, and a friend
of mine will carry the scar for life of a face disfigure-
ment from a wounded buck he shot at, which came
upon him with such sudden force that he had no time
for defence, and was struck in the face by an antler
which broke his jaw-bone, and stove out several of his
teeth. The buck then passed on out of sight.

A Sportsman 85

I recall another instance of an experienced deer
hunter of powerful build, a friend of mine, who had
a wounded buck come upon him so suddenly that he
could only seize him by the horns as they tumbled
over together, and which he held down for some time,
but found he could not get away from, for every time
he loosened up, the buck would renew his attack,
declining any retreat. For more than half an hour he
carried on the struggle, and though powerful enough
to hold the deer down, he felt his strength declining,
while that of the buck seemed as much as ever. He
had an ordinary pocket-knife which he finally managed
to get out and open, and stabbed the buck with the
short blade many times without reaching a vital spot,
and began to despair that he would ever get out of the
scrape, as he was becoming exhausted. He nerved
up, however, and centred the work of his knife at the
throat and finally severed the jugular vein, and the
buck, fighting to the last, gradually weakened by the
loss of life-blood, yielded to the inevitable. Bruised
and bleeding, the victor related to me, he was so faint
that he laid himself out beside the vanquished for
more than an hour before he could wend his homeward
way.

With the fall of snow the deer stalker finds new
delight. With the luxury of well-stockinged and moc-
casined feet, he goes forth to new realms of enchant-
ment. The atmosphere is of buoyant and stimulating
energy. The arboreal and shrub life is invested with
crystallizations of dazzling purity, each one being a
marvel beyond the art of man. The consciousness of
being alone in a wide expanse of forest, beyond

86 Reminiscences of

habitations and the sound of human voice, is in itself
for the nonce a sensation of reUef .

The reaches of pine groves and of beech and of
maple, all interspersed with birch — the loveliest tree of
northern climes — are inspiring. They say:

' ' Come and explore me. We have waited long and
you came not. Now you shall bear witness to our
grandeur and solitude, and have contemplation. See
in us the prototypes of your own race, how we rise and
fall. We flourish in prosperity and topple in misfor-
tune. We stand apart, some rugged and gnarled as
some of your own kind, defying the wintry blast, but
others are nurtured in protection. Some are comely
and others scarred. See in us your own history, to
start forth and bear and die. Your sun of light is ours,
and the sky to all, and the air you breathe is our life.
Yonder broad stump is the monument of a patriarch
of old. There were giants in those days, but none
now, for they have been taken to rib your homes and
deck your ocean messengers."

At the hour of noon the stalker rests before a dead
and broken pine, which with match and birch peelings
is soon ablaze. His simple luncheon becomes a precious
blessing, and may be followed by the incense of fra-
grant pipe. What more shall be required to fill the
day's cup of happiness than the comfort of the home
fire at night and the panacea of Nature's most enjoy-
able fatigue?

After my first winter fishing trip in 1858 to the
Rangeleys I made perhaps a dozen more in succeeding
years, generally in the months of December and Janu-
ary, finding much satisfaction in the change from the
confinement of town life, with the attractiveness of

A Sportsman 87

taking such fine, large trout, always in good form, and
surpassing all others of which I have known.

Despite the sometimes unfavorable weather, when
storms and cold predominated, the pleasures and
realizations of buoyant cheerfulness, appetite, and
sleep well repaid all privations and inconveniences.
Sometimes it was difficult to get there, owing to heavy
snowfalls and unbroken roads, requiring two or three
days from the settlement to get through and estab-
lished. But this was the commencement of fun, of
which there was no cessation. There were no settle-
ments then within miles of the lakes we visited, and we
had to haul in our supplies on bob-sleds. Sometimes the
ice would be treacherous, and we would break through
with our horses, but no particular danger attended this,
though we once lost a pair of horses, which was occa-
sioned by the carelessness of the driver, who ventured
beyond the route which had been lined and tested by
axe strokes. This was in early December when the
ice was thin at places, and in this place of breaking
through the ice all about was too thin to allow any
leverage to pry up the horses so that they could be
pulled out, and we had to abandon them as the weather
was very cold, below zero, and darkness coming on.

We often got horses in over spring holes where the
water below had cut the ice thin, and at cracks and
blow-out holes. But it was a simple method the
natives had, though not gentle. Always having ropes
on the sled, a rope with a noose was thrown over a
horse's head after it was detached from the sled,
the latter being pulled back, seldom going in with
the team. The horse, being well choked, swells
up in the body, which prevents sinking. A stout pole,

88 Reminiscences of

generally carried on the sled, is inserted under the body
of the horse, which is pried up until a portion of the
fore part lifts on the ice, and then all hands, pulling on
the rope, slide out the horse on the stronger ice. If
with a pair of horses, the method is repeated with the
second, it being choked up to flotation while the first
horse is being pulled out. Unless the weather is par-
ticularly cold, and if the horse is not in the water too
long, it can generally get up on its feet. If not, it is
helped up, and moved about until it regains some
activity. Then harnessing up takes place, and we
move on.

We never lost any horses, excepting in the instance
mentioned. Although the treatment given seems
rough, I have not known any injury from it, or even
a complaint from the patients, who, doubtless, were
grateful enough for escape from drowning by being
thus promptly treated. It is needless to say that the
equines employed on the lake roads are not up to the
standard valuation of the pedigreed stock we often
hear of, as frequenters of the lakes will readily admit.

To break in when skating or fishing is a small mat-
ter, and one crawls out without difficulty, and if the
weather is moderate may go on, draining and warm-
ing up with active movement, but if the weather is
about zero, one should seek shelter. The danger from
breaking in when the ice first makes, and is thin, arises
from the inability to find sustaining ice about the break.
Then if one is without a long pole to lay on the ice to
spread his weight over some space, he is in danger with-
out extraneous aid, unless he is so near the shore that
he can break ice to it.

The unifomiity of thin ice is a feature of great

A Sportsman 89

danger, and to be most cautiously approached, and
when travelled over should be on a line close to the
shore. I have often gone up the lake shores for a
matter of ten or twelve miles, impatient of reach-
ing camp, when finding the ice thinner than expected,
and unsafe for teams or even men on foot, had to
keep along the shore ice on snowshoes, drawing sleds
with long ropes behind. New ice is particularly
tenacious, and although it will crack and seam, will,
when no more than an inch and a half thick, readily
hold up a man of ordinary weight, and a man on snow-
shoes can safely creep along on an inch of new ice.

The swelling and contraction of ice in changing
weather gives a good many curious features. One
day when several of us were proceeding along on
the ice near the lake shore for camp — there being no
roads through the woods, and the shores being so
beset with cedars, stumps, and drift that we could
hardly get along there with our sleds — w^e were startled
by a crack which sounded louder than a rifle-shot
near us, and looking back, we saw just behind an open
space in the ice, eight or ten feet wide, where we
had just passed, extending from the shore across the
lake to the other side, a mile and a half distant. Later
on we heard another report ahead, and when we
proceeded two or three miles farther, we found a
second opening across the lake, which, of course, we
had to go around. The day had come out warm and
sunny and caused the contraction.

In cold weather the ice expands, and on a very cold
night when it is thick on the lake, you are regaled in the
still hours by the constant rumbling and cracking and
at times with sounds approaching the explosion of

90 Reminiscences of

cannon in the distance, and large ridges of ice will be
thrown up under pressure across the whole lake, across
which you will have to cut away a passage to get a
team through, and large masses of ice will be thrown
on the surrounding level as if out-thrown by powder
below.

The pressure of expanding ice is immense, equal to
several thousand pounds to the square inch, and if you
fill with water an iron ball with a shell two inches
thick and plug it up and expose it to extreme cold, it
will easily crack open. Therefore the pressure of thick
ice in a lake will at times expand with such force as to
throw out the shore ice on land in the twinkling of the
eye, making a wall difficult to get over. I once saw
while on the lake a shore ice wall commence a mile
above me, where it got a start, and go two miles below
in a few seconds, with a roar beyond that of half a
dozen railroad trains.

When the lake was artificially raised some years
ago, for impounding more water for the Androscoggin
River and the mills below at Lewiston, an island not
very far from my camp, of an area of a few acres, was
flooded and frozen over in the following winter. This
island had quite a growth of pine and cedars on it.
One of my men was near when a strong movement of
the ice occurred, and saw the crushing and toppling of
the timbers as they were carried along by the moving
ice all out of place, as shown the following spring.

THERE are great extremes of cold at the lakes from
their altitude of 1500 feet above the sea, and the
winter snows fall more heavily there than perhaps at
any other locality in the country. The ice commences

A Sportsman 91

making in November, and by December loth is gener-
ally strong enough to bear teams over it, and accu-
mulates in thickness until February, and does not go
out for spring fishing on an average before May loth.

It is interesting to observe the freezing of the great
lake, commencing in November. The deciduous trees
have cast their last leaves, which to the end have
semblance of October's gaudy tints, and evergreens
have grown darker, and the shades of the valley ranges
have a cold and steely look, and the mountains are
deeper in blue.

The late autumnal days have surely come, and little
flvuries of snow and with them chickadees are in evi-
dence. The ground freezes at night, and hea\'y frosts
glitter in the morning sun. The last few flowers, and
even the everlasting flower, which survived October's
cold, fall supinely in dark coloring. The blue heron
and kingfisher — deadly destroyers of small iry — ^have
winged away, and the great American diver, or the
loon, which breeds at the lake, has taken flight. The
ducks and geese fly over hurriedly with southern trend.
The robins, darling birds, are summer joys, who have
bred in the bordering trees and proudh^ brought out
their young broods upon the lawn, and taught them
how to catch the angleworm, seeking the cool and moist-
ure of the earl}- morning. They, too, have thinned out,
though some stay all winter. The deer have left the
uplands for the cedar swamps. The frogs have ceased
their croaking and night calls, and are floating lan-
guidly about on the lake's surface, preparatory to their
dive for dormant winter quarters in the bottom mud.
The trout, big fellows with mates, five and six pounders,
are crowding on the spawning beds in their ver}' height

92 Reminiscences of

of coloring, in their best suits, with mottled backs and
carmine spangles, tender in their love, and fierce in
defending. How beautiful their blending of yellow,
scarlet, and orange. How tame and seeming fond of
attention. How many hours and days and weeks I
have watched them, and for almost half a hundred
years have I been among them, and some of them seem
like old friends, and I meet them after a year's ab-
sence, for I have known some of them for years, large
fellows, and recognize them readily in the same place
year after year ; and one I had so tame — partially con-
fined with others — that feeding from my hands was
frequent, and I have taken this one out of the water
momentarily with my hands, more than once. But I
must not go on with trout, or I will never end.

I will give you later on, perhaps, more of trout than
you will care to read, and I leave the subject reluc-
tantly to go on with the ice. The ice first commences
to freeze in the nooks and little bays in its delicate in-
terlacing threads of crystallizations, where perhaps it
holds, protected from the waves, and gradually reaches
out into the open, where it is to be broken up many
times. The lake, though cold enough to freeze, does
not, owing to the water motion. It grows steadily
colder, and the water, dashing up on the fringing
shore, varnishes the rocks and shrubbery with its
crystallizations.

In a still night the ice wreathes over a large space,
to be again disrupted, and again and again, while in
the protected coves, it solidifies more and more, giving
some skating. Then, after a cold, still night, the
morning exhibits a frozen surface, but this is not a
final closing, for a good blow breaks it all up again, by

A Sportsman 93

starting an opening, from which it rips up the whole
length of the lake with surprising rapidity. But old
Winter is stubborn and keeps on with his inevitable
grasp, and stilling the wind upon a colder night, skims
over the lake with half an inch or more of crystalliza-
tion, and keeping still the wind the following day,
adds half an inch or more. Not even then is the
victor^'- gained, for Boreas, now rampant, sends down
a blast from the north, breaking up the ice for a mile
or more, and leaping over for another mile breaks in
below and tears open a mile or two, and so on for ten
miles, skipping alternate miles perhaps.

Then cold weather, continuing, thickens up the
frozen spaces, strong enough to bear teams, while the
open places are still kept unfrozen by the envious gales,
until caught by a still night, when the open spaces are
cased over and one continuous mantle of ice reaches from
one lake end to the other. Then the lake is closed un-
til the first part of May following, and upon the ice falls
the winter accumulations of snow, and as this weight
depresses the ice surface, the water arises over the
latter, permeating the snow and creating a top of snow
ice which may be several feet in thickness.

Despite this accumulation, more or less soft places
occur over springs in places where the water is not very
deep, which cut away the ice, requiring caution in pass-
ing over, though the danger from going in is not great,
as the surrounding ice is strong enough to bear one's
weight in getting out. Horses are worked out in the
manner I have before described, and many times I have
gone in and aided in extracting horses without loss.

It was at one of the periods I have referred to when
the lake was ribbed with alternate strips of ice from a

94 Reminiscences of

mile to a mile and a half in width, with equal open
places, in the month of November, over a distance of
eleven miles from the foot of the lake where the logging
road ended to my camp, that I made a notable excur-
sion for deer stalking with Governor William E. Rus-
sell and a party of friends to the lake. The election in
Massachusetts had just occurred, being the last election
of Governor Russell in the State, and at our time of
leaving Boston it had not been clearly shown from the
returns whether Russell had been elected or not, to
which he was somewhat indifferent, for he was fatigued
and tired from many election speeches in the Common-
wealth, having made from ten to twenty addresses
each day for two or three weeks. But the subject was
hardly one for discussion during our excursion, and our
start-off was a rather sudden one. We had talked
about going, but I had little idea of our taking the trip,
and was in New York for a few days, preparatory to
my departure for California for the winter, when I
received a long telegram from the Governor reciting
his fatigue from the election work, asking if I would
take him to camp for a rest with three or four mutual
friends, and if I could not go immediately.

It required but a few moments' deliberation for me
to make up my mind affirmatively, though I had re-
turned from the lake but a few days before, where I
had been for several months, closing my camp for the
season, leaving in charge my usual keeper for the
winter, in care of my dogs, and to cut wood and ice for
the following year, not expecting to return until the
following May for the spring fishing. The ice had
commenced to form in places, when I passed down
the lake, and I had to break my way through it some

A Sportsman 95

distance to reach the shore at the logging road of exit.
But I answered Yes, and would join the Governor for
departure from Boston in two days after.

I put the telegraph in requisition, sending a mes-
sage to the nearest town from camp, twenty-odd miles
away, to send a special messenger to my camp keeper
to have four or five boats at the end of the lake on the
fourth day from date, with skates, wraps, etc. Another
to my cook in Boston, a German woman ready for any
emergency, whom I had employed for several years,
and carried back and forth from camp to California,
and who well knew my ways; one of stout heart and
accustomed to adventure and rapid execution, to whom

I had given a week's rest before her leaving for Cali-
fornia. I telegraphed her to start the following day
for the town nearest the lake, where she would be
joined by my two guides who had been with me for a
dozen years, and to get to camp as best they could,
and have dinner ready at half-past six on the fourth
day for half a dozen. The distance then was forty-
four miles from the railroad, two thirds by road and
one third by water. I then telegraphed for sundry
stores wanting, to be sent to the lake.

All went well. We left Boston on the set day,
going to Portland, where we remained over night,
taking an early train the following morning, and, after
going seventy-five miles, arrived at the railroad end at

I I o'clock. We had then forty-four miles to make be-
fore dark, and the days were short.

As we left the cars, a large stage sleigh with four
spirited horses, previously ordered, was waiting. The
sleighing was superb over a well-broken road, and we
made the run of twenty-two miles to Andover in two
hours and a half, changing horses midway. At the last

96 Reminiscences of

town we had lunch prepared for us, and with three two-
horse pungs took the last road through the woods to the
lake, twelve miles, which we did in record time. From
the last town we had at our backs a powerful southerly-
gale, and when we arrived at the lake it was blowing
great guns. Here were our two guides and camp
keeper and two boats, with the lake end frozen over
solid as far as we cotdd well see — not far, owing to the
curvation of the land, — and we were told that the ice
stopped a mile and a half distant, and then came open
water for a mile, and then ice, and so on alternately to
camp, ten miles distant. It was great fun, and a re-
markable trip we made with the gale driving us on;
we could hardly stand against the wind.

The Governor and I put on skates and went off
flying, for there was no snow to obstruct. Our guides
had thoughtfully brought down foiu" sleds to put the
boats on to haul them on the ice, and as they saw the
gale was strong enough to carry" the boats along on
the sleds, had blocked up the boats on them and pro-
vided themselves with short, stout poles, with heavy,
sticking-out nails in the ends to steer by. Very in-
genious are these Maine guides. After loading up, they
let go with the wind, somewhat irregularly at first, but
in fine form after a while, and the boats sledded over
the ice about as fast as the Governor and I could go on
skates. The great bother was to stop before the open
water, but it was managed. Then we all loaded into
the boats and pulled across the open, to take the ice
again, and so on, shifting half a dozen times, and arriv-
ing at camp somewhat in the dark. The camp was lit
up as a beacon of glorious expectation, and glad we were

A Sportsman 97

to arrive in such good season, where Providence seemed
to have been so entirely with us.

With blazing birchwood fires, and dinner soon fol-
lowing, we were jubilant with hopes of the morrow and
following days.

The lake was open north ahead of us, and at a good
hour in the morning we were pulling our boats over it
four miles to the head, where we landed, and followed
a trail for a mile to a pond of a mile and a half in length,
an adjunctive log camp I had there in the woods by
the shore. Here we remained over night, still farther
advanced in the wilderness of trees, our aim for the
moment being to get away as far as possible from the
busy haunts of men. After lunch we sallied out in
various directions, trusting to fall in with some strag-
gling members of the Cervus family, and did, but failed
to score, and found a comfortable night's rest in our
sheltered home.

The gale had subsided, and the night was tolerably
cold, at zero, still, and the morning clear. We were off
after a light breakfast before the sun smiled upon us,
and before ten o'clock had a fat doe to our credit.
After lunch we returned to the lake for home camp.

We speedily saw, as we expected, that passage over
the lake was impossible for walking or boating, as it was
entirely frozen over, and of too delicate cast for bear-
ing, and too solid for breaking passage for our boats.
So we hauled the boats higher on the shore, with bot-
toms up and oars beneath, and deserted them with
affectionate regards. The fun was deepening with rip-
ples of crimson and gold, and although our tramp
through the pathless woods was up and down hill, and
across some tangled swamps and windfalls, and to the

gS Reminiscences of

extent of five miles or more in our detours, it was full
of interest and gayety, with occasional rests at fallen
logs for chat and solace of pipe.

What fun the early explorers had despite their
privations and toils, in rest and liberty — Clark and
Lewis, in 1804, the first to cross from the Atlantic to
the Pacific; Captain Bonneville, in 1835; Parkman
and Pike, and the romantic adventurers' account of
the Astoria expedition. Nothing for man is more
refreshing and strengthening than to get away from
the exciting and strenuous life of business and profes-
sional work, than change to the restoring virtues of
rest and contemplation to be found among the waters
and forests which remain in a primitive condition.

Governor Russell told me that never in his life had
he felt more fatigued and worn than when he com-
menced this excursion, and never more refreshed and
buoyant for labor than upon his return.

I put up a joke on the Governor on this trip which
was rather amusing. When we arrived on board the
cars, in leaving Boston, he was the recipient of many
congratulations from accompanying passengers upon
the supposed results of the election, and when we ar-
rived at Portland he was greeted by a committee of
welcome, which he vainly sought to avoid, and at
several towns en route we found delegations of welcome
in waiting, and it was thought necessary at our last
town — where we took pungs for the last nm through
the woods to the lake — for a delegation of rustic resi-
dents, who had become advised of the visit, to appear
and give a final send-off. The Governor, as we sped
away from the settlement, said:

"Thank heavens, this welcome business is now over,

A Sportsman 99

and we will settle down to ourselves and our mutton."
But not so, as appeared.

After a few days at camp, I made a trip with the
Governor and one of the guides across the woods to
another lake, where deer were promising in number,
and we proceeded up a trail from the lake for a mile or
so to an old deserted logging camp that I knew of. I
had prepared in advance an old cot sheet with the
words, "Welcome, Governor Russell," prominently dis-
played upon it with a marking brush, and this I had
the guide pack away in his knapsack, instructing him
how to act with it. Before we reached the camp over
the virgin untrodden snow, at a babbling brook which
crossed the road I signalled the guide to take a turn
off to the right and see if he found any fresh tracks,
while the Governor and I would rest and have a pipe
at the brook. The guide started off and proceeded
around to the rear of the old camp, which he entered
through the old window-place, and tacked over the front
door, without disturbing the snow in front, the sheet of
welcome, and returning the same way as in entering,
joined us at our resting-place, with the report that he
had not found any fresh tracks ; and we proceeded on,
putting the Governor in the lead that he might get the
first crack at a deer. When the Governor, well in the
lead, saw the old camp in the way with its blazing in-
scription, he stopped and beckoned me up to him, and
pointing at the conspicuous welcome, said:

"Why, what 's that?"

Rubbing and straining my eyes to the reading, I
said:

"Why, it says, 'Welcome, Governor Russell'; don't
you see what it is?"

loo Reminiscences of

"Yes," said Russell, "but how came it here?"

"Why," said I, after some thought, "it must have
been put up by the Mollychunkamunks, the settlers
from the upper Megalloway."

"But there are no tracks," said the Governor; "no
one has been here for some days."

The guide and I had to break out then, in which
the Governor heartily joined, though much mysti-
fied until he, pulling open the door, saw the drifted
snow inside disturbed and the snowshoe tracks from
the rear window. We had it pretty hard on Russell
that night when he returned and he related his ex-
perience amid the hilarity of our companions, and it
was some time before he heard the last of "Welcome,
Govemior Russell."

Poor Russell, he died suddenly a few years after at
a salmon-fishing stream in Canada. He was of modest
and sportsmanlike quality, never happier than when
away on the stream or lake or in forest expanse, en-
tertaining, companionable, and appreciative, fair and
honorable in all, and of most winning countenance.
Strenuous without exertion, he made rapid headway in
the esteem and affection of all who knew him, and I
have thought if he could have lived until now, he could
have been unanimously selected by the Democratic
leaders for their chief, as one who though not possessing
the massive brain of a Webster, or the magnetic power
of a Choate, so combined the adroit faculties of mind
and speech as to please all men, and whose honorable
and skilful administration of State affairs as the Demo-
cratic Governor for years over the Republican Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts indicated the possession of
abilities sufficient to have administered the multifarious

A Sportsman lor

duties of a national executive had he been called to
that high and thankless position. He died young, and
will ever be remembered by those who knew him well.
I have from him a silver tankard inscribed by him,
an unnecessary souvenir of his memory.

PROM 1853 to i860, residing in Boston, I made sev-
^ eral trips out to California, by either the Panama
route or the Nicaragua, which were the most rapid meth-
ods then in vogue, requiring from twenty-five to twenty-
eight days. The wooden side-wheel steamers then in
use were not to be compared with the present steel-
clad propellers; there were many mishaps occurring,
and, if I am not mistaken, the prominent steamship
line engaged in the California transportation lost from
fifteen to twenty steamers in the business before the
building of the great continental railway. On one
trip we were struck by lightning in the Caribbean
Sea, losing our mizzenmast and springing a bad leak,
getting into Panama in a somewhat demoralized con-
dition. Another time we broke our main shaft and
had to roll about in a high sea, until we were picked up
by another steamer and towed into port. Another
time, with our steamer loaded to its full capacity
with some fourteen hundred passengers, we struck a
bad leak, in the Pacific Ocean, which gained steadily
beyond the capacity of the pumps to relieve, and
barely reached San Francisco in time to save the
steamer from sinking.

One time I went out on old Commodore Vander-
bilt's opposition line to Greytown, where we had to
go up the Rio del Norte on small steamers to Lake
Nicaragua, and, crossing that, take donkeys over the

•102 Reminiscences of

land to the Pacific. This was one of the early trips on
his route, and we suffered great inconveniences. The
river was low and the little steamers got aground fre-
quently, when we had to tumble out on shore, to ease
the boats off. At the lake we had to remain several
days, for notice of the arrival of the Pacific steamer
to take us on to San Francisco. There was a delay
about this, and as the accommodations at the Pacific
Coast, fourteen miles from the lake, were limited, the
twelve hundred passengers were held at the lake,
and the provisions there were not calculated sufficient
for more than a day or two, and the native cooks
were a bad lot, and the region was scoured about for
chickens, pigs, and beef, with an insuflficient supply,
and if it had not been for bananas, we would have suf-
fered much more than we did. The soups and meats
had body enough on the start, but the soups grad-
ually thinned down so that it became a mystery how
they held out. I solved it to my mind and absten-
tion, by passing the cooking department, where I saw
all the soup plates emptied of the refuse bones into the
kettles, to which were added hot water and seasoning,
and the mixtures were served over ad infinitum at a dol-
lar a plate. It was a regular treadmill business, and sus-
ceptible of much extension. It was undoubtedly good
banting food, but satisfied me to be content with the
nutritive qualities of the banana.

In Boston at this period I was very fond of sail-
ing in the harbor, and when I found that a good breeze
was blowing I would go down to Long Wharf and hire a
moderate-sized sailboat, of sloop rig, and put out be-
yond the shipping in the open, and if the breeze was
of good strength, it was a great pleasure if it freshened

A Sportsman 103

up so I could run my boat on its side with a baling-out
bucket to throw out the surplus water I took in. Occa-
sionally I would come near being blown out to sea from
the harbor mouth, and on one occasion had to wreck my
boat as night approached on the last point of land to
save going down, as the chopping sea water-logged my
boat, which with its several thousand pounds of pig-
iron ballast would have soon gone under. Going
down one day to the wharf I saw an auction sale going
on of a fine trim sloop yacht of between thirty and
forty tons capacity. Few were present and no bids
came in, and at a venture I bid three hundred dollars,
little expecting to buy so fine a yacht at that price,
but as it was a peremptory sale, and no other bids came
in, I became the owner, and upon looking it over
thought I had reason to be well satisfied, as it was not
far from new, and was completely equipped with sail
and jib, anchor and ropes, and a good cooking stove
forward, and a fairly good cabin with four bunks, and
dining-table with adjunctive furnishings. It was the
Charlotte Cushman, and had a set of colors given by
that distinguished artiste. It seemed quite unlike a
white elephant, and I communicated an account of
my purchase to my two friends. Poor and Lane, clerks
in the wholesale establishment of James Read & Co.,
and invited them to join me in the venture, which they
did. As they were not overburdened with funds, nor
I inclined to the possible lavish expenditure which
might be entailed by the luxury- of a yacht, it was agreed
that we should pursue an economical course, as fol-
lows: To hire a good skipper and allow him let our
boat for pleasure and fishing parties, using it when
convenient for our own pleasure. This we did, getting

I04 Reminiscences of

a very good sort of a fellow for skipper, giving him
moderate pay, and allowing him to participate in a
portion of the rentals. We ran the boat for three
years, when we sold it for about four times what we
paid for it, and although we added several hundred
dollars in additions and repairs, we had the advantage
of the letting, and came out well paid in profits, be-
sides the pleasure and recreation we had. My friend
Poor, who was very fond of yachting, came very near
losing his life on a yachting excursion a few years
afterwards when sailing in Long Island Sound. He
was reading in the yacht cabin when a violent squall
came on, which nearly capsized the boat. As he
rushed out of the cabin the boat inclined over on its
side from the squall; he pitched headlong into the
sea, while the yacht passed on at a rapid rate, his
mishap being scarcely noticed in the confusion
aboard, and was soon left behind. He could not swim
a stroke, but retained his presence of mind enough to
keep paddling with his hands by which he kept his
body afloat, and was finally rescued, having been seen
by the captain of a Sound steamer, who had observed,
though from a distance, the striking of the yacht by
the sqviall and thought he observed some one go over-
board, and using his spy-glass saw Poor in the water.
He diverted his steamer from its course, and as he came
near, sent out a boat and picked him up. He was
then about insensible, but still keeping up his hand
paddling. From this he afterwards entirely recovered,
and died but recently while President of the Park Na-
tional Bank of New York, the second largest capital-
ized bank in that city.

With my friends, Ned Poor and Lane, we organized

A Sportsman 105

during the yachting period a literary society, which
we called the Webster Debating Club, limited in mem-
bership to fifty, of which I was President, Poor,
Vice-President, and Lane, Secretary. After four years
of the club's existence, our attention being elsewhere
attracted, the club was merged in with another
association of like character. We had a good deal
of interest and comfort in this club, of which we had
weekly meetings, and conducted a literary maga-
zine, from which the offerings of our members were
read, and we discussed the important questions of
the day with much freedom, if not ability. We started
in quite a humble way, but having the indomitable
assurance of Lane to head committees of solicitation,
we grew comparatively opulent, and soon had a per-
manent hall engaged and furnished.

I look back with amusement now with the remem-
brance of Lane's boldness and undiminished energy in
striking for donations, when rebioffs to him were but
incentives for renewed exertions. We created a long
list of honorary members — who never graced our meet-
ings by their attendance — which included the Presi-
dent of the United States, Senators, and local celebrities,
who were duly notified of the distinguished honor of
our attention, and who almost always responded with
appropriate letters of acceptance, and who became ob-
jects of attention without delay from our soliciting
committee, and who often responded with Congres-
sional documents and publications, which although not
especially adapted for a library of reference, made an
important array in our hall. I called with Poor and
Lane on Charles Sumner, Edward Everett, and Gover-
nor Banks, and listened to the alluring invitations of

io6 Reminiscences of

Lane on the opportunity offered of having their works
illustrated upon the shelves of the club. To this they
all responded, but when it came to the straight asking
of money donations I felt a diffidence I could not over-
come, but Lane felt no false sentiment in this respect,
and the twenty -five and fifty dollar donations he raked
in became rather alarming when we had secured enough
to defray all possible expenses for a twelvemonth ahead,
and we had to call him off, in fear our abilities would
not be sufficient to sustain the expectations which had
been created.

With our hall furnished, we branched off with a
course of lectures, dead-heading a semi-distinguished
embryotic class of orators, merchants or others, who,
having visited the Holy Land, had stood on the pyramid
of Cheops, or had seen Vesuvius in eruption, and whose
narratives had been of intense interest to admiring
friends, but who had not yet been called upon by the
acclamation of the public to stand in prominent places.
To them we gave hearty welcome, and rewarded them
with thanks and a dozen or two of tickets. Our tickets
were twenty-five and fifty cents, depending upon the
location of seats ; if near, where the expressions of the
lecturer could be clearly observed, and no words lost,
fifty cents; if in the rear where words sometimes
flatten out and possible draughts occur, twenty-five
cents.

Numerous bunches of tickets would be disposed of,
and often to prominent parties whose presence would
add ^clat to the occasion, but whose appearance gener-
ally failed, owing to remarkable coincidental absences.
A survey of the audience would sometimes indicate
that the lower classes were awakening to a realization

A Sportsman 107

of their wants, and that the cuisine and laundry depart-
ments were looking up.

We had some rather clever young members of our
club, many of whom have gone before. Lane, despite
his retiring disposition, still lives in the possession of
a large fortune. We had in political ways some oppo-
sites: George H. Hoyt, was a most eloquent young
speaker, of decided Anti-Slavery sentiments, who upon
the trial of Ossawatomie Brown, who made the foray
at Harper's Ferr\', ending in his execution, went down
and appeared in his defence as counsel, and who died
soon after. J. B. Shepard, quite the opposite of
Hoyt in political ways, became prominent in Tam-
many afterwards. Hiram B. Banks, brother of Gov-
ernor Banks, fell at Fair Oaks in the war, as did
several of our club members. Several are still liv-
ing in Boston in mercantile life. Two or three went
to the bad from drink, and others I have lost sight of.
About this time I met Richard and Peter B. Olney, the
former afterward Secretary of State under President
Cleveland. I met them for the first time at the
country residence of my friend their uncle, Peter
Butler, at Quincy, Mass., during the Christmas holidays.
They both were then completing their collegiate courses
in Rhode Island, and were about my age. They were
strong, hearty lads, and of the two I gave Peter B.
the preference in looks and manners. On the first day
I met Richard, he was spending the greater part of his
time in scouring his somewhat prominent teeth with
the bruised end of a stick of liquorice wood. He was
not particularly attractive, and his countenance was
disfigured by a large prominent scar across one cheek,
which gave him a somewhat severe aspect, but his cast

io8 Reminiscences of

was strong, and soon after entering the law office of his
father-in-law he made rapid progress, and later on be-
came associate counsel for several important railroads,
one of which, the Atlantic and Pacific, had a pretty
hard time in its earlier days, being constructed through
a very barren country from Albuquerque in New
Mexico to Mojave in California, and a road with which
I had some familiarity, and at the time of making its
annual report, I was in some wonderment what kind
of a report could be given satisfactory to the stock-
holders. When the report was made, I was surprised
at its clearness and power, and, well aware of the tact-
fulness of Richard, I immediately assumed that, as
I did not know of any officer of the company whom I
thought capable of writing so clever a report, he had
written it, and called upon him at his office and men-
tioned my conclusion, which, in a smiling way, he
neither affimied or denied. As a corporation law^^er
I account him one of the first, possessing a superior
knowledge of law, and a clear-headed, drastic method
of expounding seldom equalled. As a chief executive
of the nation I should have more fear of his combative
and antagonizing spirit than I would that of which
animated the lamented President McKinley and Gov-
ernor William Russell. Knowing him as well as I do,
he would be one of the last of whom I should ask a
favor, and in saying this, I but echo the expression
of a dear friend of mine, to whom Mr. Olney was in-
debted for many substantial advantages.

In i860 I engaged in a commercial business, which
I followed for five years, but which grew more engross-
ing year by year, until I found myself so confined that I
had a difficulty at times in arranging my visits to the

A Sportsman 109

lakes, although I laid out my sporting excursions for
months ahead, which I never, despite many perplexi-
ties, failed to respond to.

This was the period when I denied myself the read-
ing of books and papers pertaining to sports, as too
inflammatory' for my peace of mind, and if in looking
over a paper I saw the heading of game killing or ad-
ventures, I passed it by, waiting as patiently as I could
for my times of excursions.

While engaged in business, at the commencement
of the Civil War, having belonged to a military com-
pany for several years, the Independent Corps of
Cadets, I enlisted with several hundred men I had se-
cured, on the first call, for three months' service, and
received a captain's commission, serving for the period
mentioned. It was thought at the time that the war
would be of short duration, but unfortunately this ex-
pectation was not realized, and the war carried on for
several years occasioned the loss of over a million men,
and over three billions of treasure to the government,
and probabh' several times the amount of three billions
in the aggregated loss of expenditures by the Southern
Confederacy, in the loss of slave ownership and the
destruction of property. That the war was a neces-
sity, except from the heat of the irrepressible conflict
brought on by the Abolitionists of the North and the
fire-eaters of the South, is not quite clear. The fanat-
ical classes. North and South, fanning the flames of dis-
union, were at first viewed with amusement by the
conservative sentiment of the country, but at last all
became involved by the hasty acts of these fanatics
and demagogues, creating a necessity for every one
taking a warlike stand on one side or the other. The

no Reminiscences of

crisis came when argument and reason were unavail-
ing. If the AboHtion leaders and the fire-eaters, firing
at each other at long range, could have been confined
in some area, where they could have fought to the ex-
termination of each other, it would have been a great
blessing to the country, and the war could have been
averted by the action of sober reason by making a
proper valuation of the slaves to be paid for by the
general government, thus removing the primal cause
of conflict. This, however, could not have been
brought about at the time of President Lincoln's elec-
tion, for neither the North nor the South would have
consented to it.

DISPOSING in the early part of 1865 of my com-
mercial interests, and experiencing the exhilara-
tion of a freedom I had long been denied, I resolved to
take my way to the Rocky Mountains, having read so
many accounts of adventurous life there from the in-
teresting sketches of the early pioneers.

Before leaving for the West I concluded to take a
trip down to the Pennsylvania oil regions, which at
that time were creating much excitement. This I
fancied would be a rather agreeable excursion, but
found in it more peril than the one I soon afterwards
made across the great plains to the mountains. Before
the train I was on reached Titusville two miles distant
it came to a standstill from an excess of water over the
track. It had been raining for several days, and the
country was flooded. The train was in a sheet of
water several hundred feet from land, and as the water
was growing deeper — already so deep as to almost put
out the engine's fire — it was deemed expedient to hold

A Sportsman in

up, perhaps for all night. The train was loaded with
passengers to excess, so much so that many had
to stand between the occupied seats. It was not a
pleasant situation. Some countrymen after awhile
made a rough raft of fence timbers and boards and
poled out to the train, offering to take passengers ashore
for a dollar apiece. I secured a place on the raft with
all the baggage I had, a pretty good-sized hand-bag.
Too many availed themselves of the opportunity
offered, and in consequence when about fifty feet from
the land the raft broke apart, and let us all in the water.
Fortunately it was not very deep, but pretty nearly up
to one's shoulders, so we all waded to the land with our
hand-bags thoroughly soaked. No teams of convey-
ance being at hand we all walked on to Titusville, con-
veying our bags after draining out what water we
could.

It was dark when we arrived at our destination,
and we found the water running through the streets up
to the sidewalks and in some cases over. It being in
the very height of the excitement, the little town was
crowded with a great many more visitors than it could
accommodate, and the only hotel there could hardly
feed its guests, and no rooms or beds could be obtained.
The sitting-room and halls were occupied for sleeping
places, without cots or mattresses. There was a large
barroom, crowded full, where the tobacco smoke was
so thick that it could hardly be seen through. The
exciting subject of conversation was Oil! Oil! Oil!
Great strikes and the expression of hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars were as plentiful as flies in the dog
days, and one would suppose from the somewhat rough
crowd present that it was composed of millionaires in

112 Reminiscences of

disguise. There was a large cylinder stove in one part
of the barroom, so red hot that more space existed
about it than elsewhere, and near this I proceeded to
the inner circle. Here I divested myself of my outer
clothing, and managed in an hour or so by revolving
about to pretty well dry my underwear. Wringing out
the contents of my bag and holding out some of my
outer clothing, I managed before I lay down on the
floor for the night to approach some degree of dryness,
and I passed the night much more comfortably than
one would if lost overboard at sea.

At the railroad station in Boston, just before
leaving, I was sought for and found by an acquaintance,
Carlos Pierce, who had happened to hear that I was
going to the oil regions, and who asked me if I would
visit a tract on Oil Creek below Titusville, which he
had an option of purchase on for a limited time for
some amount. I told him it was quite impossible as I
was going on a pleasure excursion and I could not give
any attention to business. He was very persistent and
disinclined to take a refusal, and finally said as his
period of option was short, he would give me five hun-
dred dollars to take a look at it, even brief, and inform
him by telegraph if a new well of value had been reached
upon the tract, which had been reported to him, but
which he had some doubts about.

I finally yielded to my friend's solicitations, though
reluctantly, and the result put me to a great deal of
bother, for the next day was the one I should have to
visit the tract and the prospects of getting there in the
morning appeared very dubious when I looked out on
the booming Oil Creek, and the frightfully muddy roads.
Besides, the bridge across a creek close to the town.

A Sportsman 1 1 3

running into the main road, had been carried away,
and this creek had to be crossed on the route down Oil
Creek to the optioned tract. The creek, I was told,
could be forded a short way above the bridge site. I
managed, over the muddy and half-flooded sidewalks,
to get to a livery stable to engage a saddle-horse for
the trip, but was met with a decided refusal from the
keeper to let any horse out in the present condition.
Looking over his saddle-horses, I asked him if he would
sell me a pretty sturdy-looking nag with a saddle and
bridle outfit, which he answered in the affirmative, the
price being one hundred and fifty dollars. I paid him
the sum, and started out, leaving my bag with him
for safekeeping until my return. My starting out
to ford the creek attracted a number of dead-head
spectators as the creek had not been forded since the loss
of the bridge. My horse took the water in good cour-
age, but the water kept growing deeper until I had to
hold my legs up as high as I could, and I commenced
to congratulate myself upon a comfortable passage,
when my horse dumped in and commenced swimming.
I had some difficulty in keeping on, but had acquired
some experience in swimming horses, and succeeded in
doing so by hugging down on my horse's neck and by
holding on to his mane. I lost my seat before getting
over, but kept my mane hold, and although the cur-
rent was strong got safely across with him. I then
had fifteen miles of a frightfully muddy road to get
over to the tract in view, where the mud in its clayey,
tenacious character was about the worst I ever en-
countered, and if I had not had a very strong horse I
could never have gotten over it. I arrived at the tract
about noon, and found in reality that a new powerful

114 Reminiscences of

oil-gusher had been struck, adding much to the value.
I then had to detour several miles to Franklin for a
telegraph office, and send off a message to Pierce.

Oil City, on the Alleghany, at the mouth of Oil Creek,
was fifteen miles below, and although a drizzly rain was
falHng — from which I had become iinmune — I pushed on
over the muddy roads. As I occasionally came in sight
of Oil Creek, I saw that it was at a booming height, and
carr\^ing along trees and wrecks of buildings, with an
occasional small house or two and dead cattle, with
the water more or less surfaced with petroleum from
overflowing wells or damaged tanks. At Oil City — as
I approached at sundown — I saw the backwater
from the Alleghany River had spread over a large
area, flooding a large part of the town from which
the inhabitants had fled to higher ground where
they were camping out, as all the upper ground
houses and the church and schoolhouse were filled up.
It looked unfavorable for a night's lodging. But as I
passed along I overtook a gentleman with whom I had
some conversation, and who kindly offered to give me
a sofa in his sitting-room, his house otherwise be-
ing crowded. This I gladl}' accepted, and got my
horse well put-up and fed. The wife of my host gave
me a good supper accompanied with a bowl of fine
coffee, from which I partook so heartily that I failed
to get any sleep during the night, nor did I feel par-
ticularly fatigued. Having a stove in the room I occu-
pied, I dried my clothes pretty well and passed the
night in reading from the small library my room
contained.

The following morning I mounted my steed, which
I found comfortably refreshed, and rode back to Titus-

A Sportsman 115

ville, succeeding in getting across the creek I crossed
the morning before, by going up higher, and got over
without swimming my horse. I was the first down to
Oil City to carry news of the conditions above, and the
first on my return to give news of the conditions be-
low. I succeeded in getting a bed that night and
obtained a good rest.

The water had fallen, though still high, and the
town was still crowded as before. I concluded I had
seen enough of the oil regions and would return home.
The trains in and out from Titusville were running
ver>- irregularly, and I took the one out in the after-
noon for the Junction, where a change was to be made
to another train, to arrive in a short time, but the
expected train did not arrive until two o'clock in the
morning and was crowded to its utmost capacity, and
could in no way accommodate the passengers waiting;
but I succeeded in getting on and in checking my bag
to New York, which was fortunate, or I would other-
wise have lost it in the wreck which followed.

The morning opened bright and clear, and after
breakfast at a stopping-place, I crowded into the front
smoking-car to have a smoke, the car and train being
as crowded as the train I came down in, with a large
number of passengers standing in the passageways and
between seats. The track was very rough, and water
flew out occasionally from beneath the sleepers as the
train passed on; still the train was pushed on with
great speed, so much so that I became much alarmed,
and one of the passengers remarked to the conductor
as he came along that he thought the speed was alto-
gether too rapid, with the condition of the road, to
which the conductor replied rather curtly, with an

ii6 Reminiscences of

intimation that it was his btisiness. I felt so much
alarmed with the rocking and swinging of the car that
I thought it prudent to retire to the rear end of the
train, which I had great difficulty in doing in pushing
through the crowded cars, there being eleven of them
from the baggage. The last car was a sleeper, crowded
full, of which the door was locked to keep out the fre-
quent calls of outside passengers for admittance.
Finally, by thumping vigorously, I brought the porter
to the door, who opened it partially, and in answer
to my request to be admitted declared that it was ut-
terly impossible, as it would hold no more. I told him
it was important to see a friend of mine in the car
without delay, at the same time exhibiting a five-
dollar bill, which I offered him in case of admission.
It was sufficient for my purpose, and the colored
porter passed me in, finding the car as much over-
crowded as the others.

Not more than five minutes after m}'' entry, a violent
series of shocks occurred, as of most severe breaking
up, which came from the smashing of the cars ahead,
and which brought our car to a standstill, but not
until the front half had left the track, being the only
car of which any part remained upon the rails. We
were not prepared to witness the scene which met our
sight upon going out from our car. No wreck could
hardly be more complete. We had been running at a
speed which I should estimate at fully forty miles an
hour. A broken rail over which the engine and bag-
gage car had passed threw off the smoking-car and all
following to the sleeper. The car next ahead of ours
was thrown over on its side with its front end smashed
in. The next three or four cars were more or less

A Sportsman 1 1 7

smashed in and lying in a deep ditch full of water near
the track, bottom side up, with their wheels sticking
up. One of them was so deep in the water that the
water was above the windows. The other cars were
lying smashed up at various angles. The injured pas-
sengers were giving out groans and piteous cries. All
those who were uninjured gave immediate aid, and we
stretched out on the track the dead and badly wounded.
The upturned car so deep in the water could not be
opened otherwise than by breaking in from the bottom,
a most difficult and prolonged work which was effected
by axes and the broken rail, and in this car a number
were drowned.

This was the most terrible accident it was possible
to imagine, and the only one in all my experience I
ever witnessed where death occurred from a railroad
wreck, and I believe I have travelled by rail during
my life a distance equal to that of ten times around
the world. In this accident over a hundred persons
were killed or wounded. Over thirty were killed out-
right. It was a shocking sight to see the dead, dying,
and wounded lying along the track. It was some
time before an aiding train brought medical attendance
and helping hands. The accident occurred the latter
part of April near the small town of Oriskany. It was
eleven miles to Utica, and it was so long before a train
was ready to convey the remaining passengers that I
walked the track to that town ; there I caught a train
for New York, where I afterward obtained my travel-
ling bag. This was the ending of an intended pleasure
trip.

I caught a bad cold, and when I arrived in New
York I had a fever and broke out with some boils

ii8 Reminiscences of

on my neck and face, which confined me to my room
for between two and three weeks. Before I fairly recov-
ered my usual good health I returned to Boston and,
gathering in my fishing rods and guns, started for the
distant West in the month of May, 1865. No railroad
was then built reaching to the Missouri River from
Chicago, excepting the Hannibal and St. Joseph, which
was then badly broken up and periodically raided by
the holding-out rebels in the State of Missouri. I
therefore took the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad
from Chicago, which was not then extended nearer
than seventy miles to the river, staging the balance of
the way to Atchison, and from there by the Ben HoUi-
day line of stages to Denver across the unsettled great
plains. These stages left daily, consuming from six to
seven days en route, travelling day and night over a
region where then existed a condition of warfare with
the numerous tribes of Indians, banded together in
united hostilities against the whites. At this time
some ten thousand soldiers were required to keep the
route open. The troops employed were largely com-
posed of Confederate soldiers taken prisoners during
the war, and were designated as Galvanized Yankees,
and were so employed in the scarcity of government
soldiers, who were required at the front in the great
struggle for the preservation of the Union.

It was necessary to have each stage across the
plains accompanied by an escort of mounted soldiers,
and even though so protected stages were often at-
tacked and driven into the stations existing from fif-
teen to twenty miles apart over the way. All the
male passengers by the stages carried guns for defence,
and constituted in themselves a strong force. In case

A Sportsman 119

of attack it was the habit of passengers to take the
rear of the stage, where a better resistance could be
given than when cooped up inside. On this trip no
attack was made, though we had some false alarms and
fancied we saw Indians occasionally in the distance.

One morning at an early hour we saw a man a long
distance off, running toward us and waving his arm in
signal. A pocket-glass showed him to be a white man,
evidently about stripped of clothing. We held up for
him, and when he was able to gain his voice after re-
viving from his exhausted condition, we found him to
be the sole surv'^ivor of an Indian raid. The Indians had
captured a ranch house some miles off on a creek,
where a family of eight, which included four men, had
all been killed but himself. He, being taken un-
wounded a prisoner, was probably reser\^ed for torture.
He had been almost stripped of his clothing, and had
a finger chopped off, to secure a plain gold ring he
wore, which was difficult to remove. He could, he
said, have worked it off in a little while, but the im-
patient savages upon discovering it had a competition
for its possession, and it was settled abruptly by one of
their number cleverer than the rest, who lopped off the
offending member, and from ignorance of anatomical
operations very nearly severed two others. The pris-
oner had been tied up for two nights, held in reserve
for an hour of recreation, when the gentle savages
would have the leisure to fully enjoy the pleasure of
his sufferings at the stake, which he had reasons from
significant signs to believe would occur on the follow-
ing day. He had the night preceding his reaching us
managed to get loose from his thongs and steal off.
He travelled about in the dark, getting some miles

I20 Reminiscences of

away from the Indian camp, and at daylight, seeing
no traces of his enemies, made haste in the direction
of the Overland road, knowing from the rising sun the
general direction toward it, resulting in his secured
escape. His naked feet were bleeding from the prickly
pear plants he had travelled over, and altogether he
was a sorry-looking object. We left him at the next
station.

Although somewhat weak in the first days out in
staging I pulled up pretty well before the arrival at
Denver, after the six hundred miles of passage. Den-
ver was then a somewhat dilapidated town of a few
thousand people, and as we drew in at the Planters
Hotel — a rather unpromising wooden building — we had
a delegation of citizens there to inspect the new arri-
vals, as one of the prominent events of the day. It
was at Denver, in the small stream running through
the town, that gold was first discovered a few years
before, and which led on to the finding of the mineral
veins in the mountains above. The population of the
Territory at the time was estimated at from twenty-
five to thirty thousand, of which a large proportion
was scattered about in the mining districts.

Our arrival was heralded in the following morning
paper, and I was amused at finding myself designated
as a prominent professor of inineralogy sent out from
the East by important financial interests to invest in
the unrivalled mineral wealth of the region. This
beset me with numerous calls during the few days I
remained in town from embryotic millionaires, who
carefully unfolded packages of mineral ores for my in-
spection, with intimations that I could glut myself with
boundless deposits of golden ores in the mountains

A Sportsman 121

without even going up there for examinations. To the
first caller I gave assurances that my knowledge of
mineral ores was exceedingly limited and that I was
not even a professor. I overheard my querist after-
ward reciting to a small audience that I was a humbug
and did n't even know a good ore when I saw it. This
led me to exercise more caution, and securing a small
magnifying-glass and a pocket mineral-scraping knife,
I was better prepared for the next visitor, who un-
folded a precious specimen from the celebrated Killbug
mine. I put on the full power of my glass in critical
examination, remarking:

"How much have you got of this?" to which he
might rejoin, "Seven hundred feet and Brother Tom
has four hundred feet more."

Then giving the specimen a scrape with my mineral
knife and another glass examination, I would say,
"Better hold on to it," which I felt quite sure he would.
I then began to retrieve my sinking reputation.

In a few days I took stage for the Central City min-
ing district, forty rmles up in the mountains, situated
on a creek between hills. Colorado was then in a
very languishing condition. The decomposed surface-
ground over mineral veins having more or less free gold
had been worked over, as well as favorable gulches;
and the stubborn sulphurets, though gaudy and attrac-
tive to sight and containing more or less gold, could
not be successfully worked, owing to the association
with sulphur, zinc, iron, and various other minerals.

'X'HE discovery by some emigrants, in 1858, of gold
* upon the shore of Cherry Creek, in the present

122 Reminiscences of

city of Denver, twelve miles from the mountains, first
drew attention toward Colorado as a mining region.
At that time there were no white residents in the Terri-
tory, excepting a colony of Mexicans, who were located
in San Luis Park, in the extreme southern part, en-
gaged in sheep raising, ctiltivating the soil to a limited
extent, and depending upon the trading settlement of
Santa F^ South for their supplies. With this excep-
tion the whole region was wild and unbroken, inhab-
ited in sections by tribes of Indians living in a primitive
state, who, drawing from the soil a very scanty propor-
tion of the food required by them, depended almost
entirel}^ upon the wild animals abounding in the region.
These tribes were constantly in strife with each other
and by their hostile manners prevented peaceful settle-
ments in the region, claiming it as their hereditary
hunting-ground .

The discovery of gold, however, stimulated an emi-
gration of hardy pioneers from the eastern section of
Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri, who, going in bodies,
were sufficiently strong to defend themselves from any
attacks which the Indians could make. These emi-
grants followed up the different tributaries of the
Platte into the mountains, where they discovered a
large number of rich mineral veins.

During the years of i860, 1861, and 1862 there was
a continuous stream of emigration to Colorado, but
during the years of 1863, 1864, and 1865 it received
a material check; this owing to a variety of causes,
some of which we will briefly review. First, the war
unhappily existing in the United States distracted pub-
lic attention to a great extent from the region; also
reports — having their foundation in reality — of the

A Sportsman 123

privations and sufferings experienced by the first set-
tlers were widely circulated through the United States.
The long passage, exceeding six hundred miles, from
the last settlements of the Eastern States to the moun-
tains of Colorado, over a sweeping plain, denuded of
timber and yielding onl)' a precarious supply of food
to man, necessitated the taking of supplies sufficient
for the through passage. This passage, when taken
with mules or oxen, required from thirty to sixty days,
and was often indefinitely prolonged by bad weather
or by the loss of animals. In such cases — which were
not infrequent — and in others when the amount of
provisions taken was inadequate for the ordinary
passage, much want existed, and for a period extend-
ing a considerable length over the early days of Colo-
rado there was a great scarcity of food in the mining
regions, and often the worn-out emigrant from the
plains arrived to find a condition of affairs but little
better than he had known vipon the road.

There were also great difficulties met with in work-
ing the refractory minerals found when the mines were
sunk below the surface ores; these, though vastly
richer than the decomposed ore above them, would not
yield the precious metal by the simple and rude ]~)ro-
cess found so profitable when applied to disintegrated
or alluvial deposits.

But the great evils which discouraged emigration
more than any others were those entailed by the In-
dian wars, which raged during the years 1864 and
1865. The different tribes of Indians upon the plains,
who saw the regions they had so long considered ex-
clusively their own continually invaded by emigrants,
were not slow to resent a real or fancied injury, and

124 Reminiscences of

sunk their personal animosities, their heritage, and
combined in a general league against the invaders.
The opportunity was seized when the Civil War in the
United States had reached its greatest height, when
the government, requiring all its power, had with-
drawn to a great extent its forces from the frontier.
The injuries, aggravated by acts of retaliation given
and received, inflamed the Indians to more desperate
acts of valor and cruelty than they had ever exhibited
before.

With scarcely an intimation of their purposes, they
suddenly and simultaneously attacked the route over
the plains. Sweeping down upon emigrant teams, and
the small settlements which had been established every
twelve or fifteen miles upon the route, as stations for
the mail and stage lines, they massacred the whites
indiscriminately — men, women, and children, — often
scalping and mutilating the bodies of their victims.
The wagons and buildings, after being divested of all
that pleased the savage eye, were given to the flames.
In one place, for a distance of one hundred and fifty
miles, the route was made desolate. From other
places the inhabitants and emigrants were driven to
central spots, where for days they were besieged by
their savage foes. The military station at Julesburg,
where a considerable number of troops were congre-
gated, as well as emigrants, was surrounded for a num-
ber of days by a large body of Indians who, cutting off
communication in every direction, made desperate
efforts to obtain possession of it, and were only re-
pulsed by the use of canister and grape.

The number of Indians engaged in these outrages
was from ten thousand to fifteen thousand, though at

A Sportsman 125

the time the number was supposed to be larger, as the
tribes to which these Indians belonged comprised some
thirty thousand warriors. The condition of affairs in
Colorado during these difficulties was aggravated by
the expectation of attacks from other tribes than those
engaged upon the plains, who were living in the moun-
tain regions adjacent; but, fortunately, those tribes
maintained a peaceful attitude.

In the meantime troops were sent from the East,
and volunteer companies were organized in Colorado
from the hardy miners, who scoured the plains in all
directions and soon opened the route. But the vigi-
lance and activity of the savages prevented their being
punished to any considerable extent. In one instance,
however, a large body of them were surrounded when
encamped near a stream, not a long distance from
Denver City, when from four hundred to five hundred
of the Indians were killed.

During this condition of affairs, although the mail
and stage lines were open almost all the time, and pas-
sages of combined bodies of emigrants were regularly
and safely made, prices for the necessaries of life rose
to a height previously unknown in the Territory.
Com, oats, and other grains sold at from twenty to
twenty-five cents per pound; potatoes from five to
fifteen cents per pound ; flour, butter, and other articles
of food sold at prices correspondingly high. Freight
across the plains to the Territory- readily commanded
an average price of ten cents per pound, in some in-
stances reaching twenty-five cents per pound.

The natural result in Colorado was an increase in
price of labor, which could not be obtained at less than
from $5 to Sio per day. During those years mining

126 Reminiscences of

languished, and at least half of the miners who had
emigrated to the Territory in previous years left it for
the new mining regions still farther west, which had
their communications with the States of California and
Oregon, upon the Pacific Coast.

But despite the high prices and Indian difficulties
which prevailed, a large emigration set in during the
summer of the year 1865, which was encouraged by
the protection afforded by the government in placing
ten thousand troops upon the route from the Missouri
River to Salt Lake.

A large number of the emigrants who crossed the
plains in 1865 were en route for regions beyond; but
the amount of freight received in Colorado during that
year exceeded that of any previous one; and a large
ntimber of settlers were added to the population of the
Territory. The emigration over the plains during the
year 1865 was immense. The government alone paid
a sum exceeding $6,000,000 for freight across the
country to its various Western military stations. The
amount of freight which was carried over the plains in
1865 is estimated to have exceeded one hundred and
fifty million pounds.

From fifteen to twenty thousand teams were em-
ployed in the passage, some of which made two trips
to the mountains during the summer, the average
amount of freight carried by the teams being five thou-
sand pounds, each team having four to six horses or
mules, or from six to twelve oxen. The writer, while
returning east over the plains by stage in 1865 counted
in three daj's 3384 teams of this description, all passing
westward ; the distance made by the stage during this
time being three hundred and twenty miles. At one

A Sportsman 127

point upon the route there passed westward, by actual
count, in sixty days, 9494 teams, having over fifty-
eight thousand head of horses, mules, and oxen.

The emigration of 1866 was large and steady, un-
interrupted by Indian raids, the savages having been
driven far away from the routes. The plains, though
free of timber, are well watered, and covered with a
rich soil, which yields a heavy-bladed grass of the
most nutritious quality, and from which the cattle
employed in freighting to Colorado acquired a fatness
which well fitted them for the market. This grass
grows in a native state to a considerable height, and
could be cut for hay by thousands and millions of tons.

Antelopes in large numbers were found upon the
plains, also rabbits of large size, wolves, ground-squir-
rels, grouse, snipe, curlews, etc. Immense herds of
buffalo roamed annually over the expanse, at times
so plentiful as to prevent for days the passage of teams.
At some seasons they could be seen by thousands and
tens of thousands, strung out over an area of from
fifty to one hundred miles in width. The Indians
slaughtered them in large numbers; and, after taking
from them favorite strips of meat, left their immense
bodies, weighing from six hundred to one thousand
pounds, to be eaten by wolves or to decay upon the
ground.

The Civil War, and especially the Indian hostilities
in the plains, had largely distracted attention from
the Rocky Mountain region, and as no process for
working the refractory ores was known — among a class
principally composed of ruralists — money had become
ver>' scarce; in fact, the Territory was very hard up
in a financial way, and a good honest American dollar

128 Reminiscences of

(worth to make about forty cents) was as large, meta-
phorically saying, as a cart-wheel. Everybody had
mines to sell, and no buyers, and expectant million-
aires were hard up for tobacco and stimulants. I
hired one afterwards to ride a mule with a load of pro-
visions and cooking utensils to go into the parks on a
hunting excursion, who modestly computed the value
of his holdings at twenty millions of dollars, and who
had put up his ten-dollar silver watch for a small loan
to tide himself over, as he told me.

The occupants of the numerous caravans of 1863
and 1864, which had struggled across the plains so
manfully for the auriferous deposits of the Rocky
Mountains, with the suggestive mottoes on the sides of
their ships of the plains of "Pike's Peak or Bust," had
found that the accomplishment of the initial object
comprised the full sense of the alternative.

Denver fell down nearly half in its population in
1866 by the exodus out, as soon as the plains were
practically cleared of the Indians. The different tribes
of the desert were largely overcome in 1866 and 1867
and placed under guard on reservations, and it was
found much cheaper to feed and blanket them than to
fight them.

I fished about the streams of Boulder and Clear
creeks with indifferent success, owing largely to the
cloudy condition of the waters from mining works. At
Central City I met H. M. Teller — now United States
Senator from Colorado — who has been a long time in
political life. He was the leading attorney in the
State, and I trust he will take no offence if I mention
that I retained him, in view of possible want of advice,
for the sum of thirty dollars for the year. At the Gold

A Sportsman 129

Dirt mining district I met George M. Pullman, after-
ward prominent in railroad affairs and President of the
company bearing his name.

I made an excursion with a guide and hunter
named Utter for mountain goats in the ranges higher
up than at Central, the altitude of the latter being
about eight thousand feet, and where goats had been
seen, but without our seeing any, although Utter killed
a large grizzly bear, of which I still have the skin in
Maine. Utter tracked the bear over a thin fall of snow
to its den, and left our camp, which was near, at the
very earliest gleam of light and took his place in a
tree opposite the den and fatally shot the bear as it
came out, in less than an hour after Utter had taken
his position.

Colorado at that time was as rough in its social
elements as new mining regions generally are, and had
a stronger color put on in this respect by the influx of
a highly dangerous class from Missouri and Kansas,
composed of men who belonged to the bushwhacking
and guerilla bands which had been broken up finally
by the close of the war, and those who were not killed
or captured had to flee for their lives and many came
out to Colorado, where they were more or less looked
after, and a good many were shot or strung up on short
notice upon their capture, after committing robberies
and murders. It is surprising to note that these des-
peradoes could act as badly and reckless as they did
in view of the disgust they created and the steady
decimation of their numbers which occvirred from the
indignant communities they infested. But they kept
coming, and some, separating from others, distributed
themselves in the various mining districts, where they

I30 Reminiscences of

were soon spotted and disposed of unless very careful
in the various disguises they adopted. Others ganged
together and occupied separate camps from the miners,
from which they would make forays as of old in the
regions they formerly raided.

These desperadoes were generally known as the
double-pistol brigade, from their accoutrements and
from wearing two large six-shooters in their belts.
Four of them made a raid one night when I was at
Central in an office building belonging to the Bobtail
Mining Company in town, which kept its bullion ac-
cumulated in the office safe before shipment, which
building was not occupied at night, but was near other
occupied buildings. These whackers had tampered with
one of the miners employed by the company through
whom they learned of the safe deposits, and whom they
had gained over, they supposed, but who weakened and
divulged to the owners all about it, and the night and
hour when the raid was to take place. The whackers
came, and as they opened the office building they were
fired vipon by concealed guards, and so effectually that
all fell, three killed and the fourth mortally wounded.
Here the bodies were allowed to lie on the ground, and
I, hearing of it, went down in the morning to see the
sight. The bodies were still there in view of the assem-
bled spectators, with the wounded man still alive,
cursing everything and everybody and without medi-
cal aid, and soon died. It was proposed to string him
up in his dying condition, but better counsel prevailed.

HAD two friends at Spanish Bar, on the Platte
River, — about five miles from Central, — Brune and

A Sportsman 131

Davis, who were both disciples of the pleasant sport.
I was in the habit of visiting and fishing with them
and went down one day to pass the night with them,
Brune being a surveyor and Davis the local Recorder
of the mining district. They had a little house there
in which they lived, and there were no more than three
or four houses then in the settlement. It was a pleas-
ant afternoon and I walked there.

Spanish Bar was situated at a much lower altitude
than Central, and leading down to the Bar was a long,
steep ravine, called Virginia Caiion, which had a wagon
road down it. Three quarters of the way down was a
deserted log cabin and a turn in the ravine. I met no
one until I reached the cabin, and here I met a very
rough man, hatless, whose countenance indicated the
free use of ardent spirits and whose eyes were red from
recent libations. He wore a thin linen coat, and as
the breeze down the ravine blew it open I saw that he
was doubly armed with a brace of big six-shooters. I
had met one of the double-pistol brigade, and it was
not very pleasant, considering the place. I passed the
word of day with him and kept on, declined the appar-
ent disposition he seemed to evince for a parley. I
was suspicious, and as I kept on I slightly turned my
head so as to keep him in view, and I saw that he had
stopped and was regarding me, and he called out, ask-
ing if I had met any one before him as I came down,
to which I answered "No," still keeping on, as I ob-
served his right hand was on his pistol handle, where
mine went without delay, as I was armed, and I kept
steadily on, still keeping him in view and left him stand-
ing where he stopped, and the turn in the road soon
left him out of view. I had not gone far — perhaps

132 Reminiscences of

twenty rods — when I heard a pistol shot ring out from
the place I had left him, but being quite out of range
I presiimed that in the half-maudlin state he was in
he perhaps had taken a stray shot at one of the red
squirrels, which were plentiful along the ravine.

When I arrived at Brune's I told him of the occur-
rence, and he said the man was one of the bush-
whackers who belonged to a gang which was camped
up the stream a mile or so above, and that the chap
had passed the house not long before and had stopped
to ask for a drink, which could not be furnished. We
had supper, and after taking a quiet smoke and talking
over the inexhaustible subject of fishing, a man en-
tered with a lantern, being a neighbor, saying that he
had just come down the cafion and that there was a
dead man lying in the road not far above the bend,
who had evidently been shot and robbed, judging from
the loose papers lying about him. Our glances were
significant, and we saw that the man following me had
been shot and robbed. We got two or three men to
accompany us and all went up there, and found the
dead man lying on his back as left in the road, with
his face upturned and as placid in the full moonlight
as if sleeping. Near, on the side of the road, where it
had been carelessly thrown, was a long breast pocket-
book, which had been stripped and from which the
loose papers had been thrown out. We rigged up
some boards from the floor of the old cabin, carried
him down to the Bar, depositing the body in an
adjacent shed, and hunted up the Assistant Sheriff of
the place, who declined to go after the murderer that
night, but would in the morning, and did, but found no
trace of him, and the matter was dropped.

A Sportsman 133

The murdered man had no name or paper about
him by which he could be identified, and a rough box
was made for his interment, which took place the fol-
lowing day. The grave was not very deep on the
side-hill, and no more than two or three besides our
party attended the burial. Brune got out his old
Episcopal prayer-book and read the burial service.
As he was reading, down the road came a dozen
bushwhackers riding as if in a race. When they saw
us on the hillside they abated the speed of their horses
and came up to us, inquiring what was going on, and
on being informed, one of them dismounted and, giving
his horse in charge of a companion, said: "I will make
a prayer for the dead man," and, kneeling by the
grave, gave a frightfully blasphemous prayer for the
dead, remarking as he remounted, "That will save him
from hell." They all then rode off at a racing speed
and we saw no more of them. We remained silent dur-
ing the interruption, and afterward Brune proceeded
with the service. The grave was filled and a pine
board was placed at the head, which probably soon
disappeared from the action of the elements. This
narration, so strictly accurate, indicates the condition
existing at the time.

Going down to Denver to arrange for my departure
to the Central Parks, I was surprised to meet there
two friends of mine from Boston, Daland and Twing,
who had arrived for the same purpose I had, and
they readily agreed to accompany me on the proposed
excursion. Supplying ourselves with horses and pro-
visions and two assistants — one a good guide and hun-
ter, and the other the unfledged millionaire I before
referred to — we started off in good spirits. In three

134 Reminiscences of

days' travelling we arrived at the South Park, where
we established a permanent camp. We found good
hunting and fishing, but the trout very very tame and
dull on the line, though good eating. They had neither
the beauty nor activity of the Eastern trout, and acted
when hooked less gamy than Eastern chubs. These
trout were so tame — and I generally found them so in
Colorado — that little skill was required to catch them,
and I have seen men on horseback following a stream
and jerking out many trout with poles and baited
hooks. I presume they are now educated up to a
more critical standard.

All fishermen who have fished over varied sections
have doubtless observed how fish vary in their bold-
ness or shyness. There are, of course, the particular
fish who may have been hooked several times, and
have become very shy and very difficult to catch ; but
I refer to the general class of fish in streams and ponds
or lakes as affected by frequency of fishing. There are
many shades and degrees of shyness between the trout
in waters which have not been fished and those which,
for instance, are in the Thames and streams of Eng-
land, where the greatest caution is required, and where
the method of drawing the fiy across the water, as
pursued in this country, is of little avail, and where
only the smallest kind of flies can succeed, and only
where they are quite dry and can float with the current
down-stream on the surface, in imitation of the deli-
cate ephemera. Connected with the smallest thread
of gut, they must the moment they are wet be ex-
changed for perfectly dry ones. It surprises many
Europeans to be informed that our largest trout can
be taken successfully by a large No. 2 or No. 3 hook,

A Sportsman 135

with a spread of an inch, and drawn through the water
a foot or two below the surface, and that trout will
strike at such a fly several times in succession and
often when pricked by an unsuccessful strike.

The trout of the Rangele}' Lakes are particularly
ganiy, and it is with some hesitancy that I say, for
fear I may be discredited, that I have several times
when trolling with fresh minnows caught trout which
I have reeled up within twenty feet of the boat and
lost off, and had them in plain sight seize again the
mangled minnow and hook and be netted into the boat
for their temerity. The salmon is very cautious in the
fresh-water pools in taking the fly, and if unsuccessful
in its strike will retire to its first place and take a rest
before rising again. In the Pacific Ocean, when fol-
lowing a trolling bait of fresh anchovy or sardine, it
will exhibit great boldness and tenacity, comparatively
fearless of the boat, and will strike savagely at the
bait, and if not hooked at the first effort, but getting
a portion of it, will hook on the remnant when often
but a skin shred remains, and within ten or fifteen feet
of the boat, plainly visible in the clear water, and sev-
eral following will sometimes be observed in chase.

In the Park we found game plentiful, antelope and
deer especially. One morning we obsen-^ed a mile off
a large bear feeding in the tall grass in the open. The
wind was favorable for our approach, and a projecting
group of timber on our left reached out for a good
station to fire from, and although our hunting guide,
experienced with bear, was absent for supplies, we
concluded to take in the bear ourselves if possible.
We worked up through the timber, and when we ar-
rived at the lower end of the wooded point we found

136 Reminiscences of

the passage was badly blocked by windfalls, which we
had much difficulty in getting through, particularly
at the point we wished to arrive at.

We had to climb over lots of logs and branches
and expected that the bear would take alarm, but
when we came near the end of the point and could look
out we saw our bear still feeding undisturbed. But
such a monster we had never seen before, and he looked
to be the size of an ox. I began to feel an apprehen-
siveness I had not before, and I whispered to Daland
and Twing, asking if they thought we had better go
on in our purpose, considering the surroundings and
the possibility of escape in case of wounding the bear
if he should drive for us. I made a mental calculation
in this wise: What is the bear worth to kill ? Perhaps
a hundred or two hvmdred dollars. What is my life
worth to me? More than several millions of worlds.
I don't believe it is a reasonable proposition and I
decline. Twing was inclined to risk it, bvit Daland
thought as I did. We very cautiously returned the
way we came.

Our great bear hunt was over. Our hunter guide,
when we related our experience to him, considered that
it would have been very imprudent for us to have shot
at the grizzly, and related the experience of a hunter
friend of his who at this time was laid u]) in the North
Park, whom they called "Old Kentuck," terribly bit up
and mangled by a grizzly which came upon him after
being wounded, and it was a question if he would
recover.

Mr. De la Vergne afterward related to me his ex-
perience with a grizzly which he shot at from a repeat-
ing rifle while out prospecting for mineral ores. The

A Sportsman 137

grizzly was not far off, coming leisurely toward him.
Mr. De la Vergne crouched behind a large fallen log
and, taking deliberate aim, fired at the bear's breast.
No sooner had he fired than the bear, giving a savage
growl, came for him, though not at full speed, as he
was badly wounded, and received three more shots,
dropping finally in a death struggle within twenty feet
of Mr. De la Vergne.

A man whom I afterwards employed named Saw-
yer— more of a miner than a hunter, — while taking a
mule pack of provisions over the range for me, was
suddenly confronted by two "large grizzly bears on the
trail, whose sudden appearance stampeded his mule
away from him, which went off at a galloping rate with
its load of provisions and Sawyer's rifle, and the poor
fellow had barely time to get up a tree before the two
bears were on the ground below. They kept him up
the tree for several hours, and he did not recover his
mule until the following day. The mule, when found,
had made his way to Breckenridge, the nearest settle-
ment, eleven miles from the scene of the disturbance.

Fortunately the grizzlies are not good tree-climbers,
unless aided by low-down branches which they may
seize and which are sufficiently strong to bear their
weight.

A FTER two weeks' stay in the Park, we crossed
^ over the range to the headwaters of the Rio
Colorado, in the vicinity of some gulch miners on the
California and Georgia gulches, where they were tak-
ing out some very good gold nuggets of fine gold.

138 Reminiscences of

I purchased some of the nuggets, one of which weighed
a pound, for which I paid three hundred dollars, and
altogether I bought nuggets to the value of two thou-
sand dollars. It then occurred to me that I would
make a collection of Colorado ores, which I did, build-
ing up from the nuggets bought, and when I returned
to Central City I employed several men to follow up
the opened mines in Gilpin and several other counties,
until I secured a large and representative collection
from several hundred mines, which I afterward ex-
hibited at the World's Fair in Paris in 1867.

I also secured specimens from the few opened
mines then shown up over the range, which from assays
made at the Denver United States Mint I found to
be distinctive from the ores about Central City, and
more predominating in silver than gold, which induced
a belief in my mind that the over-the-range mineral
veins would ultimately make a record in the silver
line, which was not then expected. In fact the gen-
eral view existing at that time was that Colorado was
wholly a gold-producing region, and that silver was an
incidental feature of no particular importance. I was
so much impressed with the value of the silver mines
from the Denver assays that I wrote a small book on
the subject, entitled Silver Mining Regions of Colorado,
of between one hundred and two hundred pages, of
which I had five thousand copies published by D. Van
Nostrand & Co. of New York. This gave an account of
the silver mines, with a general history of Colorado and
its mining methods, and was the first work published
on Colorado. This work, published in 1865, was se-
verely criticised by the gold-mining region newspapers,
and in some instances ridiculed as preposterous and

A Sportsman 139

one that could only have been indited by one of the
tenderfoot order, ignorant of the real wealth of the
State.

The working of the silver mines at Leadville a few
years aften\-ard dispelled the gold monopolizing theory
most effectually, as that region has yielded up to the
present time a good deal more than a hundred millions
of the white metal.

As my work published in 1865 is out of print I will
intrude some extracts in verification of the prophecy I
then made :

' ' The silver fields now discovered in Colorado, upon
the western slope of the range, but a short distance
from the gold belt of veins, are apparently in promi-
nence and value beyond any known in the world, and
the results that will be realized there within the next
few years will constitute an epoch in the history of
silver mining. Were it generally known to-day how
rich and inviting the silver fields of Colorado are we
should witness an attention and investment there more
conspicuous than any exhibited before during the pres-
ent age. An excitement of magnitude is inevitable
and will come."

"The wealth of the mines of Mexico is historic.
We are informed by Humboldt in his Essai Politique
that 'the yield of the Mexican mines since the con-
quest to 1803 had been $2,027,952,000, all of which
was produced from a few central spots, and the mining
confined to a comparatively limited circle.' The reg-
istered coinage of the Mint of Mexico, from the years
1733 to i860, shows $1,741,573,107.

"The following registered yields of a few Mexican
mines may be interesting to the reader :

I40 Reminiscences of

Biscaina vein $ 16,341,600

Santa Anita vein 21,347,210

Valencia vein 31,813,486

Rayas vein 85,421,014

Veta Madre vein 225,935,736

"The Pavellon vein when first opened was said to
have produced $20,000 per day for five years, when a
torrent of water from the mountains filled its shafts
and swept away the improvements. It was opened
again, and for the succeeding ten years yielded S6o,ooo,-
000. In 1696 it was once more abandoned and not
opened again until 1787, when it was vigorously
worked for eight months. The ore taken from it in
that period yielded $11,500,000. The different mem-
bers of the noted Fagoaga family are estimated to have
received during fifty years' working of two veins over
$16,000,000 in profits.

"That the great mineral treasures of Mexico com-
mence at the point where Humboldt rightly states the
labors of the miners to have temiinated, is conceded
by those familiar with the country north and south
and the natives themselves. We may be surprised
when considering this fact, that such localities, known
to be so much richer than the interior sections, should
have been so long neglected.

"The extreme northern mines of Durango and Chi-
huahua have been proven as vastly richer than those
of the interior. It is upon the records of Mexico that
one Sefior Zambrano, proprietor of two mines at San
Dimas, Durango, paid as the king's fifth upon the
silver raised from the two mines, from 1783 to 1807,
the simi of $11,000,000. Nothing but the extreme
richness of the ore could have paid the royalty of the

A Sportsman 141

King, and the heavy duties entailed by the distance of
those mines from the Capital.

"The Carmen vein, north of Durango, in the State
of Chihuahua, among the mines of Batopilas, upon the
western declivity of the Sierra Madre, has produced
enormous yields of silver. From this vein three masses
of pure malleable silver were taken, weighing collec-
tively 870 pounds.

"The mines of Santa Eulalia, in Chihuahua, are
the most northern of any mines in the Mexican States
which have been worked with any regularity, and
proved by the richness of their ores the superiority of
the northern mines of Mexico over those of the interior
and southern part. The registered yield of the mines
of Santa Eulalia from 1705 to 1737 was $55,959,750,
or an average of 81,748,742 per annum; from 1737 to
1 79 1 the yield exceeded $44,000,000, making a total
for eighty-six years of S 100,000,000.

"This extreme northern district was abandoned in
the year 1800 from its proximity to hostile Indian
tribes, whose savage incursions could not be prevented
by the mining population, who received no assistance
from the Mexican Government, which was engaged
in civil discord; and the flourishing haciendas for re-
ducing metals, which were once in such a flourishing
condition, are now a mass of ruins. Thus the tan-
talizing wealth of the northern mines of Mexico and
the rich tracts of Arizona and Colorado have remained
imdeveloped until the present day.

"The report of Mr. Glennie, a very enterprising
and intelligent English traveller, who made, in the
years 1824 and 1825, a number of excursions over
the northern Sierra Madre range, confirms the good

142 Reminiscences of

reputation these unsettled tracts have had in the
estimation of those famihar with the northern mines
of Mexico.

"A single instance of the result of an exploring ex-
pedition by some Mexican buscones (searchers) into
the regions of Arizona (contiguous to Colorado), in the
commencement of the eighteenth century, will illus-
trate the wealth of that region. Upon their return
they brought most wonderful accounts of richness, and,
in proof, 4033 pounds of pure silver, one mass of which
alone weighed 108 arrobas, or 2700 pounds, the largest
mass of pure silver ever found in the world. The fact
is well substantiated by record. The claims of royalty
to the King being disputed by the explorers, led to
a long and vexatious suit resvdting in a royal decree
of Philip v., dated Aranjuez, May 28, 1741, which ter-
minated a prosecution by the Royal Fiscal against the
discoverers of Arizona, and gives the weights of the
balls, sheets, and other pieces of silver discovered
{tolas, planchas, y ostras piezas de platd).

"The decree ends by declaring Arizona to be royal
property as a 'Criadera de Plata' (a place in which,
by some natural process, silver was created). In con-
sequence an end to enterprise in that region occurred
and it has remained until this day comparatively un-
known and infested by hostile Indians. An attempt
to found a colony there to work the mines upon royal
account was made, which owing to want of support
failed.

"The following extract from the report to the
English Government by H. G. Ward, Charg^ d'Affaires
to Mexico for a number of years, may not be uninter-
esting in view of the developments of the silver regions

A Sportsman 143

of Colorado. The report was published in the year
1827 for the benefit of English capitalists who had
invested largely in Mexican mines, and was the result
of a long and critical examination of the mineral re-
sources of the country.

"'The hitherto unexplored regions in the north of
Mexico contain mineral resources which, as discoverers
proceed, are likely to make the future produce of the
country infinitely exceed the amount that has been
hitherto drawn from the comparatively poorer dis-
tricts of the South.' The specimens which I have
seen of the ores extracted from about 36° north lati-
tude almost induce one to adopt the theory that the
proportion of silver contained in the ores increases as
you advance north, a theory which is generally be-
lieved at present in Mexico, and which is certainly
confirmed by the superiority of all the northern ores
over the richest districts in the South.

"The line of Mexico at that time extended along
the Arkansas River to the 42d parallel, which included
the regions of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado ; the
line of Colorado commencing at 31° and ending with
41° north."

These were some of the arguments included in my
published work of 1865, prior to the discovery of silver
in Colorado. The results of mining in Colorado and
Utah and regions beyond have fully verified the
prophecies given in 1865 as to increasing mineral val-
ues as mining has proceeded northward from Mexico.

Over the Range, Mr. Tabor, afterward Governor
of Colorado, and briefly a United States Senator, was
engaged in keeping a small station, where we pur-
chased supplies. We were camped near a large body

144 Reminiscences of

of Ute Indians at peace with the whites, who were en-
gaged in their usual life of hunting, and whose primi-
tive methods of life were interesting and amusing.
They would come over to our place frequently in large
groups, especially women and children and young
braves, and would sit on the ground for hours watching
our every movement, until it became so annoying that
we removed our camp farther off. These Utes, with
the exception of trifling small outbreaks, have always
been at peace with the people of Colorado, and are
now removed to a distant reservation. They never
indicated any disposition to enter our camp, though
they would get about as near as they could without
getting in, and the intense interest with which they
would watch our dressing, washing, and cooking was
most amusing, and when one of us shaved they would
pack the front of oiu" humble abode so densely as to
make it difficult to pass through them. Yet they
never molested any of our articles, or opened our closed
camp dtiring our absence, although we did suspect that
they had stolen two of our saddle-horses belonging to
Daland and Twing, two white mustangs designated as
General Grant and General Sherman. We informed the
chief of our suspicions, and he admitted that he feared
some of his young braves might have got away with
them, which he very much regretted.

All of our horses were stampeded one night, and we
found in the morning that they were all gone from the
place where they had been picketed, and half a dozen
Ute braves volunteered to join us in search for them.
The Indians were very efficient in trailing, and followed
the horses to a burnt-over hillside, where the young
grass had kept them at grazing — all but General Grant

A Sportsman i45

and General Sherman, who were nowhere to be found,
though one of the braves claimed to have discovered
their trail, taking a straight course for the town of
Breckenridge, which we had passed through on our
route over. We viewed the statement with some sus-
picion, and were inclined to think he knew more about
their disappearance than he might be willing to admit.

A few pounds of sugar and a dozen cards of com-
mon matches amply rewarded our assistants in the
search, for sugar and especially matches were the usual
articles mostly prized by the Utes, and they asked for
these articles more than for anything else. A know-
ledge of this demand led us to lay in a good stock of
matches, and in a sudden burst of benevolence one of
us would occasionally at camp go among the group of
Indian visitors and gravely distribute two or three
matches to each one. These would be received with
many expressive grunts of gratitude, and the precious
illuminators would be carefully wrapped up in strips
of buckskin and stowed a\Yay-

It will be related later on how we recovered Gen-
erals Grant and Sherman afterward, at a distance of
over one hundred and fifty miles from where we lost
them, showing that any suspicions we had that the
Utes had stolen them were groundless. The Ute In-
dians, always peaceful with the whites, were perhaps
more so than they otherwise would have been, but for
their situation as mountain Indians inhabiting the
parks and surroundings in Colorado. On the plains.
below were the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, always at
war with the Utes, and on the other side of the Utes
were various tribes of Indians hostile to them. If
they had war with the Coloradians they saw that they

146 Reminiscences of

would be driven into the hands of their enemies. They
could sustain themselves in their mountain regions
against other tribes, and though they annually de-
scended to the plains in the buffalo season, and had
frequent conflicts with Cheyennes and Arapahoes, they
could retreat to the foothills and hold them off.
They were as superior in the hills, as the Cheyennes
were on the plains. Frequent conflicts of this kind
were witnessed in the early days by the white settlers,
and one off the town of Denver was witnessed by the
people there the year I arrived in Colorado.

In 1879, when I arrived at Leadville — ^which then
was the scene of a most remarkable excitement, arising
from the discovery of the rich carbonate silver ores
two years before — I was struck with the resemblance
of the locality to that where we found our strayed
horses fourteen years before, and upon mentioning it
to Governor Tabor, he confirmed my impression that
it was the identical tract, as he was a near resident at
the time and noted the incident of our finding our
horses on the burnt tract, and this my hunter-guide.
Utter, whom I found at Leadville, also affirmed. The
town was crowded beyond its capacity , and many were
occupying tents and temporary shelters ; not very com-
fortable, the latter, as it was midwinter, and at an
altitude of nearly ten thousand feet above sea-level.
Large sums were being taken from the mines quite
near the surface, and the struggle for wealth reminded
me of the old times at Oil Creek in 1865. I naturally
thought of my early visit there, when such untold
wealth lay beneath my feet, and when an acquired
title of one hundred and sixty acres of land from the
government would have had more than a value of

A Sportsman i47

$100,000,000. But I saw no evidence of the slumber-
ing wealth when I was there, or mineral indications
enough from which to obtain specimens for my collec-
tion, though we did not look very attentively.

The day after my arrival I saw a small tract fif-
teen hundred feet long and six hundred feet wide,
which has since yielded over Sio,ooo,ooo in silver. I
purchased for some friends of mine a part of this tract
one hundred and fifty feet in width for 8300,000,
which yielded a ton of silver per month for over two
years. The silver ore found and worked primarily at
Leadville was found in a blanket-spread fonn over and
below the surface, instead of going down vertically as
found in fissure veins, and was combined with a carbon-
ate of lead This blanket deposit was pretty well worked
out in a few years, and mixed with it, and below were
large bodies of iron ore, worthless for silver, but with
an admixture of manganese, making it valuable for
flux in smelting, and especially valuable in the manu-
facture of Bessemer steel, so that the anomalous con-
dition of many of the silver mining companies was
exhibited, after the exhaustion of their silver ores, as
existing by furnishing material for steel rails.

We made a third removal of our hunting camp over
to a beautiful and grassy but limited valley on the
headwaters of the Blue River, a tributary of the Rio
Colorado, at the base of a precipitous and rocky moun-
tain which we named Fletcher. This mountain, one of
the most prominent of the continental range, towering
up fifteen hundred feet from the little valley we occu-
pied, was very difficult to ascend, and rather dangerous
on account of loose rocks of mammoth size, which
needed but little encouragement to go crashing down

148 Reminiscences of

to the valley below; and we amused ourselves when
making the ascent by prying over rocks, which dis-
lodged others, and at times made avalanches of large
proportions, and when we reached the sharp, ridgy
extending top it became a question which side we
would create an avalanche upon from the tottering
rocks thus easily dislodged — if we would give them
to the Atlantic or Pacific side.

This mountain, so precipitous and having no tim-
ber, being at its base above the altitude where it would
grow, had a good many small areas grassed over, and
all these spaces indicated the visitations of bighorn
mountain goats, which were plentiful compared with
other localities we had visited. Inhabiting this
mountain through the summer they would descend
habitually to the small fertile valleys below for grazing,
but at the least alarm would break for the heights, and
could be watched going along the most precipitous
passages with a celerity that was astonishing. We
killed eight during our stay, and found them fairly good
eating, excepting one or two old stagers which were
rather strong for our taste.

We got nearly all of the bighorns on the mountain-
side, by spotting and cautiously approaching the small
grassy areas when the wind was blowing strong from
the opposite direction of approach, and frequently the
odor arising from their resting-place would be the first
intimation we would have of their near vicinity. One
of the gulch miners at McNulty, some miles below us,
had a tame one, captured when a kid, which was al-
lowed to run about without its attempting to go away,
and was rather offensively tame in its close hanging on.

A Sportsman 149

How these goats survive the severe storms and snows
of winter I can not understand, but they necessarily-
must descend to the milder regions of the parks. Still,
the mountains have many sheltered valleys where feed
exists through the winters, and I have since noted at
Cripple Creek, at nine thousand feet elevation, that
domestic cattle feed out during most inclement winters.

The view from Fletcher Mountain was of wondrous
interest in its panoramic display of mountain ranges,
exhibiting the small tributaries of the Rio Colorado
and the Arkansas River. The many small rivulets
in commencement seemed almost connecting, but sepa-
rated in resulting termination, — originating together,
one system to mingle in the briny waters of the Atlan-
tic and the other in those of the Pacific. We found
trout plentiful in all the streams of the same class as
found in the parks, brownish with black spots, but no
carmine coloring.

We noticed some peculiarities arising from the high
altitude we were at, when water boiled at so low tem-
perature as to take from two to two hours and a half
to boil our potatoes soft enough for eating ; ten minutes
to boil an egg medium well done ; and beans one could
not boil long enough all day to crack the skins for
baking. Being scalded by boiling water was out of the
question as understood at low altitudes.

We all felt the difficulty in breathing incidental to
the rarified atmosphere, and in ascending an elevation
frequent stops were necessary. We found, however,
some relief in this respect after some days of stay. Our
horses were affected the same way, which necessitated
much caution in using them freely. It is questionable

150 Reminiscences of

if any one bom and habited to low altitudes can ever
become as efficient in physical ability in extreme high
elevations as if bom there.

In Ward's Mexico it is related that Englishmen
there brought out greyhounds to course for the hare,
plentiful on the elevated mesa lands The greyhounds
were found inefficient, but the offspring bred there were
found successful in the chase.

A S elk did not abound in our locality we again
-'^ moved our camp south about forty miles, to a
small stream tributary to the Gunnison River, which
in turn flowed into the Rio Colorado. Here we located
near the Divide, where we found more game than we
had yet seen in Colorado, — bear, both grizzly and cin-
namon, bighorns, elk, and deer in abundance, and
mountain lions. We had but little desire for bear
meat, and were quite satisfied in witnessing the signs.
We killed several elk and deer, and finally a moun-
tain lion, after many miles of tramping, and having
about given up the hunting, having no dogs suitable for
following, as our three dogs were of a mongrel kind and
untrained to such sport. They, however, one day in
advance of us, surprised a lion at the remnants of a
deer we had killed, which almost immediately treed,
instead of making off as usual for rough and difficult
grounds. A single shot brought the lion down mor-
tally wounded, but with life enough left to very badly
mutilate one of the dogs which too abruptly rushed
upon him. He proved to be a very old one, and thin
in flesh, but with a large, fine pelt, which we carried
out with us in our collection of elk horns, bighorns.

A Sportsman 151

and deer skins, which required an extra pack-mxile we
had to purchase.

It required one hundred and fifty miles of traveling
to get back to Denver by way of the South Park over
a very rough country, until we reached the plains. At
Denver, where we rested for two weeks, I met two
young men from Boston whom I knew, Abbott and
West, and after exciting them with tales of our adven-
tures, we planned together another excursion to visit
the Middle Park over the Divide by way of the gold
mines in Gilpin County.

We found Denver being diminished in its popula-
tion from the hard times existing. The known surface
diggings were becoming exhausted, and no methods
were known how to work the stubborn sulphurets be-
neath. In the two years following Denver probably
lost one third of its inhabitants, who by driving
teams or on horseback, or by one way or another man-
aged to get away from a region where they saw no
means of livelihood. Real estate sunk to a low ebb,
and many owners, from either want of funds or faith in
future values, let their property taxes go unpaid.

It was not until 1868 that the smelting process as
pursued at Swansea in Wales was introduced, and
from that period a growing prosperity occurred, and
now the State surpasses any in the Union in its yield
of precious metals, with agricultural products of still
greater value.

It was now midsummer when our party, increased
to five, returned to the mining sections, resting for a
few days. Supplying ourselves with pack-mules and
two hunter guides, we essayed a route recommended to
us over the Divide from Spanish Bar by Trail Creek,

152 Reminiscences of

which was ill-advised, and which we could not make
owing to its roughness, with accumulated snow in the
passes, although it was the first of July. We had ex-
pected an additional guide familiar with the route who
had a camp at the lower end of Trail Creek, but he had
struck some rich surface pay ore on the Freeland Lode
near by that was too attractive for him to leave, but
would send up Dixie with us to the end of the creek near
the Divide. We supposed he meant some companion
of his, which he did, though it turned out to be a long-
eared donkey, which he assured us would most faith-
fully take us through to the Divide if we would keep
him ahead and not let him tvun back, and we inight
let him return alone when we got through with him.
This gave us a good deal of amusement, besides creat-
ing a suspicion that we might find ourselves on some
sort of a wild-goose hunt before we got through, which
turned out to be the case. We were at the end of the
settlement, and the expected man, Holland, could not
or would not go, and we had no resource but the donkey.
It was early in the day when we started on over a
trail, which, distinct enough on the start, soon gave
out entirely. We, however, kept Dixie on the lead
despite his frequent evinced determination to go back.
We had the running creek anyhow for a guide, and we
could not lose that, though we had to cross it a great
many times, and had to leave it often and go around
hills which were too precipitous to climb, or which met
at the stream where no passage existed on either side.
Our objective destination for the day was Chicago
Lake, so called, near the summit, which was a pond
about half a mile in width, and noted under the roman-
tic name it had, as having been the locality at which

A Sportsman 153

Bierstadt had painted his celebrated picture called
The Heart of the Rocky Mountains — a very striking
and attractive picture of which there have been many-
lithographs.

At times in getting away some distance from the
stream it looked as if Dixie was leading us wrong,
but he brought us round all right, except in one
instance, when he struck up a hill so steep that
we had to dismount and hang on to the tails of our
horses and mules to keep up u'ith the procession. We
felt sure he was wrong this time, but how to stop him
was the question, as he kept on ahead, and we were
too winded to overtake him. By calling a rest, how-
ever, Dixie began to let up and nibble at the scant feed,
and one of our guides finally got ahead and turned him
back. We had taken the advice of Holland, which
proved a good precaution, and loaded up Dixie with
a pack to flatter him that he was of sufficient import-
ance to belong to the excursion, which no doubt had a
salutary effect upon him.

It was near dark when we arrived at the lake, which
was the head waters of Trail Creek, beautifully situated
in a moderately opened valley, surrounded upon aU
sides but the one of approach by uprising, precipitous
ledges of rocks. We were near the Divide, and had
in our ascent risen over three thousand feet from
Spanish Bar in going over a distance of twenty miles.
Rising up ahead of us was a battlement of rocks sev-
eral hundred feet in height, bare of timber and covered
with snow. This constituted the dividing line of
height between the Atlantic and Pacific, and was the
pass we were to go over. From the pass on each side
were rocky ridges rising hundreds of feet still higher.

154 Reminiscences of

The snow extended down from the summit to the
shores of the lake, and as we remained here for several
days we celebrated the 4th of July by efforts at snow-
balling and coasting. The ice had gone out of the
lake but a few days before. The last reaches of timber
ended at the lake in small, scraggly diminutive pines,
though in Bierstadt's picture large trees are shown, and
an Indian encampment with peaked and picturesque
wigwams.

We did not arrive so late but that I could try the
fishing, while the rest of our party prepared the rough
shelter for the night and attended to other duties of
high life. Somewhat to my surprise I found the trout
plentiful, and soon had a school around me and secured
a score, all averaging about the weight of half a pound.
They were very listless on the hook, with bellies full
of ground and surface feed, bugs and ephemera, and I
was surprised that in such condition they should take
my bait of fresh meat so readily. Curious that trout
should ascend so high, showing the wondrous adaptive-
ness of this fish, which has no limit to its venture-
someness if the cardinal virtues of aeration and low
temperature are present. Yet this lake is hardly free
of ice for more than three months in the year.

Twing, who was a good deal of an epicure, claimed
that he must cook these trout for supper himself, to
insure their favorable condition for the satisfaction of
a hunger which was keenly felt after our laborious
day's work. Daland and I felt some misgivings at
this declaration, as we had experienced some of Twing's
culinary efforts upon previous excursions. However,
we let him go on, but when in our eager expectancy
the trout were brought on, the dish was greeted with

A Sportsman 155

a cry of sorrow and disappointment that made Twing
ver>' unhappy. He had cut up the trout in squares
like dice, and while frying them in the large camp
saucepan over the open fire, the fat had ignited and
before being extinguished gave a charcoal hue to
the squares which was far from appetizing in appear-
ance or taste. This led to a raillery on the subject
which completed Twing's discomfiture so much that
he soon sought the retirement of his soft bed on the
fragmentary' sticks which were laid over the damp
ground for resting upon.

Our extemporized camp for the night, owing to the
scarcity of material, was of a sparse character, better
calculated on top for a survey of the skies than pro-
tection in case of rain, but the night was clear though
ver>- cold, and our supply of dry wood was too limited
to last satisfactorily through the night, compelling a
forage for more toward morning. A little incident
occurred which still further afifected the situation.

Twing, retiring earlier than the rest, commenced a
nasal serenade of an amusing character, at which
Daland, a persistent joker, tied a few of our emptied tin
cans on the end of a stick and thrust them over Twing's
head from the rear of the camp. Jingling these tins
at a merry rate soon aroused Twing who, tired and
irritated at the intrusion, threatened to pull down the
whole camp if he were disturbed again in the same
manner. In a short time he was off again on the
musical tour, and Daland applied again the counter-
irritant. Twing was as good as his word and, rising
in his might as Samson of old at the pillars of the
temple, upheaved the supports and we were campless
in a twinkling. It was little loss, however, and we

156 Reminiscences of

weathered out the night with none missing at the
breakfast call.

We sent ofif the men to look for a pass to get over
the Divide, who returned in a few hours with the in-
formation that there was too much snow to think of
getting our animals over, as it was soft and honey-
combed beyond any possibility of safe passage. Dur-
ing the day we tried the fishing with success. All the
trout were as full as they could be with ground feed, and
and showed no fear at our approach. We had some
cooked properly, but they were not high in the stan-
dard of flavor. While Abbott was fishing along the lake
shore some distance from me, my attention was at-
tracted by his firing his pistol several times, and while
watching him, saw that he was wading out in the water
and firing at something on the rocky shore. I hastened
toward him and saw half a dozen small animals on the
shore by the water edge chattering at a great rate, but
which scurried away among the rocks as I came up,
and found that he had shot at and wounded one, which
set up a cry of distress which brought out a number,
whose threatening aspect compelled him to retreat
into the water, when he continued firing at them, but
without killing an3^ and was as I came up reloading his
pistol with another round of cartridges. I did not
see one closely enough to particularly examine, but the
guides said they were mountain woodchucks, with
which they corresponded in size and general appearance,
but were not the animals of that name with which
we are familiar and I noted they had tails ringed
somewhat as a raccoon. We remained over three nights
at the lake, but in a more comfortable camp than our
first one. Dixie, who piloted us back to Spanish Bar,
we kept tethered.

A Sportsman 157

After reaching the Bar we took up Fall River Creek
on our way to Central, and met here one of those im-
mense swarms of grasshoppers occasionally encount-
ered in Colorado. The air was full of them, immense
full-sized grasshoppers, near the earth and reaching
up as high as we could see, so that in looking up
they resembled a heavj' passage of snowfiakes. They
were coming from an opposite direction and struck
us so steadily that we had to cover our faces with
our handkerchiefs. They were drowned in immense
numbers in the waters of the stream, and swirled away
in the currents by the barrelful.

Amid this storm of grasshoppers we saw two white
horses up the hillside, and Daland declared they were
Generals Grant and Sherman whom we had lost when
we were at the Ute Indian encampment in Summit
County, and whom we suspected the Indians had stolen.
A closer examination revealed that they were in real-
ity the missing mustangs, and General Sherman was
observed to have around his neck two feet of his
old tether rope. They were fat and wild, but were
secured with some labor, and their backs which were
somewhat bruised and sore when lost were entirely
healed. Here these two animals had found their way
back over the mountains and streams more than one
hundred and fifty miles from the present site of Lead-
ville to the old grazing lands of Fall River, where they
had originally been obtained from, showing the re-
markable faculty which horses and some other animals
have in finding their way back to familiar localities
without compass or signs which mortals depend upon.
I could relate many incidents of this character,
of which similar ones are doubtless known to the
reader.

158 Reminiscences of

We gave up our expedition to the North Park and
I shortly after returned to Boston across the plains
by stage, as I came out. When I left Boston for Col-
orado, I had five thousand dollars in New York drafts
given me by three friends, Oakes Ames, of Union
Pacific Railroad celebrity, B. E. Bates, President of the
Boston Bank of Commerce, and my friend, Peter
Butler, to use in the purchase of Colorado mines at
my discretion, and I was to have one half the results
jointly with them. I brought back those drafts to
them, and Mr. Ames remarked that it was the first
money, ventured upon an understanding of similar im-
port, which he ever had returned.

IN the autumn of the same year (1865) I made an-
other trip across the plains to Colorado and back.
This time I proposed to go through the buffalo country
by the Smoky River route, a hundred miles or more
south of the stage line, and, having two friends who
accompanied me, we bought at the Missouri River a
stout pair of mules, with a wagon and saddle-horses,
calculating to join a caravan of prairie schooners for
protection, and to be a month or more on the road.
In the wagon we carried bedding, provisions, and neces-
sary articles. Our object in taking this route and
going in this manner was to avail ourselves of buffalo
and other hunting, of which we had abundance. From
the Missouri River caravans were departing daily, and
we had no difficulty in connecting ourselves with one.

A Sportsman 159

At this period, although the stage Hne was pretty
well protected from the attacks of Indians, the Smoky-
River route was more dangerous, as the Indians were
more or less about there hunting buffalo for their win-
ter's supply of meat. This meat, cut in narrow strips
and sun-dried, had good keeping quality for months
if kept dry. All the teams as they came along were
held up by government officials, who compelled an
aggregation of at least one hundred men with each
caravan before allowing a departure. Printed regula-
tions were distributed requiring an organization among
the men of each outfit, giving rules of proceedings for
the election of officers and general management; how
to establish picket guards in dangerous localities, and
how to provide against attacks. These regulations
were important and generally observed.

We had not proceeded many days before we came
into the buffalo range, and struck the flank of an im-
mense herd proceeding northward, from which several
were killed for use of the caravan. The following day
we were in the midst of immense numbers stretched
over the plains in all directions. A marvellous sight,
one which would impress an observer with the belief
that it would hardly be possible to have such numbers
exterminated in the brief space of a few years. The
building of the Union Pacific and the Kansas Pacific
railroads sealed the doom of the buffalo. With the
invasion of thousands of hunters brought upon the
buffalo grounds by these railroads, who sought no
more than the skins of the slain as their reward, who
found the buffalo defenceless, without shelter from
attack, and of too slow and cumbrous action to escape,
it is not surprising that they soon disappeared.

i6o Reminiscences of

The building of the Union Pacific Railroad settled
the question of annual migration. It had been the
habit for unknown centuries of the buffalo to annually
migrate back and forth over an immense grazing field
eighteen hundred miles in extent, from the fertile
lands of Texas to the inclement regions of British Co-
lumbia. Once their field of grazing extended from the
Atlantic Coast to the heights of the Pacific Sierras,
covering more than three quarters of the country, ex-
cepting Alaska. The extension of settlements from the
East gradually circumscribed their circuit, but nothing
more sudden or deadly ever paused their feet or dis-
tracted their sight than those glittering bands of end-
less steel across their way.

Even between the great arms of the Mississippi and
Missouri rivers they long held sway, and seventy years
ago, when Catlin, the Indian painter, rested at Fort
Omaha — ^which George Francis Train some years ago
said was the geographical centre of the Union from
east to west, now removed to San Francisco by the out-
stretching Aleutian Islands, — ^he said the buflfalo were
so plentiful that a band of Pawnee Indians, invited by
the officers at Fort Omaha, went out and two days
after brought in a thousand buff'alo tongues for a
barrel of whisky. This whisky, i. e., alcohol, was prob-
ably seven eighths water from the muddy Missouri,
adapted with hot compounds by the kind considera-
tion of the traders to the uncultured Indian taste.
And yet, at one blow, the steel rail appearing, said to
the stupid and uncomprehending buffalo. Stay, you
cannot go around, and in a few years you and your
kind of countless numbers, which have so long held the
country in vantage, from before history began, shall

A Sportsman i6i

be exterminated. All but a few which your friend the
white man shall exhibit in the circus fields or in wire-
bound parks.

In the buffalo was exhibited the most stupendous
feature of large wild animal life ever shown upon the face
of the globe, and in later ages it will appear almost
incredible to the belief of the reader of history that a
condition could have existed to have allowed so many
millions of these huge animals to roam at will over
the expanse of the greater part of the North American
continent; that in modem days masses of buffalo
containing from ten thousand to one hundred thou-
sand could be viewed from a single standpoint; that
days were consumed by travellers in patient waiting
for more than a million of these magnificent animals
to pass away before them; likewise to learn that in a
brief space of a dozen years from such a condition, a
practical extinction of these mammoth creatures oc-
curred. It is a spectacle of grand, marvellous, and
pathetic interest.

Coincidental with the passing of the buffalo was
that of the plains Indians. Stretching from the Missis-
sippi River to the mountainous backbone of the con-
tinent in our day were successive tribes of Indians
which have all disappeared. Their very existence was
woven in with that of the buffalo. The real great pro-
tector of the Indians was the buffalo, which supplied
food, raiment, and shelter. And with the passing of
these two great elements of nature, what is left to
show their existence? Nothing but a few rude Indian
hieroglyphics on the face of rocks and a few mud wal-
lowing pits of the buffalo. Even the bones of the
buffalo are not in evidence, all gathered up in the eager

i62 Reminiscences of

race for gain after the holocaust of destruction for the
carbon works of Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri.

A competent authority has estimated that between
the years 1868 and 1880, two and a half million dollars
were paid out in the three States mentioned for buffalo
bones gathered on the prairies at eight dollars per ton ;
and if the estimate of one hundred buffaloes to one ton
of bones has been correctly calculated, it will be ob-
served that the bones of over thirty millions of buffalo
would be required to furnish the amount purchased.

In 1870, the year the Kansas Pacific Railroad was
completed from Kansas City to Denver, I took passage
from Denver to Kansas City over this route, accom-
panied by three friends, Edward E. Poor, P. Adams
Ames, and Clarence Denny. We had been out to Cali-
fornia, making a short visit there, and were on our
way back to the East. We were attracted by the re-
ports we heard about buffalo being scattered along the
railroad route, which my friends were anxious to see,
but little did we reckon upon the delay and the appre-
hensions we were to experience. It was in the early
part of April, and the heavy storms of the winter were
over. There had been, however, some light flurries of
snow and hail, and, although the plains were free and
clear, the cuts through which the railroad passed were
choked up to some extent with snow and sand, which
had to be cleared out, and the forces at the intervening
stations were light and inadequate for the work, so
that we had constant delays over the route and were
five days in making the passage, which on regular time
now is made in thirty hours.

Half-way across we came into large herds of buffalo,
and in the distance we saw Indians pursuing and kill-

A Sportsman 163

ing them. The Sioiux Indians, although they had been
secured upon a northern reservation and were at com-
pelled peace with the whites, had been permitted by
the government to come upon the buffalo grounds to
secure their customary and usual supplies of dried
meat for the coming winter.

Only a year before the Sioux, with the Chey-
ennes, the Ogalallas, and half a dozen other tribes,
who had banded together to prevent the building of
the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and who, in 1867 and
1868, swept away the habitations of the settlers and
ruthlessly murdered men, women, and children indis-
criminately, had been overcome by the government
forces under Generals Sheridan, Custer, Sully, and For-
syth, and been placed upon reservations, or at least all
who could be gathered up, although remnants of the
warlike bands were still loose for moderate forays.
The various tribes, still smarting under the igno-
miny of their defeat and feeling an irritation difficult to
entirely conceal, were only restrained by fear of speedy
punishment in case of transgression.

We had not known of the government permit for
the Indians to be let loose after the buffalo, or we
should not have taken this route. We experienced
an anxiety difficult to restrain, and as the straggling
groups of Indians came anywhere near us, attracted
by our train stalled at the face of a snow-filled cut,
we prepared for a possible attack. There were but a
handful, a dozen or so of passengers, but all men, and
with half a dozen shovellers and the engineer, fireman,
and brakemen we could muster a score. We had
plenty of arms and ammunition, as each train sent out
was well equipped by the company, which had fought

164 Reminiscences of

its way across the plains almost from the commence-
ment of the building. The congregated tribes of In-
dians had given out their ultimatum in 1867 that the
railroad should not be built, but little did they com-
prehend the untiring force of the paleface, which,
however temporarily impeded, never ceased in its for-
ward march. The twelve hundred men graded the
track and laid the rails on the Kansas Pacific
Railroad in less than two years. During the period
of building, Colonel Cody ("Buffalo Bill"), under con-
tract with the road, supplied the laboring force with
buffalo meat, and with his aids killed over five
thousand head.

For two days we had biiffalo all about us, and at
times it would appear as if they would compel the
stoppage of our train. On one occasion a bunch of
several hundred galloped on the track ahead of the
train for half an hour, despite the whistling of our
engine, and others galloped abreast of the train for
miles within easy killing distances.

Some days before our passage a west-bound train
between Forts Harker and Hays was compelled to lay
by for five hours to allow the buffalo to pass. The
buffalo in passing repeatedly endeavored to go be-
tween the linked cars of the train, and our Pullman
car, which was a part of the blocked train, had two of
its steps, broken down by the weight of straggling buf-
faloes, still unrepaired.

While several small groups of Indians engaged with
buffalo came within something less than a mile of us,
which put us on guard for a possible attack, they did
not indicate a disposition to visit us. It had been
resolved not to allow any close approach or familiar

A Sportsman 165

mingling with the savages, but to warn them off if
they came within danger limits, but an exception was
made on the third day, when we had our greatest delay
and our heaviest work in clearing the cuts, at the ap-
proach of three mounted Indians, who came at a mod-
erate pace toward us with extended open hands in
token of peace. One, who spoke a little English, ex-
plained to us that one of the party, a chief, would
accompany us until the next day through the buffalo
country where so many Indians were engaged, to pro-
tect us from any possible attack from young bucks,
who might break away from the peaceful promises
given by the tribes to the government, explaining that
all the Indians were not favorable to the surrender and
consequent removal of the tribes from the plains to the
government reservations, and that the chief would go
with us for our protection against any possible foray.
While this confirmed the feeling we had, that our
apprehensions of trouble with the Indians were not
groundless, it gave us a confidence which had been
failing as to our safety. We therefore accepted this
hostage of security with satisfaction, much relieved
from the anxiety we had experienced. We endeav-
ored to make the old chief as comfortable as possible
although he declined all our advances and proffers of
friendship, and sat almost motionless looking out of
the car window as the train proceeded. We did not
deem it expedient to offer him fire-water, but he
deigned without the slightest acknowledgment to ac-
cept a handful of cigars and a box of matches, and did a
moderate amount of smoking. At the station, hewre
we all got out for supper, a while after dark, he indi-
cated a desire to leave us and take the next train back,

1 66 Reminiscences of

and descended from the car, pointing back in the direc-
tion we came from, but the station agent to whom he
appealed held a parley with him, and managed to con-
vince him of the necessity of his going on farther, ex-
plaining to us that this personal accompaniment of
Indians on each train had been arranged for between
the big chiefs and the railroad for the period when the
buffalo hunts should be along the route. As the buf-
falo were proceeding north, the present condition
would last but a few days longer.

Although a bed had been made up in our car for
our dusky companion for the night, he declined to
occup}^ it, and sat stolidly by the car window all night-
The following morning, beyond the buffalo range, our
Indian left us at a station, where he joined a west-
bound train, consenting to take from us a moderate
purse we made up for him.

WHAT a singular spectacle was presented by our
train in the last act of the drama of buffalo
and Indians, in the last change in the transition of the
plains from wild buffalo range and barbarism to peace-
ful settlement and civilization.

But the evolution of the buffalo and Indian is no
more striking than that of the great Western country
which has exhibited such wondrous change.

Ward, the Minister to Mexico from England, upon
the establishment of the new government independ-
ent of the dominion of Spain, a most sagacious and
conservative author, whose work to-day — published
in 1827 — is a standard one upon Mexico, said in the
preface of his work:

A Sportsman 167

"The great interior unexplored region lying north
of the Mexican States will remain for centuries practi-
cally unknown to civilization, and will present to the
world the spectacle of the last stronghold of savagery
and barbarism to be found upon the face of the earth."

This prophecy was given some eighty years ago —
not so long but living men can remember the period.
But how great was the error of Ward, and how
little he appreciated the bold and advancing spirit
of man, stimulated as it was to be by the wonder-
fvil progressiveness of new agencies. How aston-
ished he would have been, could he have but seen
a slight reflection of the present condition through
the region which he then accounted as hopelessly
given up to desolation for centuries.

Then the population of the United States was less
than one sixth of the present amount, and the settle-
ments of the country had but commenced to creep
away from the Eastern States. Not until a decade
after did the first steamer struggle across the briny
waves of the Atlantic, and the first locomotive had
just been built. Steam in its application to mechanics
had hardly been dreamed of, and the first principles
of electricity had hardly been conceived. A belief
then in the possibilities of ten billions of dollars of
investment in the railroads existing in this country at
the present day would have been as preposterous as
the opinion now that one hundred thousand millions of
dollars may be invested in electrical applications in a
century from this date, and the latter opinion will find
more believers now than the first proposition could
have had then.

Cheap printing and telegraphy, and the general

i68 Reminiscences of

diffusion of information by printing and electricity
throughout the world as soon as it is obtained, and
cheap transportation are leavening up the whole world.
Invention, advance, and intelligence are being stimu-
lated as never before, and the progress of arts, science,
and general information is more rapid than could have
been dreamed of by the optimist of half a century ago.

On my second trip by team across the plains with
my two companions in 1865 we were so beset with buf-
falo that an apprehensiveness existed among the riders
and drivers that our stock might be stampeded, as it
indicated a tendency in that direction, and at noon it
was thought best to hold up for the day and let the
buffalo pass, as we had to make a ford over a consider-
able width of shallow water and sand, over which
buffalo were plentifully scattered about. Besides, we
had to get grazing for the cattle and horses, which had
scant feed the day before. So selecting a spot not far
from the river, where feed was plentiful, a large corral
was made of the wagons, in which the stock was en-
closed. This corral was drawn close at night, as
before. A number went out for buffalo, and I re-
gret to say that a good many more were killed than
could be economically consumed. One hunter claimed
to have killed a group of five without moving from
his position. Of these, only the tongues and small
parts were taken.

The general method followed on the plains in
killing buffalo was that of the Indians, to ride on a
fast horse alongside the flank of the retreating buffaloes,
firing at them back of the shoulder for a vital spot.
Without waiting for the result the hunter proceeded on,
engaging with others in a similar manner, and would,

A Sportsman 169

under fortunate circumstances, slay a number before
returning to skin and cut up those first killed. The In-
dians with their arrows would do great execution if well
mounted, and in some instances would send an arrow
clear through a buffalo. Much depended upon the speed
and management of the mustangs employed, some of
which acquired a singular skill and intelligence in
pursuing the buffalo, and would in a short time so
direct themselves as to require no guidance.

A remarkable instance of this character, well
authenticated, occurred in the presence of several army
officers near Fort Hays, in 1868, where Colonel Cody
("Buffalo Bill") exhibited his unequalled skill in horse-
manship and shooting accuracy. Buft'alo were about,
and a few officers freshly arrived at the Fort started
out in conquest. Buffalo Bill, observing a group of
eleven buffalo not far off, hastily mounted his famous
steed Brigham. Not finding his saddle and bridle
convenient, he seized an old bridle and blinders, and
bareback started out, overtaking the well-mounted
officers, who made some facetious remarks at his
presence. He volunteered some advice to the officers
regarding the route the buffaloes were taking, and the
policy of cutting across in a particular direction which
the buffalo, then running, would take. To this the
officers gave no attention, and Buffalo Bill, hastily
throwing off his bridle, started, bareback and bridle-
less, in the direction he had indicated. The officers,
giving speed directly for the buffaloes, soon rounded
them in the direction indicated by Buffalo Bill. The
latter, having the advantage of the cut-off, was soon
in advance alongside the bounding buffalo, which his
obedient and trained Brigham pressed closely in

I70 Reminiscences of

repetition of the manner so often followed in previous
encounters. Buffalo Bill, before being overtaken by
the officers, killed the whole eleven in twelve shots,
only one buffalo, the last one, requiring a second shot.
The officers, reining up at the fall of the bi-iffaloes which
had occurred in so brief a period, were doubly aston-
ished to learn the name of their famous associate.

The dense stupidity of the buffalo largely aided
in his destruction. Skilful in protecting its young
and running mates from the attacks of wolves, and
even the grizzly bear and mountain lion, he never
seemed to acquire either a knowledge or a fear of the
death-dealing rifle, and many groups of a dozen or
more would often allow themselves to be shot down
one after another by a concealed hunter, without
moving from their tracks. During the death-dealing
periods after the building of the Kansas Pacific Rail-
road, there were hunters who boasted of having killed
from fifty to seventy-five buffaloes in a day. The
greater part of these killings was solely for the hides,
netting often not more than from one to three dollars
each.

The exodus of buffalo north, through Kansas, in
1868, while the Kansas Pacific Railroad was build-
ing, was of enormous proportions. Col. Henry In-
man, who was with Generals Sheridan and Custer
and a large military force there, relates that they
were compelled to lay by with their whole force for
three days for the immense swaying mass of buffalo
to pass by, and were compelled to exercise the precau-
tion of corralling all their cattle and horses to prevent
their being stampeded and lost, and that large num-
bers of horses, mules, and cattle were lost, and never

A Sportsman 171

recovered, by the settlers and caravans crossing the
plains. Colonel Inman, from a consensus of opinion
formed by the officers, estimated that from three to five
millions of buffalo were contained in the moving masses
which passed north at that period.

The only other parallel case that I am aware of
where a large body of animals has held an extensive
region in monopoly is that of the kangaroo in Aus-
tralia, which, sharing the fate of the buffalo, is found
now only in small numbers in the unsettled parts of
the island, being wholly unknown now in its old
havmts. When Captain Cook, in his notable first voy-
age to Australia in 1770, brought back knowledge of
the kangaroo to the notice of the world, it abounded in
many millions over the arable areas of the island con-
tinent. They were then as tame as domestic cattle,
and a long time after sheep were introduced grazed
with them in pleasant companionship. But the sheep
men soon found that they restricted the feed, and as
the sheep increased, large drives were made of the
kangaroos into stockaded pens with extended wings
after the manner now followed in Southern California
for capturing jack -rabbits, and when taking in a sweep
of twenty-five square miles, it was not unusual to
capture from three to five thousand kangaroos at a
single swoop. Then, the gates being closed, the old
male kangaroos being shot as dangerous, the balance
were beaten to death with clubs, and after the re-
moval of their skins were left to waste upon the ground.

It is now estimated that eighty millions of sheep
are grazed in Australia, and that if the kangaroos were
now existing, as originally, not more than ten or fif-
teen million sheep could be carried along.

172 Reminiscences of

But another animal plague has come in Australia,
since the disappearance of the kangaroo, that of the
little cotton-tail rabbit, unfortunately introduced by
an experimental mistake. These rabbits have mul-
tiplied so immensely as to become a serious men-
ace to the sheep industry, and are now estimated
to consume the feed of twenty millions of sheep.
Large sums have been offered by the authorities
for any remedy which would destroy them, but
without avail. Although the same rabbits exist
in California, they are comparatively scarce, and
it has been a wonderment to me why they have
not increased. Possibly the coyotes and small vermin
destroy them. In Australia they have the dingos or
native wild dogs, and the Wallaby bandicoots, native
cats, in abundance, but they do not seem to have any
appreciable effect on the rabbits.

In the morning we found that the great body of
buffalo had passed on north, and we saw only a few
scattered groups during the day. We had had enough
killing to satisfy us, and having seen all the buffalo
we desired, besides antelope and small game, con-
cluded to join another caravan that preceded us,
which, being headed for Utah, diverted from the route
our caravan was passing for the Platte River to follow
the stage road from Julesburg, which place we reached
in a few days. There we concluded to dispose of our
mule team and horses, and take the stage for Denver.
I remained in Colorado a few months, after which I
returned by stage to the Missouri River, and by rail-
road to Boston.

A Sportsman 173

IN the summer of the following year, 1866, I again
* returned to Colorado, having acquired some inter-
ests there, and gave attention to the further collection
of ores, of which I already had secured an extensive
cabinet. An agitation was occurring on the subject
of having an exhibition of Colorado ores at the great
World's Exposition to be held at Paris, in 1867, and
three commissioners had been appointed by the Ter-
ritorial Legislature to take charge of the ores and
represent them there. The funds in the Territory
were scant, and, no appropriation being made, it was
necessary that the amount required should be raised
by public subscription. This lagged, and it seemed
hopeless to expect the amount could be raised.

The intention was to take advantage of my collec-
tion, as I notified the Governor that the collection was
at his disposal, though I did not care to be added to
the number of commissioners already appointed, but
in case the amount to be subscribed should not be
obtained, I was willing if appointed as sole com-
missioner to go forward and make the exhibition at
my personal expense. To this I received no answer
but shortly after returning to Boston, and to my sur-
prise, a few weeks after my return, I received a letter
from the Governor, enclosing a commission from
United States Secretary of State William H. Seward,
appointing me as sole commissioner to represent
Colorado at the Paris Exposition. I had all my collec-
tion immediately forwarded to New York, across the
plains, including all the maps extant, many of which I
especially prepared, as well as a large number of photo-
graphs. These were shipped by one of the French
steamers directly to Havre and Paris in the following

174 Reminiscences of

spring, which I followed in due season. It was my
first trip abroad, and my sensations when I arrived in
Paris in the evening hour were of an exciting character.

As I was carried through the principal boulevards,
so brilliantly illuminated, to the Grand Hotel, the
lively and glittering presentation exceeded my ex-
pectations, and it seemed as if I had reached a new
land of enchantment. The exposition buildings were
already completed, and many of the departments were
already occupied.

The main building of exhibition, situated on the
large open space on the Field of Mars across the
Seine from the main part of the city, was oval in form
anh over a mile in circumference. The structure was
of iron and glass, surrounded by annexes for machinery,
agricultural implements, minerals, and various heay\^
articles. It was intended by the Emperor Napoleon
and the French Government to have this world's
exhibition surpass any ever before given, and it most
certainly did. Napoleon was then in the zenith of his
power and France in the height of prosperity.

The American commissioners, a large number,
were already there, but the American department
was entirely iinoccupied. A large number of Ameri-
can exhibitors were there, chafing under the delay in
having their various quarters assigned. N. M. Beck-
with was the United States Commissioner General
and Sam'l B. Ruggles, of New York, was the second
in rank following the chief. Mr. Beckwith had lived
with his family in Paris for many years, and pri-
marily in India, from which he had retired with a
large fortune. He was a man of singular indecision,
lacking executive ability. In vain the exhibitors ap-

A Sportsman 175

pealed to him to have their various places assigned.
Time was rapidly passing, and the exposition was
soon to be opened, while the American department
was dormant and lifeless, and would apparently be
behind all others. Several meetings of the exhibitors
were held and special committees were appointed
to confer with Mr. Beckwith. He promised to act,
and, visiting the space assigned to the United States,
would mull over it day after day, seemingly con-
fused by the earnest solicitations of the exhibitors.
The more he was implored the more he was con-
fused, and finally lapsed into a most incomprehen-
sible stupor when he was approached. Day by day
passed away and no decision. In fact, he had been
so long in idle life, and without cause for action, that
lie seemed approaching imbecility. He was, how-
ever, sensitive and irritable if the slightest reflection
was intimated as to his action. The committee
received no satisfaction, excepting in promises which
were empty. He had failed to select officers to pass
upon the assignments until the crowding applications
completely ovenvhelmed him. I was finally appointed
upon a committee to urge his action, and straightway
made my appearance before him with my associates.
We found him pleasant and afifable, and quietly stated
our mission. This seemed to throw him into a stupor
of indecision, and, clasping his hands on each side of his
head, with elbows on the table, he fairly groaned with
perplexity. Finally he said, "I will attend to it." I
pitied him, but the necessity was urgent. I then said:
"General Beckwith, if the exhibitors' positions are
not assigned within twenty-four hours, I shall move
for the exhibitors to act in sending a cable to the

1 76 Reminiscences of

President of the United States, asking for your
removal and the appointment of another in your
place."

This was a stunner, and the General arose, saying:

"My God! What do they want? What more can
I do?"

I rejoined, "Let them go and take their places."

"Let them," said the General; "let them go and
take their places. Will that satisfy them?"

"Certainly it will," I rejoined, "and that is all
they can desire."

Upon this we made our adieus, thanking the Gen-
eral for his consideration.

As rapidly as a cab could drive us, we hurried
back to the general meeting room, which was my
salon at the Grand, I having freely tendered it to the
exliibitors and commissioners in the absence of any
other provided place of meeting at that time.

We circulated the information as rapidly as we
could to all interested, and it was great news for
the exhibitors. It was a life scramble for place and
there was great hurrying to and fro.

I was fully prepared, having completed all my
cases and shelving of more than a thousand feet
with plate-glass fronts and proper adornments. I
had a valuable assistant, a Parisian whom I had em-
ployed to constantly guard my collection. I soon
had twenty workmen at double pay on the swing
for all-night work in placing my shelving, hanging
maps, and spreading my ores, and by lo o'clock in
the morning I had everything in place, and my as-
sistants were just distributing a plentiful supply of
fresh flowers over the top railings, when General

A Sportsman 177

Beckwith made his appearance. His attitude was
belligerent and he strode toward me, saying:

"Why, what is this? You can't stay here! This
is the centre reserved for pianos, paintings, and works
of art. All the minerals will have to go into the
annex, where the machinery and minerals are all to
go, etc."

I mildly informed him of his assent that the ex-
hibitors were to select their places, and was not the
Colorado exhibit as displayed one of the first to be in
place, and worthy of the position, and having brought
the collection so far over a long distance, would it not
be best to leave it as established. But he would have
nothing of it and left with much indignation, for I had
selected the very centre of the American department,
with a liberal extension of some forty feet on each side
of an angle, and had the front floor well held down by a
few tons of mineral masses, coal, ingots of silver and
copper, and other products of similar character. Suf-
fice to say that the Colorado exhibit remained through-
out the exhibition in this place.

General Dix was then our Minister to France.
Paris was very gay with its large influx of foreign
visitors, and the American delegation was largely
represented. At least it seemed very gay and attrac-
tive to me, so much so that I found it very difficult to
do much sober work.

I published fifteen thousand substantial pamphlets
on Colorado, one third of each in English, French,
and German, all illustrated with a map of the United
States and of Colorado, with a list of the ores ex-
hibited, and a e:eneral description of the products of
the Territory and its history.

178 Reminiscences of

I stupidly left the material of this work to be
written when I should arrive in Paris, having the
matter in rough outhne. I shall never forget the
difficulty I experienced in preparing this work. It
seemed impossible to get at it. Of course, I had
little time after my arrival to do it. I would wait
until I had my collection placed, btit then I had no
time to spare. I was out every night. General Dix
was giving weekly receptions. The American resi-
dents were giving nightly dinners, dances, and balls.
Theatres and operas and official entertainments to
which the commissioners were invited occupied much
of my time, which necessitated daily visits to the
exposition.

With associates similar in disposition to my own,
our time was given to restaurants, drives on the
Bois, and the races; out everj- night until the small
hours, and sometimes accompanied home by the
dawning light, for light comes early in Paris in the
summer months.

How I struggled to complete my pamphlet of
a himdred pages on far-off Colorado. I never con-
sult that old work without smiling at the sentence
which I read over a dozen times or more, and was
unable to get beyond it. Describing Denver, pleas-
antly situated on Cherry Creek: "Rising evenly
beyond are higher hills, girt with walls of rock shoot-
ing up perpendicularly for himdreds of feet, seeming
like embattlements ready to belch forth the crashing
weight of iron upon the vales below. Succeeding are
ranges of moimtains piling in upon each other imtil
they culminate in white peaks at an altitude of from
14,000 to 16,000 feet above tide water. These are the

A Sportsman 179

beacon lights of welcome to the weary traveller on
the plains, long before he refreshes himself at the
sparkling streams of the foothills which they supply."

There I paused to drink water and listen for the
echo and reverberations of the battlement artillery.
Day after day I would read it over, but could get
no farther, and finally had to get Harry Furbush to
start it on for me. By the way, he had a very attrac-
tive, sprightly sister, quite a belle in Paris at the time.
I met her a few years ago. She was living in Rhode
Island with her family of nine children. How time
has flown since 1867. It seems only a few years ago.
I should be very glad to live it over again.

A ver\' simple friend was Dunlap, from Peoria,
111. One day I dined with him and two others at
the Diner de Paris — five francs, including a full bottle
of common Bordeaux. One could, at the same price,
change the quart of wine oflf for a pint of superior
quality. When the four bottles of wine were put on
the table we concluded one would do for all of us, and
I said to the waiter: "Take oflf this wine and boil it
down to one bottle," and he soon returned with it.

The next day I met Dunlap at the exposition, and
when about to leave him he said: "I have been think-
ing what a wonderful people these French are. But
I want to ask you how that waiter at dinner last
night could boil down those four bottles of wine into
one in five minutes and have it come so cold."

The display of minerals at the exposition was
very extensive and interesting, all of which, except
that of Colorado, were relegated to the various an-
nexes, and when the award of prizes was made I
had the satisfaction of receiving the gold medal of

i8o Reminiscences of

the first class. This was a large medal intrinsically
worth fifty dollars. Upon one side was the raised
bust of the Emperor Napoleon and the words, "Ex-
position Universelle Frangais, 1867," and upon the
other my name and award for exhibition of Colorado
ores. In addition to the award was a recommenda-
tion of the International Jury of special recognition
for the exhibit in its completeness, which had been
conveyed from such a distant region. This recom-
mendation of the jtiry to the Emperor, which was
made in a few exceptional cases, occasioned an addi-
tional expression of high consideration, which I
received from the hands of the Emperor at the dis-
tribution of recompenses at the Palace of Industry
on July I, 1867.

France at the period of the exposition was at its
height of prosperity, and Napoleon the Third at the
zenith of his power and influence.

The Emperor had designed the occasion of the
distribution of the exposition awards to be one of
unequalled grandeur and effect. The scene occurred
at the Palace of Industry on the Avenue des
Champ Elysdes, midway from the Tuileries to the
Bois de Bologne.

This Palace of Industry, of iron and glass, was of
stupendous capacity, capable of seating thirty thou-
sand spectators about a central area of large extent.
In this area were erected half a dozen large groups
representing the various industries, leaving large
spaces intervening with a wide promenade around
the whole. On one side, centrally located, was a
raised dais or platform from the floor of moderate
height, and two hundred feet in length, reached by

A Sportsman i8i

four or five steps, the whole covered with a crim-
son carpet. In the rear of the platform was an im-
mense extending canopy with the Imperial coat of
arms, and hung with Gobelin tapestry. This was
the dais designed and occupied by the principal
monarchs of Europe or their representatives gathered
by the Emperor to give 6clat to the recognition of
merit. This presented probably the most distin-
gviished exhibition of royalty ever assembled. Cen-
trally seated were Napoleon and the Empress Eugenie,
and adjoining the American Ambassador, the Czar
of Russia, the Kings of Prussia, Austria, Denmark,
Sweden, Belgium, Spain, and other monarchies, the
Prince of Wales, the Shah of Persia, the Sultan of
Turkey, Bismarck, and other most prominent European
celebrities. The gardens and conservatories of Paris and
environs were denuded of flowers to grace the event.

The great musical composition of Rosini to the
French people was rendered by a choir of twelve
hvmdred girls in white, with salvos of artillery ap-
propriately timed from the distant Champ des Mars.

Forty thousand troops of the French army lined
both sides of the avenue from the Palace of the Tuil-
eries to that of the Industry, presenting arms on the
passage of the royal cortege from the former to the
latter.

The exhibiting recipients of first prizes, and espe-
cially recompenses, by notice given, were gathered in
full dress, at a central position in front of the royal
assemblage. The opening was declared by the Em-
peror Napoleon, who advanced to the front and read
in a clear and comparatively sonorous voice the few
words of opening. This was followed by the French

J 82 Reminiscences of

Minister of State, M. Roviher, who made a somewhat
lengthy address of welcome and illustration of the
exposition. The names of those receiving the first
gold medal and decorations were then called singly in
sequence, and as each name was given the fortvmate
exhibitor advanced forth from the group to the plat-
form and ascended the few steps to the royal presence
and received either from the Emperor or the Empress
personally the award.

Despite the august assemblage, all went on pleas-
antly without delays, and with entire absence of
formalities or embarrassment, as democratic as one
could desire. Many nods and words of recognition
were given by the Emperor and Empress as famil-
iar faces appeared, and much applause came from
the audience as well-known figures advanced to the
platform.

It was slightly amusing at times to witness the
missing back step of some of oiu" confreres in retreat-
ing from the royal presence, but every incident of this
kind was received in the utmost good-nature with
friendly smiles.

The awards of silver medals only to the rich
regions of California and Nevada, which had pro-
duced hundreds of milUons in value, while Colorado
had hardly commenced a production, was expressed
in much disappointment by the Pacific press. One
Cahfomia paper designated Colorado as occu]iying
an unknown isolated peak of the Rocky Mountains,
but its boundaries are now established and well known,
and it is the banner State in the Union in its produc-
tion of the precious metals.

The exhibits from the Pacific mining regions were

A Sportsman 183

limited in extent, and lacking in classification and
descriptions, which accounted largely for the slight
recognition received at the exposition, quite unworthy
of those superior and extraordinary regions whose
products occasioned an epoch in the monetary con-
ditions of the world.

NjOT long after the prize awards at Paris I was in-
•^ ^ formed by my assistant at the exposition in the
afternoon of my visit that the Emperor, in the fore-
noon, had personally made a prolonged examination
of the Colorado ores, accompanied by Mr. Ruggles,
our American Vice-Commissioner-General, and this was
afterwards confirmed by Mr. Ruggles, who also informed
me that the Emperor had requested him to have the
Colorado Commissioner visit him at the Tuileries, to
whom he would give an audience.

Mr. S. B. Ruggles, the Vice-Commissioner-General
to the exposition, was a most capable man of broad
and comprehensive views, and the latter part of his
Ufe was given in exertions for a general international
acceptance of imiversal standards of coinage, weights,
and measures, which undoubtedly will have to come
some day, though the conditions may not be ripe yet
for acceptance. He told me he was present at the
first opening of the Erie Canal.

We had rooms together at the Grand Hotel, two
bedrooms and a mutual salon. Despite his age (a
little over eighty) he was a regular student, and upon
arriving in Paris commenced the study of the French
language, and it was amusing to see him up early in
the morning in his dressing-gown, with his head as

i84 Reminiscences of

bare as a billiard ball, without the fine flowing wig he
wore when dressed, intently studying his child's French
primer book, spelling out the simple words of cat, dog,
rat, apple, and svmdry other simple words as illustrated
above the spelling. But he made slow headway and
was much disgusted with his inability to talk and un-
derstand French. But it indicated his disposition for
work and his activity of mind, which advancing age
had not impaired.

He accompanied me to the interview with the
Emperor at the Tuileries, where we received a pleasant
reception, quite free from any formality. I had pre-
viously had bound up my three exposition works in
English, French, and German on large paper, with
maps of the United States and Colorado, and a photo-
graph of the Colorado exhibit. This book I had bound
in elegant form at the Emperor's bookbindery, where
all books added to his library were rebound in pale
green morocco, embossed on the front with the Im-
perial coat-of-arms. This book I presented to the
Emperor, who pleasantly received it, and entered into
a conversation about Colorado and its resources. The
Emperor spoke English perfectly with but slight ac-
cent, and I was rather surprised with his apparent
knowledge of the western regions of the United States,
and of the northern States of Mexico, and upon my
expressing my surprise he informed me that he had
lately received for the government special reports on
Chihuahua, Durango, and other Mexican States from
commissioners sent out for the purpose.

I took pains to impress upon the Emperor the con-
spicuous importance I believed Colorado would gain
in the future from its practically inexhaustible mineral

A Sportsman 185

wealth, which resulted in his conclusion to have a
commissioner sent out to examine and report officially
upon the subject. This afterwards led to the api)oint-
ment of Louis Simonin, author of La Vie Suterraine,
a prominent French work on mines, and of other min-
ing works, and Professor of Geology in the French
"Ecole des Mines." Monsieur Simonin was also a
prominent contributor to the Revue des Deux Mondes,
published in several languages, in which after his visit
he gave extensive accoimts of Colorado and his experi-
ences there.

Our conversation with the Emperor then turned
toward Mr. Ruggles's subject of a universal system of
coinage, weights, and measures, which the Emperor
highly approved of, and remarked that such should be
decimal, which France had already adopted. The Em-
peror asked Mr. Ruggles if he had acqvdred a knowledge
of the French language, to which Mr. Ruggles had to
own he knew Uttle of it, but thought he had acquired
a slight knowledge until a late incident satisfied him
how hopeless it was. A few days before, finding
himself confused in a part of the city he was imac-
quainted with, he thought it an appropriate occasion
to air the little French he had acquired, and approach-
ing a gendarme asked him the way to the Rue de
RivoU, for if he could get there he would be all right
for anywhere he would wish to go. The gendarme had
him repeat his inquiry several times, and then, with a
puzzled air, said :

"Pardon, monsieur, mais je ne comprend pas Alle-
mande " (Pardon, sir, but I do not understand German).

The Emperor laughed very heartily at this, in
which Ruggles and I had to join.

1 86 Reminiscences of

I could give many incidents occurring during my
stay of several months in Paris, which would lengthen
out unnecessarily my details, which might prove
of little interest to the general reader, and which I will
pass over briefly. One incident of some interest I will
relate.

One evening by invitation, I dined with an Eng-
lish friend and his wife at the Cafd Foy, a small
but very superior restaurant near one of the principal
bovilevards; a gentleman entered to dine whom my
host immediately recognized as a friend, and whom he
greeted with his wife in a cordial manner, and invited
him to dine with us, which he did, and to whom I was
immediately introduced, but I did not catch his name
in the temporary movements at the table. The new-
comer was of jovial and pleasant manner, and made
himself at home without ceremony. His evening dress
was a little off in necktie, and he wore a profusion of
jewelry on his hands and on his heavy- watch-chain,
and carefully tucked in his napkin under his chin, as
if bent on a full dinner, which he had. I was struck
with his hearty appreciation of everything we had for
dinner, and the vigor of his appetite, which he ac-
cotinted for by the long walk he said he had taken
before in preparation for dinner. His spirits were
high and his conversation of the most animated char-
acter, which inspired us in a similar way. We had a
most jolly dinner, and our stay was prolonged after the
other diners had retired. The conversation was gen-
eral— the exposition, the French people, and the con-
trast between the French and English fully discussed;
the races, incidents, references to friends, etc. Lunch-
ing with my friend and his Avife the following day, and

A Sportsman 187

referring to our dinner the evening before, I asked the
name of our guest, as I did not catch it, to which my
friend answered by saying, "Why, that was Charles
Dickens!" I met Mr. Dickens afterward in London
during my frequent visits there, and again in Boston,
during his lecturing tour in the United States.

I DINED one evening at the house of Emile de Girar-
din, the noted owner and editor of La Liberty,
whose salon, presided over by Madame Girardin, was
noted as one of the most social and political centres of
Paris. I was seated beside a Frenchman who spoke
English fluently, and who had travelled much over the
world and particularly in America, and who indicated
so much interest in Colorado that I dwelt upon it more
than I otherwise should. This gentleman proved to
be Mr. Geise, a prominent official in the Credit Fon-
der, an important financial institution of Paris.

Before I left Boston, in conversation with Oakes
Ames with mention of my proposed departure for
Paris, Mr. Ames remarked that as General Dix was
there, and President of the Union Pacific Railroad,
the French people could perhaps be interested in
it, and if so the road would be glad to get a loan
there on its bonds. Those who are famiUar, as I
am, with the early history of the Union Pacific Rail-
road know the struggles it had to sustain itself in the
first part of its building. It was largely discredited in
business circles, and found, despite the large gifts of
lands given by the government and the government's
credit in bonds, that at various times it seemed as if

i88 Reminiscences of

the building would result in a failure. Few of those
interested in the Credit Mobilier, organized to carry
through the business, believed that any profits
wovild be derived other than those which would be
obtained in the building of the road. Mr. Ames, how-
ever, believed to the contrary, and but for his own in-
domitable will and resources the road would not have
been carried on in its building by the original pro-
moters.

The conversation with Mr. Geise occasioned his
joining the expedition with Mr. Simonin, which re-
sulted in the making of the first loan of $5,000,000
realized by the Union Pacific Railroad. Another was
added in Colonel Heine, a brother-in-law of Erlanger,
the Paris banker, a German of broad views and com-
prehensiveness, who was actuated by philanthropic
motives, as to an opening for Saxon miners who
worked hard in their native country for small pay.

I visited Swansea in Wales with the sulphuret ores
of Colorado, which were too stubborn for any process
known in Colorado, and when shown to the experts of
Vivian's great smelting works they occasioned a smile
and response that they could be easily and successfully
treated.

"?.• At this time Prof. N. P. Hill, of Colorado, and
afterward United States Senator from that State, came
to Swansea and seciu-ed the aid of competent workmen
and soon afterward erected appropriate smelting works
at Black Hawk, in Gilpin County, from which grew the
ultimate great smelting works in Pueblo, Col., which
have made Colorado the banner State of the Union in
mining the precious ores.

I returned to Colorado from Paris with the parties

A Sportsman 189

mentioned, taking the cars from Omaha part way
across the plains, and then taking stage the balance
of the way.

With my associates, Simonin, Heine, and Geise, we
left Paris the latter part of September, 1867, by the
French steamer from Havre to New York and on to
Omaha. The Union Pacific Railroad was then com-
pleted some two hundred miles out on the plains, and
from its termination we took stage to Denver. Our
passage by the latter method required four days of
travel night and day. The railroad was not then dis-
patching daily trains, and the semi-weekly one which
we occupied was of slow progress on the new road and
carried an unusual number of cars, conveying a small
body of Mormons for Salt Lake, escorted by an elder of
the elect, and several carloads of young western people,
going out to occupy lands acquired from the rail-
road.

Colonel Heine was a large man of rather imposing
cast, dressed in velvet with leggings, and, carrying
with strap over shoulder a large field-glass case, at-
tracted considerable attention. Overhearing at one of
the eating stations from some of the chattering rustics,
fellow-passengers, comments about Colonel Heine, and
a suggestion from one of them that it might be Brighara
Young, I quietly beckoned him inside and told him in
a most confidential manner that he had evidently pene-
trated the disguise of the wily Brigham, and that he
had best keep it to himself, or at least not give out the
discovery beyond his most intimate and reliable friends
who could be depended upon. That Mr. Young, pre-
suming upon his being little known in the East, had
perhaps supposed himself unrecognized in his disguise,

19° Reminiscences of

and that probably it would be as well to let him think
so, as most likely he was accompanied by his body-
guard of Danites, likewise disguised, and being now so
far out on the plains one could not tell what might
happen. In further conversation I intimated that it
was possible that Mr. Young had been East to get a
new stock of wives, as probably with his lively disposi-
tion he might have accounted the old stock as stale
and antiquated, in view of the improved order ex-
pected now to be inaugurated by the passage of a trans-
continental railroad. But who knew ? No one. Per-
haps it would be as well, however, in view of there
being on our train a good many young settlers going
on with their not bad-looking yoimg wives — it would
be as well to keep an eye to windward and prevent, as
far as possible, any unrighteous sealing on the part of
the vigilant Mr. Young.

Deeming this sufficient, with renewed suggestions of
prudence in giving out any information of his detec-
tive sagacity, excepting to those whom he could de-
pend upon, I left the future-to-be-chief of a detective
department, and at convenient opportunity acquainted
Colonel Heine with the role he had been assigned,
which he was much amused with, and, being a great
joker, proceeded at the next eating station to stroll
along the platform with a box of seals he happened to
have in his portmanteau, ready for action. It was
quite evident that the detective had judiciously
imparted information by the divergence of the
settlers as they passed along the platform by the
Colonel, who, holding an open box of red seals in his
left hand, held one affixed to the index finger of his
right hand ready for action. The young women gave

1

A Sportsman 191

him a wide berth, but the elderly matrons indicated
rare courage. J ■] ;| --'I •;

The gaining of the gold medal for Colorado had
become known in Colorado soon after its award, and
created a vast deal more of enthusiasm than it would
have elsewhere, from a region which had experienced
more or less a feeling of isolation. The coming of the
commissioner from the French government and of the
other distinguished visitors was heralded by telegraph
in advance, and we were surprised, when within ten
miles out from Denver, to be met by a committee of
movmted citizens that had been formed to escort us
over the last part of our route, and to learn that a
rousing ovation was to be tendered us upon our arrival.

As our stage drove up to deliver us at the Planters'
Hotel, a large portion of the town was in evidence,
besides a band of music which discoursed lively airs.
The greeting was most hearty and the hand-shaking
my associates received was a new feature in their ex-
perience. It had been arranged that a reception
should be given that evening in one of the church
buildings, where we proceeded after a wash-up and
change of apparel. The building, though not limited
in extent, was crowded to its capacity, and to meet
the expectations, Simonin, Heine, and I had to make
acknowledgments of appreciation and references to
some matters we knew of, and others we did not.

Mr. Geise speedily returned home, leaving Simonin
and Heine and myself to bear the brunt of the ovations
which were extended to us from the principal mining
sections of the region. We made an extended exam-
ination of the mineral conditions, receiving banquets
at Denver, Central City, and Georgetown, at each of

192 Reminiscences of

which towns we gave lectvires to meet the general de-
sire of the people. Simonin's was on mining affairs
and the comparison of Colorado mines with those of
other countries. Heine's was upon the general world
in comparison with Colorado, and the necessity of in-
viting experienced miners from European countries,
especially from Germany. My lectures were upon the
Paris Exposition and the future of Colorado, and I will
here note that after the first delivery of my lecture in
Denver I remarked to Simonin and Heine that I felt a
consciousness that I had gone too far in my sanguine
illustrations of the future of that country, and in my
suggestions of the readiness they should be in to re-
ceive the benefits of the civilizing effects of railroads,
which would ramify, and the developments that would
occur from a rapidly increasing population.

It appeared to me that perhaps I was drawing too
heavily upon the expectation for the nourishment of
a moderate population, suffering from the want of
many necessities of comfort, and largely isolated from
the general world. But as I reflect now after an inter-
val of forty years and consider the present popula-
tion of the State, which has more than doubled in
each decade, and the railroads which intersect its
limits, surpassing in extent and profitable business any
other similar area west of the Missouri River, and
its annual yield of precious ores, exceeding that of any
other State in the Union or of any European sover-
eignty, I am satisfied that my prophecies were more
below than above the realizations.

A Sportsman 193

A PROPOS of the Emperor Napoleon's interest in
'^ Colorado, before referred to, it will be remembered
that the Emperor, always a dreamer of the Empire,
had but lately experienced the reverses of the French
troops sent to Mexico to aid the unfortunate Maxi-
milian, brother of the Emperor of Austria, whom
Napoleon endeavored to establish upon the throne of
Mexico, and establish a Latin Monarchy there. Al-
though Maximilian had been executed by the Mexican
General Juarez and the French troops had been with-
drawn, the Emperor, with that tenacity constitu-
tional with him, had never become reconciled to the
result, and undoubtedly still dreamed of a future
conquest. It will be noted that Napoleon in his
scheme of a Latin Empire upon the American con-
tinent had more foundation for a possibility of suc-
cess than would be willingly conceded by the younger
generation of this country, whose memories do not
extend back forty years, and who do not remember
how critical at many times the conditions were dur-
ing the Civil War, when the strongest supporters of
the Union grew faint with apprehensions. There
were several occasions when, if a recognition of the
Southern Confederacy by the principal European coun-
tries had occurred, it would have almost insured the
success of the South.

There is but little doubt that when Napoleon, sup-
porting Maximilian during the earlier part of the
Civil War, when the Union was distracted by its
internal convulsions, invited the English government
to join France in a recognition of the Southern Con-
federacy, the Union was in great peril, for a recogni-
tion, as proposed, would have involved the North

194 Reminiscences of

in an additional conflict with the most important
European nations. Palmerston, then Minister of
the Exchequer, was well known as friendly to the
South, and even Gladstone publicly expressed himself
as believing that the Disunionists would prevail.
Roebuck and Laird and many others in the English
Parliament were savagely opposed to a continuance
of the American Union, and we owe much, if not
immeasurably, to our American Minister, Charles
Francis Adams, for his courageous and manly de-
fence of the Union, and his defiant challenge to war
with the English nation, without delay, upon its
recognition of the South. To John Bright more than
to another in the English Parliament in his vigorous
defence of the Union, and largely, undoubtedl}', to
the heart-felt influence of the British Queen, do we
owe much for the preservation of our now glorious
Union.

It is a question yet to be answered if Napoleon had
not made an understanding with the leaders of the
Southern Confederacy for aid in establishing a Latin
Monarchy in Mexico, in case of the recognition and
success of the South. He, however, did not dare
alone to brave the contest, or to involve France in a
war which could not be responded to by its people,
already imbued by a republican spirit. Nor could
England involve herself when the support of her people
would not be given for a war in which their sympa-
thies could not be enlisted, despite the antagonism of
the autocratic classes — who to a unit viewed with
jealousy the growing importance of America, — now
happily averted by an overwhelming power, which
cannot be diverted.

A Sportsman 195

Times have changed since the time of George the
Fourth and Lord North, when representatives of
rotten burroughs and kingly idiocy could declare
war against the wish of the people, when foreign
mercenaries could be hired to conquer freedom. And
the greatest rebellion of history was overcome.

Patrick Henry said in the Virginia Assembly:
"Three millions of people armed in the holy cause
of Liberty are invulnerable to any foe the enemy can
send against us."

Yet, in the Civil War a vast number larger were
engaged for independence from the Union. Yet the
liberty they fought for was not obtained, but occurred
in the freedom of millions of slaves. Happily, dis-
sension was averted, and now will go forward clearly,
absolutely, and distinctly the Americanizing of the
world.

Mention has heretofore been made of the Union
Pacific Railroad, which was proceeding with great
rapidity, and more so than any railroad ever before
built, accomplishing in one day during its building
across the plains the laying of ten miles of rails, and
the completion of the railroad in its connection with
the Central Pacific Railroad from California was
made at Promontory', beyond Ogden, in 1869.

I have no doubt but Jay Gould acquired over
twenty-five millions of dollars first and last from the
Union Pacific Railroad, largely increasing his for-
time at the expense of the road, and from his actions
the road was mainly thrown into the hands of a public
receiver. He was not interested in the first building
of the road, but its condition afterwards presented a
grand object for his peculiar manipulations, which

196 Reminiscences of

appearing at first so fair and promising led to con-
fidence in his management and largely influenced
its consequent bankruptcy; from this it was only
rescued by the drastic efforts of a new management.
From the hands of the receiver it emerged in good
form, and has now become, with its outreaching aux-
iliaries, one of the most important, extensive, and
profitable roads in this country. As I was somewhat
familiar with the artful methods of the crafty Gotild,
which were well known, though not to the public, in
some particulars in connection with the Union Pacific
Railroad, I will diverge here in references, especially
to the latter.

After the completion of the road, the general busi-
ness of the countr}' being dull, it was not profitable, and
there were periods of depression when the biirden
of the managers was heavy. The through business
was limited. Land sales were slow and expenses
were heavy. Land bonds had to be issued predicated
upon future realizations, as well as income bonds to
be paid by future profits. It was during one of these
periods when the heaviest owners in the road, loaded
up with securities which were difficult to sell or bor-
row upon, invited the aid of Mr. Gould. This was
declined. The burdens became still heavier, and some
of the largest owners refused to further sustain a sink-
ing credit in defence of their own holdings. But Mr.
Oakes Ames, and a very few others who believed in
the' ultimate success of the road, held on with unabated
confidence, with credit, however, much impaired.

In this extremity, when again being solicited, Mr.
Gould signified his willingness to come on to Boston
and confer with the bodyguard. The meeting ex-

A Sportsman 197

tended over several days in the Sears Building, where
the offices of the company then were. The road was
then behind, with a large floating debt. The con-
ference resulted finally in a transfer of large blocks
of stock at about fourteen dollars per share to Mr.
Gould from the principal owners, besides large amounts
of land and income bonds at large discount, and a
loan was arranged by Mr. Gould of ten millions of
dollars to take up the floating debts. When the trade
was completed and the stock and bonds were delivered
and the checks in payment, Mr. Gould drew from his
pocket a thickish, good-sized memorandum book and
asid:

"Gentlemen, I will draw your attention to this
book. A year ago, when you first invited me to join
you, I sent out an agent to Omaha, who, with assist-
ants, spent a number of months in a critical exami-
nation of your road. In that examination every
station on your line was visited, and in this book
you will see a description of the stations, with the
names of every station keeper, and an account, as
correctly as covdd be obtained, of his history before
and after joining your service. You will find here
an account of his conduct since acting in your em-
ploy. If he is of temperate habits and honest: if he
is a gambler or negligent, or identified in any way
with suspicious or doubtful characters; also an ac-
count of the local resources about each station. In
fact, a description in detail of the actual situation of
your road, and the character of the lands acquired by
the government appropriation and their possibilities.
All this information has been acquired by my agents,
who in assumed characters of traders, land buyers.

198 Reminiscences of

sportsmen, and otherwise have studiously obtained the
information. I required this before undertaking so
large a venture as I have now made with you, and I
wish to assure you of my belief that you have an im-
mensely valuable property, and that I believe the
period is not far distant when you will commence
dividends, which will be fairly earned by the legitimate
business which will come to you. I will say that I
shall not dispose of any of my stock imtil it will sell
at above par, and be on a dividend-paying basis."

And he did not. Business increased steadily. Mr.
Gould became a director in the company. Having
a large amount of stock and bonds, he influenced the
directors to commence paying dividends before such
should have been paid out, and fifteen millions of dol-
lars were so paid, which should have been retained as
an appropriate surpkas for so large a company. But
it was Mr. Gould's interest to have these dividends paid
to enhance the market value of his stock and securities,
and it is probable that it did not require very much
urging to have the directors acquiesce in it.

The occasion had now arrived for Mr. Gould to dis-
play his astute and complex system of self-improve-
ment. Mr. Oakes Ames was dead. Mr. Gould resigned
as a director, and Mr. Sidney Dillon was made presi-
dent. Affairs looked well and dividends were paid
regularly. The president was always friendly with
Mr. Gould, and when he died he possessed a very much
larger property than he was credited to have possessed.
It was prudent for Mr. Gould to resign as a director
in view of the role he had assumed of benefactor of
the road in giving buoyancy to the financial statements
and bridging over dividend-paying periods, when Uttle

A Sportsman 199

anxiety existed with the management regarding the
source of siipply.

With the growing importance of the great national
highway, it should control and own a considerable
number of independent branch roads which had grown
into existence as feeders along the route, and the
benevolent and philanthropic Mr. Gould, anticipating
such a demand, commenced the acquirement of such
roads, which were duly turned over to the Union Pacific,
which was relieved from the tedious and somewhat per-
plexing details of purchasing, by presenting them in
lump sums quite desirable to accept in view of their
value.

I met one day at the Windsor Hotel, in New York,
ex-Governor Evans, who expressed his elation in having
just disposed of the Denver and South Park Railroad
in Colorado, to Mr. Gould, and he exhibited to me the
good-sized certified check of Mr. Gould for the sum of
twenty-four hundred thousand dollars, just received
for the sale. This railroad being soon afterwards ac-
qviired by the Union Pacific road, I had the cviriosity to
ascertain what was paid for it, and learned that it was
thirty-six hundred thousand dollars, a small matter
of twelve hundred thousand dollars difference. This
road was afterwards completely abandoned by the
Union Pacific as worthless and not worth keeping
against its bonded indebtedness, being a long out-of-
the-way road to Leadville, superseded by shorter and
more efficient roads.

Other roads followed in sequence by the beneficent
aid of Mr. Gould, and finally the Union Pacific, with
a depleted treasury, suspended its dividends. Ere
this period arrived Mr. Gould, having a necessity for

200 Reminiscences of

funds required in another direction, disposed of his
stock and Union Pacific securities, and as the stock
toppled from its high price of one hundred and thirty
and raced down toward zero, sold borrowed stock to
an alarming degree. In this, however, he was fortunate
enough to save himself from loss by re-buying at low
prices which enabled him to make good deliveries to the
accommodating lenders.

In the later sales of roads to the Union Pacific
Mr. Gould had more difficulty in having them ac-
cepted than in the earlier sales, owing to an awakened
feeling upon the part of the Union Pacific directors,
as they viewed the depletion of their treasury, that
they were approaching the situation of the cats who
appealed to the monkey in the distribution of the
cheese, who, scaling the weight, constantly bit off
mouthfuls to equalize, until the whole disappeared.
Then Mr. Gould, indignant at the lack of apprecia-
tion of his advanced intuitiveness in knowing better
than they what they needed, assumed the r61e of an
injured friend, whose necessities would require him
to appear in self-defence as an opponent of their road,
and perhaps oppose the management of the road so
tmfortunately acquired, which woiild perhaps require
a connection with a new road to be built, which might
to some extent parallel their own. This Gould was a
great bluffer, and one effort in this Hne was the loading
up of the Union Pacific with the Kansas Pacific road,
which, with his sympathetic friend, Russell Sage, he
had acquired for the benefit of the former. The Kan-
sas Pacific went very hard, but by dint of pleading,
urging, and threats, came in. But when the Union
Pacific Railroad went into the hands of a receiver

A Sportsman 201

those cold-hearted managers, insensible to the bland-
ishments of Mr. Gould, and the record of his devoted
services to the road, had the ingratitude, claiming under
the shelter of the law, to prosecute the friendly Gould
and the guileless Sage for the recovery of seven millions
of dollars fraudulently gained, but which was never
recovered.

Mr. Gould received his important start in financial
life from his association with James Fisk, Jr., whose
remarkable combination of audacity, buffoonery,
roguer>', daring, and unscrupulousness after he had
stolen the management of the Erie Railroad from
his patron, the veteran Daniel Drew, commended
him to Mr. Gould. Fisk, after the execution of his
gigantic fraud and perfidious robbery of the Erie
directory from the confiding Drew, required the pecu-
liar talents which Gould possessed. The glaring,
shameless, and ridiculous act of one like Fisk, without
personal means, striding as he did into the control
of an extensive railroad, obtained by the fraudulent
use of voting proxies obtained with the money of
Daniel Drew, paralyzed the street and outraged all
sense of law and order.

A recitation of the means employed is unnecessary
here, and has been sufficiently ventilated. Gould,
with all his craftiness and daring, would never have
attempted the assassination of rights which Fisk did.
But he could, with a master hand, loot the dazzUng
wealth displayed and hold the mock Duke on his
stolen throne. This he did long enough to stuff his
p)ockets full. Then, with gracious confession of wrong,
he made restitution of settings from which the
gems were stripped, retaining the values, and in

202 Reminiscences of

extremity fled before the old Commodore Vander-
bilt.

I knew both Fisk and Gould somewhat well, and
many a cigar I have smoked with Fisk before he be-
came notorious, when he was an employee in Boston
with a mercantile firm, of which he afterwards became
a member but was dropped for his conspicuous for-
wardness. Not now, for I have diverged too long, but
later on I may relate an incident of peculiar interest
in the life of Mr. Gould not known, when he more than
found his match in C. P. Huntington, his superior in
patience and astuteness. In this case Gould held the
superior hand, but threw it down in complete surrender.
This after a three days' interview in St. Louis.

OF the fviture of Q>lorado one may be well assured
with its agricultural values exceeding its miner-
als ; its inexhaustible mines, which have already yielded
a billion of dollars ; with its coal deposits equalling those
of any other State, though not yet producing one tenth
of the product of Pennsylvania; and its facilities for
sustaining more than twenty times the present popu-
lation. Can one doubt the future? What shall be
said of very many more areas of similar value in the
Union ? What is to be the future of the great Ameri-
can Republic? What will be the result of many hun-
dreds of millions, as comparatively soon there are to be
on the North American continent ?

There can be no retrogression. The phantom of
the Yellow Peril unfurled by the Muscovite to enlist
sympathy for his aggressiveness in the East, which has
met with disaster, fails to alarm the American people.

A Sportsman 203

The advance of the Japanese in intelligence and
comprehensiveness does not exhibit any weakness,
and will have an important effect on the Celestial
Empire, which, however slow in progress, will inevi-
tably advance. It is impossible to estimate correctly
the results of the Eastern war, which may be of far
more worldly importance than now estimated, and
may ultimately change the conditions of some Evu-o-
pean nations, and possibly affect our own.

Upon Prof. Simonin's return to Europe he pub-
lished a series of letters upon Colorado, which had
extensive circulation in the Revue des Deux Mondes.
One incident by him mentioned reminds me of a din-
ner given us in Denver before his departure, com-
posed of a dozen or fifteen, in which I appeared in
his account, incorrectly, as an affluent miner, who dis-
tributed gold nuggets for dessert. This was a mistake,
the facts being that I, having purchased half a saucer
full of moderate-sized gold nuggets for a few hundred
dollars, exhibited them at the termination of the repast,
while we were conversing over our cigars. Occupied
in conversation, I did not observe the stupid waiter
had taken the saucer around the table, with an intima-
tion for self -helping, and before I discovered this feat-
ure, the circuit of the table had about been made, and
each diner had taken a selection and were making ap-
preciative comments. It was too late to make a cor-
rection without an awkwardness, and so I let it pass. I
did, however, feel like poking the ribs of a fat man
opposite, who, instead of taking a small nugget as the
others did, appropriated a full ounce specimen worth
at least twenty dollars, with the remark that he should
give it to his wife as a souvenir. This was very

204 Reminiscences of

pleasant for his social advantage, and gave me a last-
ing souvenir of his memory.

I have never had any political aspirations, and
never held any public official position except that
given me by the United States Secretary of State, Wil-
liam H. Seward, in 1867, as commissioner to repre-
sent Colorado that year at the World's Exposition at
Paris. Though several opportunities in my life have
occurred when I could have gained without much
exertion some official positions, I have given them no
attention, as I have observed that once engaged in
political affairs one is apt to be led on and become in-
volved in the consequent following, often to experience
many perplexities and disappointments, as instanced
in the cases of so many, as I have witnessed.

I have not declined such from possible interfer-
ence with business pursuits — as I have always made
such a secondary matter — but mainly from a fear
that in politics I should lose largely my independ-
ence, and probably my ability to prosecute those
out-of-door pursuits toward which I am so inclined.
I often think, however, when I witness the exertions
made by those politically inclined for official positions,
of the opportunity which offered itself to me in Colo-
rado for obtaining a prominent political position which
seemed of easy conquest. At that time Congress had
passed, as an apparently political necessity, an en-
abling act by which the Territories of Colorado and
Nevada could be admitted into the Union and send
their senators and representatives. The population
of the two Territories was limited and insufficient under
the existing law for either of the two to gain State-
hood. But Congress passed a special enabling act

A Sportsman 205

with the expectancy of gaining new senators and
representatives, and it was put to vote in both Terri-
tories. Nevada voted for and accepted admission,
while Colorado declined.

At the time I was in Colorado, the subject was un-
der consideration and there were several congres-
sional aspirants strongly favoring the admission of
the Te^ritor}^ who were not particularly popular with
the people. I had never given any expression of my
political tendencies, and was much surprised to find
myself referred to as a probable United States senator
in case of Colorado's admission, and was called upon
by the representatives of both the Republican and
Democratic parties. First by old Commodore Decatur,
so-called, the leader in Republican circles, and some
of his friends, with whom I had an extended confer-
ence, and from whom I had a tender of the nomination
by the party for United States senator for election by
the new State representatives, which would come in
upon an affirmative vote of the people for admission.
A moderate amount of money would be required for
the expenses of canvassing and elections. I gave the
parties respectful consideration, but most positively
declined the proposed honor, as I had no political
aspirations whatever, and in no way could I accept any
political position.

It was rather difficult to satisfy my visitors of the
sincerity of my conclusions. They left me after the
evening's conference with the expressed opinion that
I might perhaps change my views after more con-
sideration. The following day I was called upon by
the prominent Republican politician who expected,
in case of the admission of Colorado, to be my Sena-

2o6 Reminiscences of

torial confrere, who made strenuous exertions for
me to change my views and accept the nomination,
which he was entirely confident would cause the ad-
mission of the Territory to Statehood, and assuredly
occasion our election. But I was entirely firm in
my resolution, and have never had any occasion to
regret it.

When the election came the acceptance by the
people of the opportunity for admission was declined
by a very small majority, so small that it could easily
have been overcome by a very moderate effort, and
Colorado would have become a State several years
earlier than it did.

While Nevada to this day has but very slightly in-
creased its population from about sixty thousand,
existing at the time of its admission as a State, Col-
orado has nearly twenty times the population it had
in 1867, and is increasing in all respects in a remark-
able manner.

My stay in Paris while Commissioner from Col-
orado was one I shall always remember as of ex-
ceptional interest; and, although I have been there a
number of times since, I have never found it so at-
tractive as it seemed to me during the great fair,
when it was thronged with so many visitors from
all parts of the world, and especially by so many
Americans whom I became acquainted with. Lately
I visited the great World's Fair at St. Louis with
a party of friends, and in expenditure and exten-
siveness it surpasses any before given. When I was there,
however, in June last, it was still in a considerable
state of unpreparedness, but I found it of great interest.
The attractions were many and of peculiar attractive-

I

A Sportsman 207

ness. The area occupied, being very extensive, re-
quired a good deal of walking to reach the various
departments. It is easy to criticise, and I do not pro-
pose to do so relative to the general exhibit, which
undoubtedly exceeds any other ever given in many
respects; but, having seen quite a number of world's
fairs, I am more impressed than ever with the plan
followed in 1867 in Paris, of having a large oval build-
ing— which in that case was about a mile and a half
in circumference, built of iron and glass, which con-
tained the principal exhibits of all nations — so that one
could pass continuously from one nationality to an-
other in rotation, upon the class of exhibits one
wished to follow, without the necessity of traversing
long intervening spaces, over roads and pathways,
saving loss of time and fatigue. The machinery and
heavy wares could then be relegated to appropriate
armexes, where they could be seen by those specially
interested in such, which do not appeal to all visitors.

The array of beautiful buildings of perfect outline
at the St. Louis Fair were of striking architectural
perfection, and occasion regret to think they were
all demolished at the end of the fair.

At a dinner which I attended, given in London by
Mr. Robert Bowles, an American banker, to Henry M.
Stanley, the African explorer, upon his return after
finding Dr. Livingstone, I was much interested during
the evening's conversation by Mr. Stanley's refer-
ences to his explorations, which indicated his remark-
able character as one of indomitable determination
and courage. He remarked to me if I remembered
of ever having met him before, to which I answered
in the negative ; to which he said that we met in Central

2o8 Reminiscences of

City, Colorado, in 1867, when he reported for the Miners'
Register, a paper of that town, my lecture on the Paris
Exposition, and obtained from me some notes concern-
ing it. This had entirely escaped my memory until
he reminded me of it, and though I had no recollection
of his name I remembered the incident. My name,
then of slight local import, was in contrast with his
name, unknown to the world-prominence it was soon
to attain.

Stanley was one of those explorers who was ex-
ceptional among those of his class, in realizing a
large fortune, in contrast with Mungo Park, Dr.
Livingstone, Du Chaillu, and others who were prom-
inent in their explorations of the Dark Continent.
As a lecturer he was not a prominent success, but
his efforts in Africa led to a complete revolution in
the affairs of that continent, and a parcelling out of
its districts among the European nations, and a far-
reaching result, comparable with that of the Ameri-
can continent from the discovery of Christopher
Columbus.

In one of my many trips to London I met my old
friend Samuel Ward, known so well among his friends
in England as "Uncle Sam," the brother of Mrs. Julia
Ward Howe, and the uncle of Marion Crawford, the
novelist. Mr. Ward was prominent in his own country
some years ago for his literary articles, and as the
author of a book of pleasant poems, and particularly
as a bon vivant, and the recipes of his dishes and
punches are still in vogue. As a lobbyist in Washing-
ton he was at one time the most influential in directing
the policy of measures in Congress, which are even
now more directed at times by outside influences than
would indicate the spontaneity of our'representatives.

A Sportsman 209

Probably no American in private life was more
popular or better known in London than "Uncle
Sam," and I have spent many pleasant hours with
him in his apartments on Piccadilly, furnished and left
by the Duke of Portland before he inherited his pres-
ent rank. The attachment of Portland for "Uncle
Sam" was only exceeded by the affectionate regard
of Lord Rosebery, who would monopolize, as far
as he could, the association of "Uncle Sam" with
himself, and who had in his several residences in
country and town, apartments specially designated
with the name of Samuel Ward.

"Here," said "Uncle Sam," pointing to his writing
table one day, "is where Marion Crawford wrote
his first book, of Mr. Isaacs. He had told me about
his experiences in India, and I was very much in-
terested in his accoimt of the character he met repre-
sented in his book of Mr. Isaacs, and I suggested
to him that he should write a book about him, and
that he should commence now; whereupon he sat
himself down at the table and started in, and be-
came so much interested in his work that he never
quit excepting to eat and sleep and take a little exer-
cise, and in about a week completed it and sent it to
print."

One driving with "Uncle Sam" at the fashionable
hour in Hyde Park would readily perceive the vm-
limited attentions he would receive, and the appar-
ent rivalry' existing for recognition from this placid
gentleman of attractive presence. One night I was
with him in a stage box at Drury Lane Theatre,
which theatre he remarked he had not visited for
many years, since he was a young lad pursuing a line

2IO Reminiscences of

of study in London, and we came to witness a spec-
tacular play called America. Before long after the
commencement the Prince of Wales came in with
a party of men, occupying the royal box opposite.
Soon an equerry of the Prince came over and re-
quested the company of Mr. Ward in the royal box.
When he returned some time after, I asked him if
there was anything unusual, which he answered
smiling, saying, nothing in particular, excepting
that the Prince had a garden party coming off the
following afternoon at Marlborough House, to which
he had asked some American visitors, among whom
was a charming young Miss C, to whom he asked of
Mr. Ward to give some attention.

Poor "Uncle Sam" died a few years after on the
Mediterranean, on his way back from Italy, where he
had gone to visit his sister.

When I last left him he was writing his remi-
niscences, which probably he never completed. These
would be of great interest, and possibly may have
been completed, and may appear at some later period.

IN London — ^and I am referring to the old city
limits and not the expanse included in the new
growth of surprising extent— there are several asso-
ciations of ancient date known as guilds, survivors
of former useful purposes in promoting the interests
of certain trades, known as the tailors, bakers, skin-
ners, fish mongers, brewers, etc., the skinners being
those who dealt in hides.

These originally were of modest pretensions, de-
signed to protect by mutual support particular trades.

A Sportsman 2 1 1

These purposes have passed away by the extended
grow'th of the city and its surroundings, but the city
charters of the associations are still in existence, while
the trade members gradually fell out by deaths, and
others foreign to the various trades were elected in
place, so that in reality none of the trades are repre-
sented in membership, and one going to the dinners of
the tailors or the bakers would look in vain for any
one who had ever cut a coat or baked a loaf.

The present members of the guilds are a jolly lot
of convivial souls, who elect their successors from
among their friends, prominent business or profes-
sional city men, who in turn continue to elect a similar
class. The basic bond of union is the large fund
existing to the credit of the guild, which in some
instances is very large, as in the instance of the Tailors'
Guild, amounting to over a million pounds sterling,
aggregated by many years' increase of values from city
property holdings. The annual incomes, therefore,
of some of the guilds are very large, requiring con-
siderable ingenuity upon the part of the managers in
the methods to be pursued in dispensing the funds for
the most complete satisfaction of the members.

A considerable fondness is indicated for monthly
banquets and weekly lunch meetings of committees to
consider important subjects affecting the interests of
the Guilds, which many presume to be concerning the
character of the wines to be put in cellar in place of
those which have been retired at previous meetings,
and as to the details of the succeeding banquets. The
banquets are of the most elaborate and expensive char-
acter, at least those of the tailors and bakers. These I
have frequently attended, by invitation of members, as

212 Reminiscences of

members have the privilege of inviting a friend or two
to the monthly banquets, but not to the weekly lunch
committee meetings, where the business is too serious to
admit of intrusion, as may be well understood in view
of the difficulty which exists among the opulent guilds
in disposing of sufficient funds to equal the income.
In vain are the markets sought over for the most ex-
pensive viands. Fruitless are the efforts to swell the
cost amount equal to the sum appropriated. Clear
green turtle soup from Birch's or the Ship and Turtle
at four shillings a plate, with squares of green turtle
fat as large as a fat man's two thumbs, are a bagatelle.
Johnny Dorees from the North Sea, at seven shillings a
pound, help some. Sole slips and spring lambs are of
slight value, but helped on by Delaware canvas-backs,
golden pheasants, and Norway woodcocks. A confu-
sion of sweets count something. The Hungarian band
is an element of value. Sims Reeves, the vocalist, and
other eminent artists, at from fifty to a hundred pounds
each, to appear between courses when the dinner is
well on, cannot be overlooked, but still a fainting hiatus
of apprehensiveness creeps on when the summing-up
still shows a surplus. A happy thought, as a glimmer
of sunshine in a dark day, flashes in. The box of
chocolates and a silver pencil given each guest at the
last banquet may be given over for a sixteen-bladed
pearl -handled jack-knife, with a corkscrew attachment
from Sheffield, which will just bridge over the difficulty.
A suggestive mind, that of Alderman Brown, who
will sometime be Lord Mayor if he lives, as all City
aldermen become Lord Mayors in rotation, if they
are wealthy enough to stand it, and if not, fall out
for a succeeding one. An adjournment will now take

A Sportsman 213

place, after a few bottles of old port of the comet year
from our owti cellar.

The wine cellars of the guilds are something im-
portant, and to refer to with admiration as containing
the choicest liquors and wines to be obtained, and a
lay-down of new stock occurs as fast as any old stock
is drawn upon, and any member or guest at the ban-
quets may freely call without limit for the most select
wines on the menu. All goes merrily, and the ban-
quet draws on.

The Worthy Warden, arrayed in his gown of cere-
mony, adorned with chain and medal of insignia, leads
on, preceded by ushers with staffs, and the diners fol-
low in proper order to the tables, garnished with
flowers and precious silverware accumulated in past
years. Nearly all express their preference for the
clear green turtle soup with slabs of turtle fat, a spe-
cialty of renown with the guilds; and express not too
much hilarity at this moment, in memory of the inci-
dent illustrated in an old number of Punch, where an
aldermanic epicure, with portly nose, and napkin under
chin tucked, turns sadly with repressed severity upon
his adjoining companion with the request that he will
refrain from further jokes for a while, as he had already
swallowed two morsels of green fat without tasting.

Will have Chambertin of 1867 or Clos Vogeout of
'88? No, thanks, shall take Scotch and soda, but sug-
gest you tr>' the old port of the comet year of 1872.
Money can't buy it.

Hark! the alcove curtain parts, and a song from the
lovely lass of the Highlands.

Later on, the loving cup of gallon dimension and
double handled goes around, but with no interruption

214 Reminiscences of

of the feast. The one beside you, rising in place, turns
away from you toward the one beyond him, receiving the
cup, from which he sips and turns facing you smoothing
over the cup edge with his napkin; you, standing, re-
ceive it and drink from, and in the same manner pass
it on to your neighbor. The time has arrived for
coffee and cigars, and the regular toasts are given in
order :

To Her Majesty the Queen.

To the Army.

To the Navy.

To distinguished guests.

To foreign visitors.

To municipal magnates and others.

It was on one of these occasions in Jubilee year
that I was pulled into an anxious box, so suddenly and
unexpectedly that I made a very awkward appearance.
The one who was to respond to the toast of foreign
visitors was unaccountably absent, and a pause oc-
curred until the fact was evinced. The Worthy War-
den, whose guest I was, and whom I had supposed a
friend of mine, abruptly announced in calling my name
that I would respond to the toast in the absence of the
first party. It was a staggering blow, for which I was
in no way prepared, and if I had received any intima-
tion of it, I was hardly in the condition for a mental
exertion; for an early lunch and a delayed dinner had
given an edge to my appetite difficult to hold, and I
had eaten far more than was my usual habit and, al-
though moderately abstemious in drinking, some mis-
guided friends about me, with mistaken hospitality,
had taken advantage of my obliging disposition to ply
me with various creations of which I had been ignorant

A Sportsman 215

before. It was clear to my own consciousness that I
was better fitted to grace a cannibal barbecue than to
give entertainment to intelligent beings from whom
appetite had flown.

Thinking of the advice given by one counsel to
another, in the absence of favorable evidence to
give a general denial of everything, I entered my pro-
test at the assurance of the Worthy Warden in desig-
nating me as a foreigner and qualified as such to
respond to the toast : Was I not at home among my
own race, speaking the same language and thrilled with
the same pride and enthusiasm which they all experi-
enced in this Jubilee year in the reigning of the most
amiable and lovable and wise sovereign that ever
graced a throne?

Did not my heart swell with the emotions kindred
to their own in contemplation of their magnificent
army and navy, and the advance of civilization the
world over upon the approach of their unifying force
power ?

Did I not find a sympathetic and hearty welcome
here, and a hospitable greeting which no one can so
fully experience and enjoy as he who returns after a
long absence to his old home?

Time, with its unstaying hand, will take away those
living at the time of departure, but are not their de-
scendants of the same blood and thought and feeling?
and when I look around upon your faces here, and note
the kind expression of eye and countenance, I am
tempted to believe that you may accept me as one of
you, though I have been away for two centuries and a
half.

It was long ago when my English ancestors

2i6 Reminiscences of

departed from these shores for the distant land of Amer-
ica, where in New England for seven generations, with
intermarriage with their own class, they lived on, and I
am, so far as I know, of the first to return home again.
I was not consulted as to the place of my birth, and if
I had been I was too young to have had voice; and
what mattered it, if by your acquiescence I have not
lost my birthright, and you do not deprive me of the
memories which cluster about the land of my origin ?

A few centuries ago your ancestors and mine fought
out together for the great rights of liberty in advance
of the world and established the bulwark of civiliza-
tion, and to them mutually belonged the renown of
our illustrious men whose bones are interred in your
sacred temples of sepulture.

You will not deny from me a share of the loyalty
you all feel, or the wholesome pride and emotion you
experience when passing through the immuring walls
of the Abbey, or contemplating on the shore of the
Avon the resting-place of the remains of the gentle
bard whose imprint on the face of time is everlasting.

Great and glorious is the record of your race, and
the illustrations of progress given by your ancestors in
the expanse of other climes. It is, however, but the
exemplification of the sturdy, inborn merit inherited
from the motherland. Not too far away are they
from their old home to be reached by the friendly hand
of recognition, though rolling seas intervene, nor can
they be stayed in their courage and indomitable energy
and intelligent perceptiveness until the whole world
shall yield to their progress and accept the domination
of our mother tongue.
^ Then, when one shall come again as I have from

A Sportsman 2 1 7

a distant part, descended from your own, returning to
mingle among those whose sympathies and affections
and pride are as of his own, and may, upon an occasion
similar to this, be given the honor of being called as the
representative of a foreign element, may you not say,
"Not so; he is our kinsman?"

GEORGE GROSSMITH, an actor of considerable
celebrity in England and of some in this country,
■was at one time playing an engagement at the Savoy
Theatre in Gilbert & Sullivan's play The Yeomen of
the Guard, and had appeared in the first plays, and on
in succession in important parts of the plaj^s of the
mentioned composers, and with remarkable success,
and from which the authors had gained much advan-
tage. He was of slight form, and, although not par-
ticularly gifted in voice, was very correct and clever
in acting, and withal of modest demeanor and sterling
qualities. He was also an author, and in extemporane-
ous musical composition and song, a great favorite.
With my wife I attended the play of the Yeomen of the
Guard, in which Grossmith appeared as Jack, a half-
brained wandering street minstrel, accompanied by
Geraldine Ulmer, a Charlestown (Mass.) girl of the
same class. Their wandering about with songs and
dances added much to the entertainment, and I fol-
lowed them with more interest than given to any other
party. Jack, in love with his companion, is finally
thrown over by her for one more to her liking, and
falls over in the end, dispirited and crushed.

Some days after, my wife and I were invited to dine
with some friends who had tickets for the theatre, and

2i8 Reminiscences of

the play to which we were invited was the Yeomen of
the Guard, and on the second time I was more inter-
ested in Grossmith's acting than before. A week or
two after we were again invited to a dinner with theatre
after, and to our surprise the play was again the Yeomen
of the Gurad. I was more pleased than ever with Gros-
smith's faithful rendering, and after reaching home at
the hotel we were staying at, I said to my wife, "Was
not that acting fine of Grossmith ? " in which she agreed,
and I sat down, upon the impulse, and wrote him a let-
ter expressing my admiration. This, as I can remem-
ber, was something as follows :

Dear Mr. Grossmith:

By singTilar coincidence of events, I have witnessed three
times with my wife your faithful acting in the Yeotnan of the
Guard; and, while I am not partial to witnessing a repetition of
plays I have freshly seen before, I will confess to you that I am
sure I have experienced more satisfaction from seeing your
second and third appearance, than from the first. It is easy to
play the fool when the character is a natural gift, but when a
man of sense plays the fool as well as you do, it has called for
a wit and cleverness which I admire, and I express it. I am a
stranger to you, and you may not care for this, but you cannot
deny me the satisfaction I give myself in writing you as I do,
and let it pass.

Very trvily yours,

I went to the seashore the following day for a week,
and the matter passed from my mind. Upon my re-
turn to my hotel I found among some letters waiting
my return one from Mr. Grossmith, saying:

Dear Sir:

But I do care for your letter, more perhaps than you can
believe, for I received it at a moment when I was unusually

A Sportsman 219

depressed from an incident which had occurred, and I carried it
to my wife and said: "Is this not fine? it encourages me " I
thank you from my heart, and remain

Sincerely yours,

George Grossmith.

Some weeks afterwards my wife and I were invited
to dine in Portland Place, by some English intimate
friends of ours, and at dinner we were told that our
entertainers were to give at midnight a musical party,
which would be attended by about a hundred friends,
among whom would be several artists of note, and Mr.
George Grossmith was mentioned as one. I was very
much amused at the prospect of meeting Mr. Grossmith
in this manner, and told my amiable hostess of the
incidental correspondence I had with him, and she
said she had kno-wTi him for years, would present
me to him upon his arrival, and it would be interesting
and amusing. This she did, introducing my wife also.
During the following amusements, Mr. Grossmith im-
provised a song with piano accompaniment, in which
he went over our affair, with so many ludicrous inter-
polations, in which I appeared as a North American
Indian, that we screamed with laughter, and one yovmg
lady was so amused that we had to rest for a while
upon her approach to a hysterical condition.

I am reminded here of the elder Sothem, the actor
whose part as Lord Dundreary was so amusing, who
visited me at the lake with Holland the actor and two
other friends, perhaps twenty years ago. Sothem was
a great joker, and put up a good many, but was rather
sensitive when they were put on him. He wrote a
very amusing book, entitled Birds of a Feather Flock
Together. One day Holland said to me :

220 Reminiscences of

"Snr hasothe a new cravat pin which he thinks
unique in this country, sent to him from England, of
silver and gold, showing a fishing rod and line and a
creel. But I have also one sent to me which Sothem
does not know of, and although he is not wearing his
just now, he had a great deal to say to us about it, and
is very much set up over it. You take this pin and
stick it on, and we will hear what Sothem has to say
about it."

I did so, coming in to Itinch with the pin, which
soon caught Sothem 's eye, and with astonishment he
asked me where I had obtained it, to which I answered,
carelessly :

"Yes, a rather pretty pin. I bought it at one of
the country towns as I came up to camp."

"Good heavens," said Sothem, "what did you
give for it?"

"Well," I answered, "I bought a dozen of them at
foiu- dollars, they seemed so cheap. I thought they
would make very good presents to the guides, as they
are awfully fond of anything of that kind."

I relate the following two instances indicating the
push of two American girls who came within my
personal observation, and although not coming within
the lines of sporting reminiscences, may be of interest.
These incidents being of a personal character will be
considered confidential by the reader, who, I assume,
will not mention it unless it may be to most intimate
friends, whose reticence can be relied upon.

The commencement occurred in Boston before I
had reached my majority. I had a clerk in my em-
ploy, a rather clever sort of fellow named Edwards,
who occasionally referred to a flaxen beauty at the

A Sportsman 221

cheap boarding-house where he hved, whom he ac-
counted to be a most extraordinary beauty of much
spirit and wit, and who he predicted woxild yet have
some prominence in the world — the lovely Miss Jane
Dare (an assumed name), the daughter of the widowed
landlady, who made vests for a clothing house at the
mvmificent sum of two or three dollars a week. Her
father had been at one time a well-to-do merchant,
who conducted a line of sailing vessels to some foreign
port, but left his wife and only child penniless. It may
be assumed that the subject was one of no particular
interest to me. but from frequent mention of the ex-
cellent qualities of Miss Dare my curiosity was aroused,
and I finally said to Edwards, "Invite me down to
supper some night, so I can view this prodigy of exal-
tation," little imagining that I should become a feature
in the future career of this sprightly Jane Dare.

How casual and shght are the circumstances affect-
ing the lives and destinies of mortals. Accordingly, as
a lamb to the shambles, I accompanied Edwards down
one evening to the ding}'^ brick structure, on a side
street, where he obtained his fried chops and lodgings
for three dollars and a half a week, and where the rosy-
cheeked Jane dispensed hot biscuits and doubtful jam
to half a dozen embryotic merchants of Edwards's type.
The butter was strong and the tea was weak, and the
muffins of vmcertain stability; but Jane, Jane, Jane!
she was as radiant as a butterfly's wing and looked as
sweet as an apple blossom; of medium stout build,
fair complexion, blue eye and golden hair. She gave
me a hearty welcome as the friend of Edwards, and I
scarcely regarded her excepting what I covild take in
at a glance, as I observed the somewhat suspicious

222 Reminiscences of

aspect of Mother Dare, who evidently viewed me with
some curiosity and possible apprehensions. Quite
needless in my case, and it was not tmtil my second
call, on a following evening, that I ventured to intimate
the necessity of replenishing my apparel by the addi-
tion of a waistcoat — ^after an hour's conversation with
the mother and daughter and Edwards about the
needed improvements in tenement houses, and of re-
form in the school system, and other serious subjects
— and before I left I had my meastire taken for a new
vest by the tapering hands of rosy Jane, who held pins
in her mouth. A third visit was required to fetch the
material, and my growing fondness for the mother's
tea, of which I could hardly get enough, evidently
manufactured from the garden shrubbery, seemed to
disperse any suspiciousness which might have existed.
I ventured to express the satisfaction which might
be derived from a drive about the beautiful suburbs
of the city. Mother Dare seemed to understand who
should comprise the party, and expressed the difficulty
of getting away on a week day, but might be arranged
on a Sunday, when a pot of beans would answer for
the evening meal. It was then suggested, as we were
all to go, that a street car excursion to the Mount Au-
burn cemetery would answer our purpose and give us
a cheerful recreation. So we went out the following
Sunday afternoon to the cemetery, and I was struck
by the simple and cheerful, but yet independent, am-
bition of the pretty Jane by her remark, as we viewed
one of the most elaborate monuments there, that she
would be about willing to die if she could have over
her grave so beavitiful a plinth as we had before us.
It was very touching, and indicated the spirit of the

A Sportsman 223

warrior who sought the bubble reputation at the can-
non's mouth. But Jane had no thought of dying,
and I am quite sure she would not have expired to gain
a hundred Eg}-ptian pyramids.

A fair was to be held for charitable purposes in
Music Hall a few evenings afterwards, and I had taken
two tickets, and Mother Dare consented that I should
take Jane there. I did, and Jane became elastic in
spirit and rigged out in her best suit for the occasion.
She was a lovely, charming girl, and no one could re-
gard her costume in the glow of her beauty. When
we entered the hall she was wild with delight and ex-
citement at the brilliant costumes. "Oh, introduce
me to some rich man," she said. "I must marry and
travel to Rome and Paris and London. I have no
time to lose. I must go." Jane was not particularly
retiring or shy in disposition.

I saw approaching in the promenade an elderly,
bald-headed, but well-wigged, confirmed and well-pre-
served old bachelor, whom we will call AshberT)^ whom
I knew, and who had lately retired from business with
a large fortime after a wasted life at business, during
which I doubt if he ever caught a trout. I mentioned
the situation to Jane, who requested an introduction,
and I accordingly presented Mr. Ashberry to her. Jane
was a gusher of full volume, and the somewhat bewil-
dered Ashberry, upon his quitting, asked Miss Dare if
she would accept a lottery ticket he had just purchased
in a probable two-hundred-dollar grand piano, put up
at six hundred — six hundred tickets atone dollar each;
would Miss Dare kindly accept the ticket ? Would she !
I had no doubt about it, and she did with a subdued,
inexpressible gush which made Ashberry totter, and I

2 24 Reminiscences of

felt sure he had then received an unusual wound.
What fate depended upon that ticket? Pretty soon a
nvunber was hoisted over the piano, and Jane hastily
looked over her ticket, and behold, it was her own ! Her
modest and limited sewing-room was not, perhaps, just
suited for it, but she never thought of that. Where,
oh, where was the precious man, the angel of light,
the creator of her glorification, who had given her the
ticket! He approached, without even remembering
the number of his lucky ticket. But Jane quickly in-
formed him, and showered upon him such a merry run
of sweet words and tender glances that Ashberry fairly
staggered in the mazy flood.

I thought it a good time to absent myself for awhile
and, making an excuse to see a friend, left Jane and
Ashberry for a promenade together, well satisfied that
Jane would improve the opportunity. When I re-
joined my May and December to accompany Jane to
her maternal home, I found that the autumnal season
of harvest had been woven in, and that Jane had ac-
quiesced in the proposal of Ashberry to call upon her
at her home. There, beneath the vigilant eye of
mamma, it would be quite appropriate.

Time flew, as well as love, with galloping steeds, and
expectation wreathed the way with flowers. My visits
ceased and soon I learned of the engagement of Jane
with her long-waiting, impatient Ashberry. The mar-
riage soon followed, and Jane removed from her
tearful mamma's humble abode to a mansion in a
fashionable part of the city.

Years rolled on, a quarter of a century, and I had
somewhat forgotten Jane in the busy hum of life, when
one evening at a social entertainment in London I

A Sportsman 225

noted the steadfast gaze of a matronly and fashionably-
attired lady, who beckoned me to her side, but whom
I failed to recognize, until with her hand extended she
said, "Do you not remember me?" and then I saw it
was Jane. I recognized then the abvmdant traces of
her former beauty, not yet eclipsed by ravages of time;
the still radiant cerulean eye, the yet unfaded golden
hair, the expression of sprightliness, the soft, pleasant
voice, which, when once possessed, never fails. It was
Jane. She told me of the death of the lamented Ash-
berry; of her three children, one of whom, a daughter,
was of surprising beauty and attractiveness and of
whom I had heard repeated mention in connection with
the bevy of fascinating American girls in London, little
imagining she was the daughter of Jane. In fact, she
was credited with having inspired a hopless passion in
the heart of a royal prince.

And Jane had perfected herself in accomplishments
in such surprising degree that she had become an ele-
ment in London society, and I was surprised to hear
of the exalted and exclusive class she moved in, and
her familiarity with members of the royal family and
her associates were of astonishment to me. This was
the last time I ever saw Jane.

Another case of this character within my observa-
tion was that of her whom I will designate as Miss Fran-
ces Carroll, a young lady of remarkable beauty and
character, who arose from a comparatively humble posi-
tion to one of considerable prominence. She was the
daughter of a retired and somewhat financially de-
pressed merchant of Boston. Particularly fond of
skating, I frequented in the season for such recreation
the Back Bay area of the city, now filled in and built

226 Reminiscences of

over by streets and rows of buildings. Here congre-
gated on favorable days many young people for amuse-
ment, and many merry occasions we had there.

Among those frequently there was Miss Carroll,
one of the most accomplished female skaters I ever
saw, who elicited much admiration for her grace and
agility, and whose attractiveness and buoyant man-
ners brought many admirers. I was not long in mak-
ing her acquaintance through some of my friends, one
of whom was much smitten with her, but who made lit-
tle progress in creating a reciprocal interest. Miss Carroll
was not of the retiring cast, having a free and pleasant
word for all her friends, and was in no wise backward
in accepting presents of skates and various articles
from her admirers, and I had the pleasure of presenting
her with a pair of steel runners of recent improvement.
Nature had endowed her with more than her skating
accomplishment and beauty, as she had a voice of re-
markable sweetness and power, and, as was afterwards
shown, a remarkable faculty of application and mental
ability, and with much ambition. She married soon a
gentleman of w^ealth and removed to New York, where
she became the mother of several children and occupied
a prominent, though not generally accepted, position
in society, and I attended several entertainments at
her house there.

After seven or eight years' residence in New York
she became estranged from her husband, occasioned, as
reports go, from his improper treatment, and took up
her abode in Paris with her children, occupying a
prominent chateau on one of the principal boulevards,
and I saw her there in 1867. Her entertainments were
conspicuous in American as well as French society, and

A Sportsman 227

her cultivated musical voice attracted particular ad-
miration. After a few years in Paris she suddenly dis-
appeared with her children for a few years, going I
know not where, nor have I known any one who could
tell. She returned to London where she has since re-
sided, taking almost immediately a prominent position
in that metropolis, which she has ever since sustained
from her remarkable talents and accomplishments, and
I venture to say that no American woman has ever
attained more influence and prestige in London society,
among the conservative classes, than she, and her
identity will be easily recognized by those familiar with
society in that city.

MANY Americans considered it a privilege to meet
the Prince of Wales — now King Edward the
Seventh — and it was my fortune to meet him on sev-
eral occasions, and all who have met him will testify
to his most admirable bearing and gentlemanly quali-
ties, and he made all feel at ease in his presence by his
pleasant manner.

Sir Walter Gilbey, most prominent and perhaps
more so than any man in England in advancing the
breeding of horses and their classifications, and in the
organization of horses' societies, aided me most materi-
ally in England in 1883 in making a collection of Shire
horses for shipment by steamer from London to New
York, and from there in a special car to California, con-
sisting of one two-year-old stallion and five fillies, all
thoroughbred Shires, which had taken first prizes at the
Shire horse exhibition in London, and which arrived
safely in California, and from which during the years

228 Reminiscences of

since I have bred their progeny. This breed of horses,
from which the Clydesdale horses have emanated, were
bred from old English stock in the Shire counties, of
which the large, strong, distinctive English cart-horses
of the present day have come, dating back to the law
of breeding enacted in 1541 in the time of Henry VIII.,
and are world-noted for their weight and serviceable
action.

The ancient design in breeding the Shire horses was
for purposes of war, and to give powerful horses to
carry cavaliers in heavy armor for tournaments, and
for the various pageants of state solemnities, as well
as for cavalry and military purposes.

Being a member of a prominent London horse so-
ciety, of which Sir Walter Gilbey was the organizer and
first president, I was invited to a dinner given annually
by Sir Walter at his town residence, Regent's Park, to
the president-elect and council of the Hackney Horse
Society, of which the Prince of Wales was at the time
president. It was a very distinguished gathering of
the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Portland, the Earls of
Londesborough, Coventry, Enniskillen, Lords Horth-
field and Brooke, Baron Von Schroder, Viscount Com-
bermere. Sir Dighton Probyn, Sir Selwyn Ibbetson, Sir
Nigel Kingscote, and a few others of prominent note.
I was the onl}- untitled one present. It was quite
informal, and all went merrily.

The Prince came somewhat later than the hour
assigned — ^half-past eight — a feature not usual at Lon-
don dinners, but quite excusable in his instance, for
which no apology was made. In fact, it is not good
form at London dinners to make excuses for lateness,
and thereby draw attention to the first mistake, for

A Sportsman 229

which guests are favorably lenient, well knowing that
only a very strong reason exists for tardiness upon an
occasion where promptness to fill is so well understood.
I remember an occasion in London of a dinner I at-
tended scarcely less important than the one first men-
tioned, when nearly all were from fifteen to thirty
minutes late, owing to one of those dense, suffocating,
sooty fogs, which sometimes in the autumn drop down
on the streets of London. In this instance the pasty
gloom of smoky moisture was so dense that my cab-
man had to lead his horse by the non-penetrating
glimmer of a lantern, constantly impeded by corre-
sponding vehicles travelling all sorts of ways, and, al-
though I started well in advance of the dinner hotu", I
was nearly half an hour late, as were most of the guests.
In this instance the delay was so general, and the cause
so well understood, that it was the subject of general
pleasant remark.

The diimer given by Sir Walter was qmte simple,
and so considered by the Prince, who remarked as he
glanced over the menu, that he considered it a model
bill of fare, and that he should take it home to show
the Princess, putting the menu in his coat pocket,
which act I thought well to follow on my part, and,
withdrawing it now from a package of old papers, I
will give it exactly :

(Gilbey Crest)

Cambridge House, London, N. W.

Dinner to the President (H R. H. the Prince of Wales) Presi-
dent-elect, Past President and Council, Hackney Horse Society.
Tuesday, 3d March, iSgr.

Oysters. Turtle Soup. Clear Soup.

Tweed Salmon (Carham).
Soles, Slips. Whitebait.

230 Reminiscences of

Breast of Chickens, Filleted.
Woodcock. Guinea Fowl.

Asparagus (Argenteuil) .
Forequarter of Lamb, French Beans.
Duckling. Green Peas.

Sweets: Savoury. Desert.

Champagne: Ayala's Brut Vintage, 1884.
Madeira: Cossart's Secco Reserva Colheita de 1836.
Hock: Schloss Johannisberger Auslese Vintage, 1868.
Champagne: Pommery's Vintage, 1874.
Claret: Mouton Rothschild's Vintage, 1875.
Port: Dow's Dry, Vintage, 1863.
Claret: Chateau Margaux Vintage, 1875.
Sherry: Gonzalez's Vintage, 1847.
Port: Croft's Magnums Vintage, 1834.

The floral furnishings of the table were of rare and
expensive exotics. After dinner the Prince of Wales
and most of the guests remained, upon adjournment
to the smoking and coffee room, until twelve o'clock,
all in pleasant conversation. I had occasion to remind
the Prince of his early visit to America and Boston in
his nineteenth year, and that I had the pleasure, being
Corporal of the Guard of the Independent Corps of
Cadets, of doing guard at the Massachusetts State
House, in the lunch room, partaken of by the Prince
and suite. At that time N. P. Banks was Governor of
the State, after whom the Prince particularly inquired,
and referred to his martial bearing on horseback in
the review of the State troops, and was desirous of
learning of his after career.

Not long afterwards I attended the exhibition of
the English Cart Horse Society in London, of which I
was a member, and I invited our American Minister,
then Mr. Lincoln, to accompany me, which he did, and

A Sportsman 231

we entered the private enclosure adjoining the royal box
reserved for members and friends. The Prince was to
distribute the prizes given in award, and we seated
ourselves one on each side of Mr. Lawson, owner of the
London Telegraph newspaper. Mr. Lawson had ac-
quired much wealth in the publication of his paper,
and it was a well credited rumor that Mr. Lawson had
lately accommodated the Prince with a loan of £100,000
as the wants of the royal heir had been much in excess
of his large income, and it was estimated at the time
of his accession to the throne of England after the
decease of Her Majesty the Queen, that his existing
personal indebtedness exceeded a million pounds ster-
ling, all of which was undoubtedly liquidated from the
ver}^ large fortune he inherited from his mother upon
his becoming King.

Upon the arrival of the Prince in the royal box,
attended by the Duke of Portland and a few equerries,
he looked over the adjoining box, which was spacious,
as well as his own, and sent his equerries with com-
pliments to various prominent parties in the reser\^ed
space with invitations to join him in the royal box.
Something of a thinning out from the reserved box oc-
curred, and Mr. Lawson evidently expected to receive
the royal invitation, and seemed to experience an agita-
tion palpable to Mr. Lincoln and myself as the thinning
out occurred without a royal summons for him, and
when an equerr}' presented an invitation to Mr. Lin-
coln and myself, Mr. Lawson rose with us and made
his departure from the exhibition. He has, however,
been knighted since the Prince became King, and the
omission of him from an invitation was doubtless an
intended act upon the part of the Prince, since Mr.

232 Reminiscences of

Lawson was credited with the authorship of the rumor
about the loan. The position of the Prince was too
substantial to require any exertion upon his part to
find ready money when needed from the many affluent
capitalists existing in London who would feel highly
honored by being creditors of the heir-apparent.

I met the Prince again at a presentation made to
Sir Walter Gilbey, representing the subscribers to a
fimd of a thousand guineas for a testimonial subscribed
by a thousand admirers in England at one guinea each,
to which I was a subscriber. This was proposed and
headed by the Prince of Wales and almost immediately
filled, and Sir Walter elected to have for the thousand
guineas his half life-size portrait painted by the emi-
nent English artist, W. Q. Orchardson, which was diily
presented, and was the occasion for another dinner
given by Sir Walter to the Prince of Wales and some
thirty of the prominent subscribers, among which I
had the pleasure of being invited.

My acquaintance commenced with Mr. Orchardson
on a salmon stream in Scotland, where we were the
guests of a mutual friend, and I was much charmed
with his piscatorial skill and his ardent devotion to
angling. Our acquaintance cemented into an earnest
friendship, and we had many pleasant rambles together.
I was not aware at our first meetings that he was the
most celebrated portrait painter in England, and dis-
tinguished for his Meissonier-like fidelity of detail.
Renewing our meetings in London, I was often a visitor
at his studio, but only by his special invitations, for I
knew too well the error of intrusion in the sacred hours
of labor given by painstaking and devoted artists. Mr.
Orchardson, although so prominent in the artistic line.

A Sportsman 233

was a gentleman of most simple and unostentatious
bearing, but whose countenance was one of the most
attractive and impressive cast, and bore the imprint
of his studious fidelity and painstaking industry, yet
was most modest and retiring in disposition.

I felt quite highly complimented when personally
invited to the dinner, in being informed by Sir Walter
Gilbey that he had also invited Mr. Orchardson, since
he was the creator of the souvenir picture, but that his
retiring disposition had induced him to avoid the promi-
nence of that occasion until informed by Sir Walter
that I was to be present, when he said he would attend
if he could sit beside me. That was very pleasant for
me to hear.

After dinner while I was engaged conversing with Mr.
Orchardson on sporting matters, we were joined by the
Prince of Wales and the Duke of Portland, and the lat-
ter interested us in an account of his bear hunting in
Russia a few years before. It was the habit often to
get after bear in the winter after they were in their
hibernating quarters, when the peasants, finding such
localities by the open perceptible breathing holes,
would mark the spots and dispose of finds for a com-
pensation, and his host having secured several, invited
him to join in the hunt. Accompanied by a pack of
dogs, the latter, on being brought to the localities,
would, by digging at the holes and barking, soon fetch
out the bears from their slumberous repose, which
would be shot or overcome by the dogs. Several were
killed, and one nearly cost the Duke his life by being
shot at on his appearance by an excitable Frenchman
guest, who, being behind the Duke, recklessly fired his
gun between the body and arm of the narrator, nar-

234 Reminiscences of

rowly escaping his body, but taking off a considerable
portion of his coat. These bear were of the very large
brown species, and despite their supposed somnolent
condition would put up a very ferocious fight upon
being aroused.

IN the month of June, 1864, I made an excursion to
■ the Grand Lake stream for land-locked salmon
(Salnio confinis), landing at Calais, Me., and by small
steamer with a few friends by the St. Croix River to
Grand Lake stream, where we built and occupied a
birch-bark camp on the shores for ten days. We found
the fishing particularly good, and had no difficulty
in repeatedly taking doublets. We found the salmon
lying at the head of the little falls and eddies and full
of life. In fact, they are more lively than trout, and
a strictly high quality game fish. Although plentiful in
the stream and the Grand Lake above, they seldom run
up over five pounds in weight, and it was not often
that we caught one over three pounds, while the
average would be about one and three quarter pounds.

Since that period the Fish and Game Commissioners
of the State have introduced the land-locked salmon
into many hundreds of the ponds and lakes of the
State, and the introduction has been almost invariably
successful.

At the time of this excursion this salmon did not
exist in more than three separate waters of the State.
One of the most important auxiliary benefits to this
fish has been the introduction of the salt water smelt,
which seems well adapted to nearly all fresh waters,
where they multiply to an amazing degree, supplying a

A Sportsman 235

most important food for the larger fish, particularly
land-locked salmon, trout, and black bass. In some of
the larger lakes of the State, although the smelts do not
grow to a larger size than two or four inches in length,
and may be observed in the spring plentifully dead on
the surface of the water from some unknown cause,
they can at the same season be netted by the barrelful
in some localities adjoining their spawning places, and
furnish without dressing in imitation of white bait,
a very palatable dish simply fried in pork fat, beef
drippings, butter, or olive oil.

In a few lakes I have observed there is a run of
larger smelts than the usual, as in the Rangeley waters,
and this season (1904) I caught one of nearly a quarter
of a pound in weight on a small fly while casting for
trout, and have seen one which weighed half a pound.
As a fish food element in fresh waters, the smelt may
be accounted of the first importance in its adaptability
and fecundity.

The flavor of the salmon is more or less affected by
the waters it inhabits. I was a member of a California
club which was the first, and I think as yet the only
one to introduce this fish in that State, in Crescent
Lake, on the Shafter ranch, at Point Reyes, where they
grew with unparalleled rapidity in less than three years,
from six inches in length to four and five pounds in
weight, but owing to a scarcity of small food fish, and
living largely upon the plentiful caddis larva, imbibed
a disagreeable flavor, though eager fly takers and of
full game action.

On Grand Lake stream we met two enthusiastic dis-
ciples of the gentle art, Mr. Edward Lannegan, the actor,
and W. H. Venning, since for many years a Canadian

236 Reminiscences of

commissioner of fisheries. Near our shelter was the site
of Dr. G. W. Bethune's camp, for many years occupied
by this gifted and eloquent divine of New York, who
was a most devoted fisherman and lover of Nature,
and who had died in Italy two years previously.

One of our party was Walter M. Brackett, of
Boston, the distinguished and celebrated painter of
fish, especially trout and salmon, whose pictures
ornament the houses of many foreign purchasers,
and whose completeness in presenting on canvas the
subject of his art has never been excelled. From
his youth up he has been devoted to the piscatorial
art, much undoubtedly at the expense of his time,
which could be given to the gaining of golden results;
but with him of secondary interest, though dependent
upon his profession for livelihood. But his palette and
brush were always laid aside whenever an angling friend
visited his studio, for the entertaining comparison of
fishing experiences. Now, at the age of eighty, still
active and vigorous he pursues the bent of his inclina-
tions in annual visits to his salmon stream in Canada.
At his living rooms and studio in the upper part of a
house on Tremont Street, where he has resided for
nearly half a century, I have passed many pleasant
evenings in his genial society and with mutual friends,
and owing to his peculiar attractiveness I have met
many prominent people there, distinguished in politics
and the arts, Henry Ward Beecher, Robert Ingersoll,
Anna Dickinson, ' ' Petroleum V. Nasby ' ' — whose amus -
ing letters were the particular delight of the lamented
President Lincoln — Edwin Booth, William Warren,
the favorite comedian of Boston, and others ; and many
pleasant sit downs in the evenings I have had there to

A Sportsman 237

a broiled trout or shad, and a sparkling bottle, with
an invited guest or two. Several evenings were thus
spent with the genial Robert Ingersoll, who never
failed to put in an evening there when in town,

A curious incident occurred from this trip con-
cerning Mr. Brackett and one of our party, Mr. Edwin
Churchill, of Portland, a merchant extensively engaged
in the West India business. At the request of the
latter, a sketch was made for him by Mr. Brackett of
our picturesque birch camp, and of the surroundings,
showing the stream and scenery, which was afterward
elaborated in an oil painting. Somewhat to our sur-
prise, upon taking passage on the steamer from Port-
land to Calais, Me., we found Mrs. Brackett and her
only child, Artemas (now an artist of some celebrity),
then nine years of age, who were to accompany us upon
our excursion. Although Mrs. Brackett was a most
agreeable woman, possessing a strong taste for out-
door life, and tastes similar to those of her husband,
and generally accompanying him upon his excursions,
we were somewhat surprised to find that she was to be
one of our party upon this excursion, to a region then
considered pretty well on the frontier. When the
picture was completed and forwarded to Mr. Churchill,
he was a good deal astonished to find Mrs. Brackett,
holding the hand of little Artemas, depicted promin-
ently on the bank of the Grand Lake stream. This was
not very agreeable to him, as he had evidently believed
that he was obtaining a souvenir of an episode in the
wilds of Maine, where exposed to possible privation
and more or less of rough life, the picture would excite
a peculiar interest among his family and friends. To
have a well attired lady, and child of tender years in

238 Reminiscences of

bold relief amid the otherwise primitive surrotmdings,
destroyed in his view the particiilar features he wished
to convey.

There is a very sensitive sense existing with
painters, poets, and in fact with all artists, in having
their works changed after completion by others, and
it is deemed very unprofessional, and contrary to
good form, for rival artists, however critical they
may be in review of merit, to personally amend or
touch up the works of others. Mr. Churchill, feeling
a delicacy, in opening up the matter with the artist,
employed a somewhat prominent painter in Port-
land— and it is soniewhat surprising that he should
have undertaken the change — to bury Mrs. Brackett
and her son beneath a huge boulder, which restored
the primitive appearance of the picture. By some
means Mr. Brackett heard of the liberty which had
been taken with his work and the metaphorical inter-
ment of his family, and became much incensed;
which led to an acrimonious correspondence with the
Portland artist, which finally found its wa}^ into the
papers, and was continued at some length.

When our time for leaving the pleasant shores of
Grand Lake stream arrived, I felt very loath to go
away, and the day before breaking camp, two Indians
came along in a canoe, bound for the wilderness of
ponds and lakes above for wild cranberries and musk-
rat skins, with whom I made an arrangement to go on,
and made a somewhat reluctant farewell to my com-
rades, wno were to return to civilization. In this
canoe excursion we passed over a dozen lakes of from
five to fifteen miles in extent, in a wilderness of waters
and forest, camping for two or thsee days here and

A Sportsman 239

there when favorable for the pursuits of the Indians,
while I followed my fishing inclinations, and in shooting
small game for the larder, partridges and ducks, though
not plentiful, were sufficient for our wants. Our trip,
covering three weeks, extended over the Machias lakes
and ponds, and up the Fifth Lake stream to a lake of the
same name, and over the Compass and Duck lakes
to within forty miles of Bangor, where I took con-
veyance to that city.

It was ver}'^ interesting to follow from lake to
lake over the old Indian trails familiar to my guides,
where a carriage of our canoe was necessary. The
two Indians secured an abundant supply of muskrat
skins with their traps, as well as cranberries. These
Indians had a decided preference for the young
muskrats as an article of food over any other, and
I, commencing somewhat hesitatingly at first, foimd
them exceedingly sweet and palatable. The muskrat
is not a carnivorous animal, being allied to the beaver,
living mainly upon succulent water-growing roots, and
vegetable foods, although partial to fresh water clams,
abundant in Maine waters. It is a nocturnal animal,
and a ver>' interesting one, building mounds of a few
feet in height for winter quarters, where their com-
fortable grass beds are found. Many of these mounds
are connected with the shores by under water routes,
which they take care shall be deep enough to keep
from freezing over, and connect with subterranean
earth galleries. The farmers and natives often conjec-
txu-e concerning the severity of the coming winter by the
dimensions of the muskrat mounds, and it has been
obser\'ed that however severe the floods, the muskrats'
mounds are sufficiently prepared for them.

240 Reminiscences of

How shall we accovint for this apparently abnor-
mal faculty indicated by animals, birds, and fish, so
plainly evinced in many instances? I am reminded
of the almanac maker, who prophesied the condi-
tion of the weather in advance, who, pausing on a
country trip to inquire the way of a farmer engaged
in feeding out corn to his ranging swine, was given
his route with the advice to make haste for his some-
what distant destination, as a storm was coming on.
To this he responded that it was not likely, as his
almanac claimed a fair day. Going on, he was over-
taken by the storm and wet through. Returning
the following day he had the curiosity to ask the
farmer how he knew a storm was coming on when
the conditions for pleasant weather were so evident?
To which the farmer replied :

"Oh, my hogs know more than almanac makers, I
could tell by the way they acted."

The muskrat is much better adapted for rapid
progress through the water than on land, being web-
footed and possessing a flat, scaly tail of good length,
admirable for guiding its body. The hind legs and
feet are blady or thin, by which the rat can swim
rapidly and feather the oar, so to say, in a perfect
manner, and will go for a hundred feet under water
without difficulty. A peculiarity about the animal
is its musky odor, and if the supplying glands are not
removed in dressing, the odor may be found rather
too powerful for ordinary appetites, though my
Indian comrades would not take the trouble to remove
such sources, had I not insisted upon it.

One feature of prominence I observed in the musk-
rat. That of its extremely pugnacious character, as

A Sportsman 241

indicated, not only by its ferocity shown when trapped
and alive, but on the scarred skins taken from the
bodies of the males, indicating sanguinary battles
which must occur among them at certain seasons of
the year. Nearly every male skin taken exhibited
numerous scars, and a few old ones were so fur-bitten
as to make their pelts worthless. These animals,
as with the beaver and otter swimming below the
ice, have a faculty of expelling the air from their lungs,
which rises beneath the ice to the under surface, of
sucking in the globules of air and thus renewing its
supply. This is frequently taken advantage of by
hunters with otter which have been driven into the
water beneath a thin ice, where their movement could
be observed and followed, by striking an axe hole over
the air bubbles, and by this wear out the object of
pursuit, until completely exhausted, when it would
be secured.

On the Schoodic group I found one five feet higher
than the one below, connected by a small stream at
the head of which was an old log dam, pretty well
decayed. Here, camping for the night, we broke
away a portion of the dam, letting a good flow from
the upper lake into the lower, over the old stream
bed. As it looked promising in the morning when
the flow reached the lower lake, I made a cast, getting^^
a rise, and at the second, hooked a fine salmon, fol-
lowed by one or two more, and apparently could
have secured more, if desired, showing the attraction
of moving water at that season for the salmon below.

Deer were plentiful, and I could have probably
secured several, if any necessity had existed, but at
that season the does were with fawns, and we had a

242 Reminiscences of

surplus of food. Scarcely a day passed without see-
ing deer in the morning and at night, feeding or
wading along the lake shores, or in the water, and
several nights we heard them in the vicinity in the
adjacent woods. Moose were not so plentiful, though
we saw two, both cows with calves, and one passed
along the water front near us with its calf, as we
were preparing our evening meal, so near that it
could probably have been brought down with a
charge of buckshot. But to have killed a noble
animal of this magnitude in our situation would have
been criminal, and I have had several instances since
that period when I have seen this mighty animal,
which has always seemed to me to have been a sur-
vival of the ancient days, pass before me unmolested.
In some of the small streams connected with the
Schoodic salmon waters, I frequently caught on my
fly while casting for brook trout, the smolts of the
land-locked salmon, which generally remain in the
streams when hatched for the first and sometimes
the second year, and which rise readily to the fly.

IN 1869 I made an excursion with a friend, from
Cheyenne in Wyoming to the Laramie Mountains
for elk and deer which we found plentiful, and for
trout in the branches of the Laramie River. The
trout were tolerably gamy, but not equal in that
respect or in flavor, to the eastern, and we soon had
our fill. Wyoming for many years will aff'ord a great
field for sportsmen having a great variety and plenti-
fulness of game.

We then proceeded on by the Union Pacific Rail-

A Sportsman 243

road to Provo City in Utah, and passed several days
at Utah Lake, a large fresh water body of about
twenty-five miles in length by five or sLx miles in
width, and one hundred and twenty-five square
miles in area, situated thirty miles south of the Great
Salt Lake. We found this a magnificent sheet of
water, abounding in lake trout of a large size, where
we caught by trolling all we could desire, and in
fact gave away many to the neighboring Mormon
settlers. This lake has since been stocked with
bass, whitefish, and carp and now affords a very
large quantity of food for Salt Lake City, Ogden,
and the svirrounding country. The large lake trout
natural to the waters are especially plentiful, and
we saw a seine hauled in while we were there con-
taining several hundred pounds of the large brown
trout.

Carp and suckers, generally considered unfavor-
able food products, are given prominence in recent
returns of the industries of Utah among the products
of Utah Lake, and yielding of the latter, nearly a
million pounds in 1895. Owing to the altitude of
4000 feet and the coldness of the water, the suckers
are esteemed for food more than those taken from
warmer waters.

The Great Salt Lake, a singular phenomenon of
nature in its extreme saltness — similar to the great
Dead Sea and a large lake in Persia and some in
South America — is entirely devoid of fish life, con-
taining one third of salt, and in density so great as to
float the human body with ease. It is larger than
the State of Rhode Island, and half as large as the
State of Connecticut. Although it receives annually

244 Reminiscences of

large quantities of fresh water from several streams,
and the natural drainage of a large basin with no
visible outlet, it has been of late years constantly
receding, and in my remembrance has diminished
its extent by over ten miles. It is comparatively
shallow, its extreme depth being but sixty feet.

Many have supposed that this lake had a subter-
ranean outlet but its shrinkage is most likely occa-
sioned by evaporation. In my memory Lake Tulan
(Tulare) a large body of fresh water in Southern Cali-
fornia, covering several square miles, has about dis-
appeared by evaporation, and now most abundant
harvests are being grown over the old lake bed.
In the earliest days of California this lake was de-
scribed as covering over one hundred square miles.

Lately the Union Pacific Railroad has made a con-
siderable reduction in its route by building a trestle
bridge of over twenty miles in length across a shal-
low part of the lake. The evidence unmistakably
upon the neighboring mountains shows that in some
remote period this lake covered a very much larger
area, probably six or eight times more than at present,
and had a depth of five or six hundred feet. Three
ver}'' distinct benches, or water levels of prominent
extent, are shown on the east side of the lake upon
the mountain sides, where the waters of the lake must
have washed for long periods on three clearly shown
levels, separated from each other by from one hundred
to two hundred feet. These levels are distinctly
visible to the passengers from the passing railroad.

From Utah Lake I passed on by the railroad to
Ogden, which is now, but was not then, the connect-
ing place of the Union Pacific with the Central Pacific

A Sportsman 245

on to California. The connecting point at that time
was at Promontory, some seventy miles west of Ogden,
a barren and desolate place, undesirable for a union
place of two prominent railroads, and the intervening
distance east was acquired by the Central Pacific Rail-
road from the Union Pacific, giving each road many
advantages over the barren Promontory. The racing
of both roads building across the continent under the
Enabling Act of Congress — so bountiful in the giving
of the credit of the government in its guarantee on
the second mortgage bonds, and outright gifts of
many millions of unoccupied land — was eager and
exciting, as I was witness of, from frequent pas-
sages over the building routes from 1865 to 1869.
Despite the enormous aid of the government, and the
immense stakes worked for, there were periods during
the building when the distinct bodies of workers on
each side of the continent were at their wits' ends to
provide ready means to meet their expenses. Im-
mense discounts were made in the selling of the bonds,
even those guaranteed by the United States govern-
ment. It was at a time when the credit of the
government was largely strained by the necessity of
providing over three thousand millions of dollars for
the expenses of the Civil War, when at times a dollar
of the United States government was not worth hfty
cents on a gold basis in the markets of the world.

The government required the iron rails laid down
to be of American manufacture, which cost both roads
at many times, over one hundred dollars per ton, and
which in some instances were laid over native iron
beds, from which Bessemer steel rails have since been
made, and much superior to the wrought iron used,

246 Reminiscences of

at less than one fifth of the cost of the former. Still
despite all obstacles, the reward was promising.

The iron rails could not be obtained readily enough
to keep up with the grading, and the latter stretched
out hundreds of miles beyond the track-laying, and
from Promontory where the final rail-laying met,
graded tracks stretched otit in a total of several
hundred miles beyond the place of meeting, still
existing monuments of lost labor.

The government aid to the building of the Union
Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads across the con-
tinent was one of the most broad-minded and com-
prehensive plans ever conceived by any government,
and at a period of financial condition when most men
would have shrunk from undertaking the great perils
involved; but it was carried through in the briefest
period in which any similar enterprise of that character
was accomplished, uniting the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans by a direct route of 3300 miles. The govern-
ment at that time was at an annual expense of over
six millions of dollars paid out for wagon transporta-
tion to its military stations through the wilderness,
which railroad carriage largely diminished, besides
advantaging the rapid subjugation of hostile Indians
which imperilled settlements. The building of the
great Transcontinental route also encouraged the
rapid building of man}^ auxiliary roads, followed by
extensive settlements and the increase of new indus-
tries. Many objections were made from various
quarters to the advancement of government funds
and credit, yet every dollar advanced was paid up
with interest in full.

The enormous advantages of railroad building in

A Sportsman 24;

the United States, equalling in extent all others in
the world, is exhibited in the immense harvests now
grown and marketed, and in the large exportation
of manufactured articles. Consider alone the magni-
tude of the com crop of the present year estimated
at two billions and a half of bushels, and perhaps
more. How difficult to realize the magnitude of its
bulk and value from a mere recitation of the words "two
billions and a half of bushels! " Load it up in the rail-
road cars and see how long a train it will make. Cal-
culate 30,000 pounds to a car, and a bushel at sixty
pounds, and the length of the cars at 45 feet with
couplings, and you have a train of over 50,000 miles,
enough to go around the world twice.

Little wonder that good railroad business depends
upon good crops, and such as we have this year, 1905,
and have had for the past few years give great pros-
perity to this wonderful resourceful country of ours.

At Ogden I found a special Pullman car occupied
by several Union Pacific Railroad directors going to
Salt Lake City over the new railroad just completed,
wholly built by Mormon labor, afterward acquired
by the Union Pacific. Accompanying this car was
Bishop Kipp, of California, and Commodore C. K.
Garrison, of New York. I was invited to join the
party over the new road. In our passage down from
Ogden we passed through a short tunnel which had
not been completed quite wide enough for our car,
though nearly so, and going at a fairly brisk speed, we
were shaken up and alarmed by our car striking, on
both sides of the tunnel, projecting points of rocks,
which considerably damaged our car. We went
through, however, all right, keeping the rails. We

248 Reminiscences of

called in a body upon that remarkable man, Brigham
Young, who received us most cordially, and who
entertained us for two hours in conversation about
the Mormon situation, and various subjects. He
expressed himself as not seeking the advancement of
railroads in Utah, but yielding to the inevitable, con-
sidering that such were by no means essential to the
further success of the Mormon Church, evidently feel-
ing that more years of the undisturbed conditions
before existing would be desirable to strengthen Mor-
mon interest, and referred to the alreadj^ invading
elements becoming evident, particularly to the reluc-
tant giving of a license by Salt Lake City for a saloon,
where intoxicating drinks were dispensed, one of which
had now been established under the high tax of $3000,
and it had been a question if the tax should not have
been so high as to have caused prohibition. But since
the railroad had come and with it an influx of foreign
influences, the situation must be met as efficiently as
possible, and he had no fears about the growth and suc-
cess of the Mormon Church which was destined to yet
leaven the whole world within its true faith. The
arrival that day of a perambulating circus at Salt Lake
City he was glad of, which he should attend, and
highly approved of, and thought it would be highly ac-
ceptable to the Mormon people, who had been debarred
from such entertainments. The next day being Sun-
day he invited us to attend the services at the Taber-
nacle, and to Bishop Kipp, extended an invitation
that he should assist in the services. This invitation
the Bishop accepted, and we were promptly at the
Tabernacle, where special seats in front were reserved
for us. The old Tabernacle, now superseded by the

A Sportsman 249

elegant granite Temple, seated some six thousand,
and contained, as President Young informed us, the
largest organ in the world, excepting the one in Music
Hall of Boston, and had been made entirely by Mor-
mon skill and labor. The Tabernacle was crowded
to its extent, and the audience was garbed in some-
what different costumes from those seen in Eastern
city churches. The large poke bonnets, now unseen,
were in evidence, and many long-tailed blue coats
with brass buttons were frequent among the Elders —
relics of former days from foreign countries. Despite
the quaint costumes of severity, it was evident that
Gentile influences were commencing to be felt by some
of the younger portions of the congregation, in a dis-
playing of colors which were not entirely sombre.
These were the occasion of some remarks on the subject
by President Young during his address, when reviewing
the vanities of the world, and the tendency of the
female sex to follow the fashions of the ungodly,
which were vain and irrelevant to true piety. The
sticking in of gay feathers, as he designated it, while
appropriate to the male domestic fowl, growing where
nature designed, could not be availed of by the Chris-
tian woman without a sacrifice of modesty and re-
ligious regard, — this with many admonitions of being on
guard against some of the possibly pernicious features
likely to be introduced by the influx of settlers, which
would follow the building of the railroad in the develop-
ment of the mineral and agricultural wealth of the
region. The audience was very orderly and attentive
and it was clearly evident that the head of the church
had a powerful influence over and complete control of
his hearers.

250 Reminiscences of

The Bishop, accepting the invitation which had
been extended to him, made what I considered a
most excellent sermon. He was guarded, and prop-
erly confined his remarks to general subjects. He
was liberal in religion and above prejudice, and made
a strong argument upon the advantages of Christianity,
and expressed the belief that all honest workers would
ultimately be gathered together in the bosoms of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and enjoy the reward
of their virtues. Warming up with his subject he
dilated upon the great satisfaction difficult to express,
which would be experienced in that last resting-place
which he compared with the joy which would be ex-
perienced upon arriving at the home of our childhood.
And looking around over the remarkable collection of
Mormons from all parts of the world, dressed as they
were in the diversified garbs of their nationalities, he
dwelt at length upon the homes of childhood, the old
house with its possible vines clinging to the portal of
entrance, the old familiar trees under whose shade so
many pleasant hours had been passed, the wild flowers
of the field, the cold water of the old familiar spring,
the old swinging gate so often freighted with its in-
fantile weight, the merry laugh of childish glee, the
mother's fond smile and pleasant words, all were but a
reflection of the joy and never-ending satisfaction of
the heavenly home.

During this delivery, Brigham Young seemed
strangely agitated, rising and taking several drinks
of water from an adjoining table, and seemed several
times upon the point of interrupting the Bishop. The
latter had no sooner completed his address than
Brigham Yoving, taking the pulpit, commenced one

A Sportsman 251

of his characteristic sermons, in which he scored the
Bishop in language both forcible and plain. He said,
the Mormons could follow the Bishop in all the teach-
ings of the Bible; but that the Mormons went much
farther owing to the light of new revelations, and
through which the Mormons, as the chosen people of
the Lord, were yet to have the wealth of the world
poured into their possession, and that the Bishop need
have no fear but the Mormons would be entirely at
home in the bosoms of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
the old patriarchs of the Bible, as they would be among
the polygamists of the Lord. And so far as hkening the
satisfaction of heaven with that of revisiting the
old homes, he would have none of it, nor would any
of the Mormons. They had had enough of it; they
had tried to cultivate the old homes, but they had
been driven forth into the new land of promise ; they
had been driven from pillar to post; they had settled
several homes before they came to Salt Lake City, and
for himself , he had been glad enough to shake off the dust
of the old home, and get away with an old broken-
down horse and wagon, and he did not want to hear
any more about it. If there were any of the Mormons
who wanted anything to do with the old home, they
had better get away as soon as possible, as they were
not fit for the inspired selection of the Lord.

The circus was a great affair for the Mormons.
It was a sort of second-hand humdrum outfit, accom-
panied by a few dusty elephants and camels, with a
sprinkling of wild animals in cages. But it was the
real thing for Salt Lake City, and it was very amusing to
witness the excitement that occurred, when the gilt
chariot containing the band made its appearance,

252 Reminiscences of

heading the procession of elephants and camels, and
cages of animals, followed by the usual horses and
trick ponies and spangled clowns. The whole town
seemed to be out and aroused. Old men and women ;
fathers and mothers, fast holding their children in
hand, clogged the streetways, and followed the pro-
cession to its end. It was the first glimpse of high
life the Mormons had had the great joy of seeing, and
no triumphal return of the ancient Caesars through
the streets of Rome laden with spoils and captured
chieftains could have been a greater event for the
populace.

For several days and nights the circus held out
with crowded tents. Brigham Young had his hberal-
sized family box for fifty or more, which gave the
signal for all hands to turn otit, and it is doubtful if
any good Mormon failed to do so. It was as good
as seeing a circus alone to witness the general
heartfelt enthusiasm of the audiences, and the out-
breaks of laughter and applause were certainly beyond
anj^lhing the circus had ever experienced before.
The bareback riders, the spangled clowns with their
old worn-out jokes and witticisms, became new, and
Salt Lake City received its first baptism of high life
and sports.

THE Dominion of Canada, comprising an area equal
to that of the whole United States, including
Alaska, is one vast hunting and fishing region, which
should furnish satisfaction to sportsmen for ages to
come. Being prolific in lakes and rivers which can be
kept teeming with fish-Ufe from breeding, and with

A Sportsman 253

over a million and a quarter square miles of compara-
tively vmbroken forest for the shelter of game, it will
be difficult to find the world over an equally inviting
region for sportsmen.

Salmon fishing, the first among fishing pleasures, is
comparatively hmited in extent along the Atlantic
coast of the United States, but extensive in Cana-
dian waters and in the coast streams to and beyond
Labrador.

I have made a number of excursions for salmon
fishing to various Canadian streams, where I met with
particular success. From the Gulf of St. Lawrence and
the Bay of Chaleurs a number of prominent salmon and
trout streams diverge, notably the Restigouche, Meta-
pedia, and Saguenay, and on the Restigouche, near
the Metapedia settlement, is a remarkable salmon pool
about half a mile in extent, where in some seasons as
high as six thousand pounds of salmon are taken with
the fly. In 1879 and 1880 I passed in the season sev-
eral weeks there, on some days taking eight or ten
good fish.

At the time I visited the section, one Frazer — a
huge, good-hearted, easy-going Scotchman, who owned
the land about the pool, and for a mile or so from it
above and below — carried on farming and had a con-
gregation of buildings, and a moderate-sized hotel
where he accommodated fishermen, who then were few
in number, charging, besides board, for the privilege of
fishing, five dollars per day, which included one of his
boats and two Indian guides.

Frazer, although a Scotchman, was an exception to
many of his nationality, who are noted for their canny
and thrifty habits, and he foimd farming a very

254 Reminiscences of

moderately paying interest, and having a large family,
and keeping continually a lounging crowd of Indians
for occasional use, who fed upon his subsistence, was a
good deal embarrassed financially, and besought me to
buy out his holdings, which carried the riparian right
of fishing, as held under the laws of the Province of
New Bnmswick. His asking price was $13,000, giving
him a bonus of $3000 over the existing mortgage on
his place, which being overdue was pressing upon him.
I thought very seriously of taking it, considering the
value of the salmon pool, but hesitated and let it pass
in view of my camp established at the Rangelej^ lakes,
which pretty well satisfied my fishing tastes.

I mentioned the subject to a friend of mine, who
made the purchase, and who turned it over in a few
weeks to the now celebrated Restigouche Club for
$30,000. This club, starting upon the property as its
basis, on a formed capital of $100,000, with one htin-
dred shares at $1000 each, and securing adjacent prop-
erties, is now the most prominent and wealthy fishing
club in the world, composed mainly of wealthy New
Yorkers, and the shares of the club when changing
ownership now are appraised at $10,000 each, and are
only disposed of in exceptional cases. It is doubtful
if the Restigouche pool could now be purchased for a
quarter of a million dollars.

In the vicinity is a village of Micniac Indians, who
were once a powerful tribe inhabiting the coast line of
Southern Canada in the early days of white occupa-
tion, warlike and aggressive, sun -worshippers, and de-
voted wholly to fishing and hunting. Peaceful with
the French settlers, they quarrelled with the English
upon their gaining the ascendancy over the French, and

A Sportsman 255

boldly attacked the English settlements, and had no
hesitancy in plvindering English vessels on the coast,
and in several instances engaged with armed ships sent
against them, and are credited with having taken over
a score of vessels in the Bay of Fundy. They were fi-
nally broken up, as hostile Indian bands have invariably
been, and the village on the shore of Chaleurs Bay now
represents the tribe, where they are advanced in civiU-
zation, having a grammar and printed parts of Scrip-
ture and books of devotion in their language, partly in
phonetic characters and type; and to see them going
to worship on the Sabbath one would think a large
portion of them were whites, so neatly dressed and light-
complexioned are they. A rivalry in religion exists
among them, as with humanity in general, part being
devoted to the Cathohc religion and others to the
Protestant, results of their early teachings from the
French and Enghsh.

Among these Indians are the most skilful salmon-
fishing guides and hunters to be found anywhere. The
adroitness of those Indians in poling a canoe, standing
up, one at the bow and the other at the stem, over the
foaming waters, amid falls and rocks is marvellous —
pushing and guiding the canoe with long spiked poles,
with rapidity in smooth water, and slowly forcing it up
the falls in narrow passages between threatening rocks,
and all in perfect safety and freedom from splashing
water. With my wife I made many of these river ex-
cursions, which I shall always remember with delight.

I had an amusing incident with one of my two
Indian guides. One, Louis, was of extraordinary ex-
pertness and very steady in character. The other, Joe,
was heavier, but by no means clumsy. He would

256 Reminiscences of

fail to turn up on occasional days after being paid off,
and his appearance when coming on again created an
impression in my mind that he had been on a baccha-
nalian revel ; and I was informed that he was not averse
to such occasions, and that his squaw often collected
his dues from Frazer for herself and children at home,
resulting sometimes in a more highly opaque coloring
to her visual organs than before — for, sad to relate,
Joe had the reputation of being a wife-beater. I had
reason to think that my stock of Jock Scots and sun-
drv' flies from my flybook were to some extent de-
pleted while in his care during meal times, which might,
however, have been iinaccountably blown away.

One day I lost one of my sleeve-buttons from
my cuff, which I had observed hung loosely while
I was engaged with a salmon, and was missing when
I went to my noon meal, and which I supposed might
have dropped in the boat. It was one of a very valu-
able pair to me, being made up of two ancient silver
coins of the Roman Empire which I had obtained in
1868 from the ruins of Pompeii, with other relics from
the excavations there . When I returned to my canoe for
the afternoon fishing, I informed my guides of the loss,
but they had seen nothing of the button, and the boat
was clean and drawn up on the shore, bottom side up
as usual. A diligent search was made at the landing
where the boat was drawn up, but without result. I
was quite annoyed at the loss, and somehow felt a tele-
pathic impression that Joe knew something more about
it than I did. Thinking it over in the afternoon fish-
ing, I concluded to make a new approach to Joe on the
subject and to offer him five dollars if he could succeed
in finding the button, which I felt sure must be some-

A Sportsman 257

where about the landing, covered over perhaps by the
shingle or loose earth. Joe came smihng toward me
the following inoming with the lost button, which his
careful search had discovered about the landing, and
received the reward of his honesty, which caused his
absence during the two following days, passed in the
celebration of his fortunate find.

I had a curiosity one evening to make a rough cal-
culation what one of these old Roman coins would
amount to if placed at six per cent, interest and com-
pounded from the time of the destruction of Pompeii
by the eruj^tion of the blown-out volcano which origin-
ally occupied the site of the present Vesuvius, in the
seventy-ninth year of the Christian era. This exhib-
ited the immense power of interest, which eats up the
substance of original value, and imtiringly proceeds
day and night in its accretive growth. The value of
this coin, which I estimated at an intrinsic value of ten
cents, although worth probably a little more, would
amount on the basis of doubhng in periods of eleven
years at six per cent, per annum, compounded,
to the sum of S102.40; call it $100 for even figures.
From the year 79 to 1905 are 1826 years; this
divided by eleven gives a quotient of 165 periods
of eleven years each. It will be observed that
each period of eleven years gives an addition of
three ciphers to the original sum. Therefore, in 165
periods of eleven years each, there would be 495 ci-
phers to be added to the original ten cents, giving an
amount which is not expressable in the language of
arithmetic. Roughly square the circle of the earth,
which cannot be done accurately, and a discrepancy in
amovint of the size of the moon will be of small account.

258 Reminiscences of

Estimate then the cubic miles of the earth. Then
estimating the value of gold at $250 per pound, and the
weight of a cubic foot at 1200 pounds, you can then
gain the value of a cubic mile of gold. It will be
found that it would require a good many hundreds of
earths the size of ours of solid gold to pay the debt of
ten cents borrowed in the year 79, with accumulated
compound interest at six per cent. This should be a
warning to lads and girls not to run in debt, but to save
their money.

The sea trout fishing in the Restigouche and Meta-
pedia and at the estuaries of branches of these streams
I found very attractive. At times and places they
would fairly swarm in numbers, and take the fly with
great activity, and possessed the highest gamy quali-
ties. The weights would average from one to two
pounds, with an occasional three- or four-pounder.

There has been some discussion lately in Eastern
sporting papers as to the identity ot the sea trout.
Some writers have agreed that they were distinct
from those of inland streams, and this has been main-
tained with much force. For my own part I think
there is no difference. All fresh-water trout will read-
ily take to the sea if they can have access, returning to
fresh- water streams for spawning, as do all of the salmon
family, as a natural necessity. No fish undergoes a
more rapid transformation than the trout when given
a change of locality, not only in color and form, but in
flavor. The proportions of the body also change in
salt water. The body grows fuller, while the head,
not increasing with the general form, appears smaller
than with fresh-water trout of similar size. The
brighter hues of fresh-water life fade away, and the

A Sportsman 259

white silvery color increases. The flavor of sea-run
trout increases in delicacy and the meat in curdiness.
The sea trout often rise and take the fly intended for
talmon in the Canadian rivers, and often to the annoy-
ance of the caster. While they come early into the
fresh-water streams, they remain late and afford much
sport in the lower Canadian rivers after the close of
the salmon season, and I have frequently lingered late
in the year for this fishing, which is multitudinous
in pleasant features.

No waters can be clearer than those of the Resti-
gouche, which are of limpid purity, beyond any I have
ever seen. The flow is over a bed where all alluvial
matter seems to have been washed away, and after
severe storms, when the volume of water is increased
tenfold over the normal amount, and when one on the
shore can hear the rolling of the bottom stones carried
on by the abnormal rush, the water is still of trans-
parent clearness. On one reach of the Restigouche in
the autumn, where the water was shallow on an ex-
tended area, I observed from my canoe an occasional
darting of trout ; but owing to the clearness of the day
and water, I could not raise one excepting from a very
long cast, which was tiresome, and if I let my fly float
down the current upon an extended line it was apt to
sink and catch on the bottom. I attached two goose
quills on my leader within a foot of the fly to float it,
and let out my line a hundred feet or more, from which
I had an exciting success.

I N California there are many attractions for the sports-
*■ men in the endless variety of game birds and ani-
mals, and in the streams, where trout are plentiful, and

26o Reminiscences of

in the sea, where the profusion of game fish exceeds
those of any part of the world.

Several fish of great value have been successfully
introduced, notably the striped bass and the shad,
which abound plentifully and are furinshed at low
prices in the market. Also the black bass, which seems
to adapt itself admirably wherever it is placed. It is
questionable if the carp and catfish, now plentiful, are
of great value, and the carp, growing to a large size, are
not sought for as an attractive food, and have become
a sovirce of particular annoyance about the tide-over-
flowed lands having a large area adjoining the bay of
San Francisco. Upon these tide lands many sporting
clubs were established, -where ducks, plover, and snipe
gave successful bags.

The carp, which may be properly designated as the
grubbing hog of fresh waters, living largely upon the
roots and growth of vegetable life, has made favorite
feeding grounds of these semi-overflowed tracts and
destroyed the snails and aquatic insects and tender
plant life, so that the lands have become largely de-
serted by the birds formerly swarming on them, and
many of the club sites have been given up.

The sport of hare coursing is one which is carried on
in California more extensively than elsewhere in the
world, for which the plentifulness of the hares and the
many level fields give encouragement.

In California the hares called jack rabbits are
plentiful, particularly in the southern part of the State,
consuming such an amount of ground feed, and young
fruit trees, garden vegetables, and grapes in the vine-
yards, as to be a great nuisance, necessitating periodical
drives by which large numbers are destroyed. These

A Sportsman 261

drives take place by concerted action over large tracts
of land, without dogs or guns, by the assembled people
of the district. An enclosure is made in the form of
a sheep-shearer's clipper; a circle almost enclosed, with
blades or arms extending out for an indefinite distance.
The beaters, distributed on the outside of a number
of square miles, of which the pen and extended arms
are the centre, work toward it, driving all the hares,
and often some other game which may be included,
into the entrance passage, and on to the terminating
circle entrance, where all are securely held by the clos-
ing of the narrowed passage-way. Incredible as it may
seem, many thousands of hares are thus gathered in at
a single drive, which are easily despatched with clubs.
This same method was in vogue in the early days of
Australia, by which thousands of kangaroos were
penned up and slaughtered by the sheep men, and the
same method has been pursued in various countries
for many kinds of animals, up to and including the
African buffaloes and elephants.

Why the California hares have not so plentifully
increased in the northern part of the State as in the
southern is difficult to explain, and why the little cot-
ton-tailed rabbit which are such a scourge in Australia
have not increased in California, where they were intro-
duced many years ago, is difficult to understand.

Hare coursing is one of the oldest sports known,
of which we have evidence in the representations on
the Egyptian monuments and in the drawings and ref-
erences in Persian literature, and those shown would
indicate that but little change had occurred in the
bodily form of the greyhound, excepting in the
fringing, shaggy hair, which now has its representations

262 Reminiscences of

in the Scotch, Russian, Danish, and other types. The
old Irish greyhound may perhaps be considered the
largest and most powerful of the class, and a match
singly for the wolf. This dog, crossed with the great
Danish dog and the bloodhound, has produced the
powerful stag and boar hounds now seen. The Eng-
lish greyhound, however, presents the highest type of
speed, docility, and beauty applicable for hare coursing,
and has now been introduced so extensively in Cali-
fornia as to be plentiful of a very high class.

Having attended several of the annual hare cours-
ing meets at Waterloo, England, and seen some of the
best prize-winners there, I am of the opinion that we
have in California equally good dogs, and I think the
hares in California are equal, if not superior, in speed to
the English, from their having more open life, with
more exposure to animals which prey upon them, and
consequent activity. They are identical with the Eng-
lish hare, but varj'' somewhat in color from climatic
conditions.

Hares, when pursued by the greyhounds, having
their observation wholly directed toward the pursuer,
from their orbital sight, will frequently run directly into
a fence or post and be thrown back senseless, or di-
rectly into the jaws of an approaching dog from an
opposite direction, and I have witnessed two occasions
when pursued hares going at full speed were caught up
by dogs held in leash by a man standing in the way,
running directly into the jaws of the leashed dogs.

I had one two-year-old greyhound of good quali-
ties, but a laggard in the chase, that would quit
early and take his rest. While thus sitting one day,
his running mate brought around a hare directly upon

A Sportsman 263

him, which he reached out and killed. This was his
first blood, and excited him to a high relish for the sport,
and upon his next run he became the leader and
after that one of the best and foremost in pursuit.

Many hare-coursing clubs exist in the State, which
have annual prolonged meets on the levels of the San
Joaquin Valley, which have prominent notice, and one
would imagine from these meets so extensively at-
tended, with the natural excitement following, that it
was in reality, as it is, already a State sport.

For some years I have maintained a pack of
these beautiful greyhounds, which have individu-
alities seemingly equal to those of men. How one
can help loving dogs I cannot imagine. The affection
grows for them the more it is given opportunity, and
there is no animal so near and dear to man as the dog.
What affection he has ! How affecting his earnestness
and fidelity, his courage and intelligence! He cannot
be debarred from heaven if there is any for us to obtain ;
for if we are to be happy there and have our wishes
gratified, where will be the dogs we shall sigh for, com-
panions of our happiest days on earth? Where will
my dog Paris be ? — my lovely red setter, who at two
years of age took the first prize in field-working class
at the Baltimore show, who attached himself to me for
so many years and to no other ; my companion in the
field, in the boat for fishing, and who seemed heart-
broken if I did not take him in my sailboat when I
thought it was too rough for him. How quickly when
I said "Sail" would he rush for my boat and curl up
in it with tenacious right! How often would he go
overboard in the lake, when his smooth feet slipped
on the deck against his bracing poise, in sudden lee

264 Reminiscences of

cant of fulness, for he would insist upon sniffing on the
foredeck to windward! He could swim all day, ten
miles or more if necessary and in the roughest sea, and
I never felt any anxiety when he slid overboard ; nor
he, for he well knew I would round up in due season
and scoop him up into the boat by the scruff of his
neck, when he would seem to say, after his water
shake, "All right, master, let's go on."

One day we had a tough time of it, and it made me
smile to see Paris in his efforts to get aboard, when it
was about all I could do to stay there. It was the only
go-over of my boat which ever occurred in thirty years
of sailing the lake, and quite my own fault, which I
have always regretted in the loss of prestige with my
family, from some of whom I had occasional sugges-
tions of shipwreck, when the sky looked threatening
at my time of going out, for there was little fun for me
to go out in a kid-glove breeze. The particular day
when the accident occurred was an unusual one, when
some dark clouds were hanging about suspiciously, and
I would not have gone out sailing under normal con-
ditions. As the man said who was laying stone wall
near the buckboard route as we were driving to the
lake one day, where the stones were plentiful enough,
and the wall was already of elephantine proportions,
in answer to the inquiry of our driver why he was
building more stone wall when already overstocked,
' ' Oh, when I feel mad I go out and lay stone wall ; that
rests me!"

In somewhat of the spirit of the Berserker rage I
felt impelled to go out. I knew that the conditions
looked unusually stonny, somewhat in accord with my
feelings. I know not why, for I had no cause for agita-

A Sportsman 265

tion, excepting a natural impellment to go out. My
wife and daughter had gone out to the mouth of a
brook two or three miles below, but could easily land
beneath a shelter there, with their experienced guide,
and I felt no anxiety about them. After getting out
a mile or so, I saw a very suspicious-looking funnel-
shaped cloud coming toward me with unusual rapidity,
and I saw I was in for it, though it somewhat disturbed
my Berserker courage. I had time, however, to let
down my catboat-rigged sail and put three reefs in it,
and none too soon. Still I thought I might weather
the severity of the squall, close-reefed as I was; but the
first rush of the wind from the shore over the lake,
accompanied by a torrent of rain, lashing the water
surface to foam, indicated that I would be helpless, and
as I held up my bow as well as I could, a sudden drop
of wind, as it seemed to me falling from above, bore my
boat beneath the water, but not deeply, for the craft,
although carrying half a ton of ballast, had four air
tanks below, sufficient to float her, and I had little idea
of giving up the ship. The squall in its severity blew
away everything movable, cushions, oars, and the small
boat attached to the larger, for no small boat could
have sustained itself in any manner, except sunken to
a level with the water. My cap blowing away left my
head unprotected, which suffered so from the flying
water, pelting me as if I were in a hailstorm, being
taken up as sand and small stones are in a gale, that I
was obliged to tie my handkerchief over it, and my
face had an appearance after the blow as if it had
passed the night with a swarm of mosquitoes.

Poor Paris was at times blown far away from me de-
spite his rapid swimming qualities, but would not de-

266 Reminiscences of

sert me, although he could have taken a route for shore
with comparative ease. At times he would be out of
sight, and apparently engulfed by the waves, giving me
much anxiety ; but he bobbed up serene after the first
severity was over, but could gain no footing with me
for some time, as my boat gave me a treadmill step, and
it was with some difficulty that I could keep aboard of
her against the wind and waves. Lying flat upon her
side, and her stem higher than the bow, held down by
the way -forward mast and sail, flat upon the water, the
wind would bring around the stem, until the wind
would catch in the sail, which, lifting and filling would
turn the boat over on its opposite side. In this pleas-
ant manoeuvre the boat, water-logged, would sink
bodily a few feet under water as the mast came up,
falling flat on the opposite side, so I had nothing to do
but keep step, and clear of the ropes, and wonder
how long the play would continue. For a dozen times
this continued, when, the squall abating, I had a com-
fortable resting-place on the side of the boat with my
lovely Paris by my side.

The wind died away, and the sun came out bright
and clear with many apologies for its previous disap-
pearance. But dear Paris could not enjoy his pipe as
I did, for he had never cultivated the habit. I had
taken pains at the first outset, when I saw I was in for
it, to tuck my pipe and water-proof pouch and match-
box down inside under my collar, and buttoned up my
rubber coat at the neck, so that my tobacco was dry.
My rubber coat would have been blown off me if
I had not tied it closely around my waist with a
small rope I had in my pocket, after losing the lower
buttons, I would have' lost them all but for the rope.

A Sportsman 267

I have seen at sea a buttoned-up coat stripped
completely from a man's back by the force of a gale.
Despite my soaking and treading I did not get much
wet above my armpits. In an hour after, sunning on
my boat with my pipe under way, my wife came along
in her rowboat, and Paris and I were soon snug at
camp, and I experienced no ill-eflfects from the pro-
longed cold bath, although it occurred in the cold
water of the spring, soon after the ice had gone out.

Poor Paris had the great intelligence so con-
spicuous in dogs, and well noted the preparations I
made for departure from camp, when he would cling
to my heels, and make strenuous eiforts to get under
my bed at night, and when let out, would haunt my
door of egress. I had to explain the necessity of my
going, and with a fond embrace leave him in a closed
room, or he would swim the lake for miles after the
boat. My keeper at camp would tell me how for days
he would sit on the wharf of departure for my return,
and no boat could touch in but what he was on the
watch for me. When I would come, and I was sure to
find him at the wharf, I would render myself as un-
observable as possible until I landed, but if the breeze
were favorable toward him he would know of my
presence long before I landed, and plunge into the
water to meet me. He was a very dignified dog and
had little to do with other dogs, after the first round of
scrutiny, when he would retire, and if approached by
other dogs, would remove himself apart, but was the
leader among the other dogs I had, over whom he
seemed to consider he had to exercise a supervision.

One day I came up with my family, fetching a
new dog belonging to my daughter, a somewhat

268 Reminiscences of

solid fox terrier, Jack. As soon as he landed he
pitched into an inoflfensive dachshund of most peaceful
disposition, whose cordial recognition of our arrival
gave offence to Jack, and gave poor Polico a rough
tumble before our interference covdd take place.
Paris was a silent witness of the scene, which he evi-
dently highly resented, and I remarked to my daughter
that he would probably have something to say about
it; and sure enough, for we had hardly gone into the
house, leaving the dogs outside, when our ears were
startled with a canine cry of great distress, and upon
going out we saw Paris whirling Jack about himself
after the manner of the revolving blades of a windmill
in a brisk breeze. Our arrival was the signal for
dropping, and poor Jack, dizzy from his rapid revolu-
tions, and under the momentum of his discharge, ac-
celerated by rapid locomotion, in whatever direction it
might prove to be, brought up against the side of the
house, the impact rebound of which threw him back
several feet. Painful to him, but ludicrous to witness,
and most salutary in effect. Polico was never more
disturbed by Jack, and they became good friends.
And with Paris soon after Jack settled down in pleasant
relations, though for some days it was amusing to wit-
ness his fixed attention on that powerful machine which
had given him a lesson in orbital revolution.

Poor Paris died of old age, as well as Jack, and
they lie buried near each other, beneath a neighboring
tree, and my daughter and I often ask for a few leaves
or sprigs from that tree to be sent us when we are far
away.

No wonder the heathen hunter, sought by zealous
missionary for Christian heaven, on learning that his

A Sportsman 269

dogs could not go there, said he did not want to gain
it ; or that the man experienced in Ufe's disappointments
while not loving his own kind less, said, " I find the
longer I live the more I like dogs.

Jack was as faithftil and devoted to my daughter
as Paris to me, and the manner in which he would sit
and regard her when she was occupied indicated that
he considered her the most important being in ex-
istence. Fond as he was of boating, he would never
go unless accompanied by his mistress, and when in-
duced to take his place with Paris, in expectation of
my daughter's going, he would tumble out with alacrity
at the last moment on finding she was not going.
Jack exhibited his great fondness for my daughter, as
well as his dislike of my camp-keeper, from his taking
him away to the kennel enclosure occasionally, when
we were going off upon an excursion where we could
not well take him, and evinced his dislike by always
barking at him when he came near, with an occa-
sional tug at the bottom of his trousers. We left him
several winters at camp when going to California,
though sometimes carr>'ing him out with us. When
left he had from necessity to make friends with Cush-
man, after mourning for some days for his mistress.
During these periods of waiting he evinced much fond-
ness for his keeper, who allowed him to sleep at the
foot of his bed, and to accompany him on his boating
trips; but as soon as my daughter returned, his hostility
immediately appeared, and Cushman said it exhibited
the basest ingratitude he ever witnessed.

2 70 Reminiscences of

T^HE likes and dislikes of dogs are more evident
* than between men, without attempt at conceal-
ment. I have often noticed among my coursing grey-
hounds this feature. It is necessary in coupling for the
chase to consider this, or all will not go smoothly.
In the excitement of expectation, if the greyhoiinds
are not well mated, they will fall foul of each other,
and in feeding it is often necessary to separate them.
If well mated they will advance to the field in unison,
and a well-mated couple will work together with a
good understanding, the one falling in rear, taking an
immediate lead on the doubling hare, as never but a
couple are freed on a single hare, nor but one hare run
at a time.

It is amusing to see the intense interest taken by
the dogs upon one entering the kennel area with the
slips for coupling. How they close upon you, leaping
over each other, and pressing alongside for the collar
to be adjusted, which indicates an outing! These
collars in pairs are connected with a short chain six
inches in length, from which proceeds a leather slip
of seven feet with a handle at the end for holding the
couple of dogs ; and strong it must be, for the impatient
dogs when working the field, and witnessing the start
of a hare when they are not to be released in pur-
suit, as another couple may have already been given
the start, will pull along a man at his run, and if not
well on guard, will sometimes pull away from him,
though useless for overtaking the hare, connected as
they are. The leather slips connections with the collars
are hollow, having inside a stout cord which connects
directly with the fastenings of each collar, which
upon being pulled, instantly releases the two col-

A Sportsman 271

lars, which fall off, and the two dogs are free for the
pursuit.

Having a large grain field of several thousand acres
on my place, enclosed about by a fence twelve miles
in extent, where the land is pretty level, but rising on
two sides moderately toward the centre, and where the
opportunity of witnessing coursing is excellent, has
led me to make many coursing excursions upon it,
extending over a series of years. The plan followed
is for the participators to pass in carriage or mounted
along one of the roads, flanked upon each side, well at
the head, by a man with a couple of greyhounds in
leash. The dogs are alert and eager, with pricked-up
ears and quick-turning heads, scanning about them
for sight of hare. Their impetuousness is difficult to
restrain, and no feeble or inexperienced hand should
manage the slips, from which, collared, the dogs may
break away together, or be too hastily freed.

A hare bounds suddenly at one side, from its
form, and the nearest couple of dogs is instantly
freed, and go off like arrows in pursuit. Perhaps
the hare has a good start — five or six hundred feet —
and goes off in that bounding manner usual when
disturbed by shepherd or farmer's dogs, a common
occurrence, not enough to cause alarm, or even to
give a dropping of the ears, which ply with motion.
Interim those arrow-like forms are nearly approach-
ing, and are coming on with before-unknown speed,
and the hare, now warned by its projecting eyes, like
those of the frog, which turn to the rear, redoubles
his exertions with desperate efforts. But all in vain.
The approach is faster than the running speed of a man
if the hare was still. When the seizure is about to

2 72 Reminiscences of

take place — for it is seldom that one dog makes it on the
first run — the hare, nimble in the art of doubling, turns
from his course, to the right or left, while the leading pur-
suer, impelled by the impetus of his greatest speed, is car-
ried on ahead, giving the hare a gain in distance. Herein
comes the play of the second dog, one of which is likely
to be in the rear, who then takes the lead in pursuit.
The first dog has gained a point in turning the hare,
and may, if of superior speed, overtake the second dog
and again secure another point in turning the hare,
and may perhaps make the kill, or secure all the points
from his superiority, and there may be a dozen of hare
doublings before the kill.

It would seem as if the greyhovmd were made
especially for the outrunning of hare, so perfect is
his build and adaptation, and it is a rare sport to
see his pursuit of the fleet hare, which is immune in
its speed against any other animal, though coyotes,
which have great speed, though less than the grey-
hound, have been often observed iiinning the hare
in the same manner as followed by a pair of grey-
hounds. In two instances I have been present when
a coyote was started up and soon brought to bay,
for the greyhounds will take after anything that
runs, excepting horses and cattle, and woe betide
the farmer's dog straying across the field, with
the hounds fresh on, especially in force, as we
let them run loose together on the way home from
coursing.

In fetching a coyote up, the greyhounds will tackle,
and, if strong dogs, can hold until more dogs come
up, which are liberated in such event, and together
will wear the coyote out, receiving many wounds,

A Sportsman 273

however, and in the two events I witnessed it was neces-
sar>' to give the coyotes some final blows; for the
coyote is a tough animal and most tenacious of life,
and if full grown can put up a prolonged fight, and I
have seen them when surrounded and bitten up for
half an hour still give fight.

I have one in captivity, which was secured in his
infancy by being dug out from his maternal home, and
was brought up with a litter of collie dog puppies at
the farmhouse, and evinced a most friendly and play-
ful disposition.

The coyote's natural shyness was, however, shown
in a degree over that of his puppy companions, al-
though he would allow himself to be petted by those
who gave him care and food. He was allowed to
run about the farmhouse free with his young com-
panions, but indicated a much keener appetite, and
became somewhat of a nuisance in the dining-room,
where he was allowed an occasional privilege. His
disposition was very playful, and his gambols and
pranks were most amusing.

As he grew older and larger he ran freely about
with the collie dogs, and even rendered aid in driv-
ing the sheep about with them, and in one notable
case, where a large flock were driven some twenty
miles to another range, indicated considerable intelU-
gence; but alas for confiding expectations! that very
night upon arrival at the destination he signalized
himself by visiting a neighboring ranch, and extin-
guished the life out of sixteen fat turkeys. Not
being immediately detected as the destroyer he sup-
plemented his exploit the following night by slaying
nearly an additional score.

2 74 Reminiscences of

This escapade led to his discovery, and his being
chained up, as altogether a too expensive sheep-
herder, and his ignominious return was illustrated
with a collar and chain and a free ride in the sheep
wagon.

The natural taste for killing and fresh blood, and
his great success in the turkey line, were unfortunate
for our pet, for as the salmo salar fisherman returns
with pleasure to the capture of the Fontinalis, so did
Dingo yield to the attractions of the barnyard fowl
at home; and thus forever closed the youthful episode
of his free range, and since, with the brief intervals
of breaking away from his moorings, he has polished
the hard ground from a central stake over an area
of some forty feet in width, as his bright chain well
attests.

Adjacent, and sufficiently near for a hand-shaking,
lives a large raccoon, similarly attired with collar
and chain, and both are on friendly terms, excepting
at feed time, when the experience of Jack, the 'coon,
has induced him to insist upon having his meals
served separately.

This system applies also to the dogs, including a
bull-dog and stag-hound, which suffer injury if too
intent upon the development of their sniffing quali-
ties about the lunch counter, and the cr\'- of distress
which occasionally goes forth from the neighborhood
of the cold meats is far more amusing to the looker-on
than to the wailing canine musician.

In fact Dingo, now fully developed and most ex-
pert in battle, is ready for a scrap at all times. It is
his great enjoyment and he exercises his ingenuity
to get dogs within the fatal circle of his domain. He

A Sportsman 275

will play with those who have the honor of his friend-
ship, but woe betide any passing stray dogs, or those
he is unfriendly with.

The passing strange dog, be he large or small, is
sure to become the matrix of Dingo's cast, and may
at exit well murmur the reminding words of Addison :
"Nature formed me of her softest mold."

As a scrapper Dingo is the Jeffries of his arena,
and will quit his food quickly for a rough and tumble,
and although there are many dogs which could van-
quish him, he has never yet encountered a canine of
his mettle and power.

Almost invariably, when he has broken his chain,
he has immediately celebrated his freedom by an
assault upon some one of the collies, and, while sev-
eral will join in mutual defence, he will by his rapidity
and dexterous action clear the field in short order. He
will then return to the kitchen door for larder filling,
and allow himself to be secured.

He has never bitten any person. As to canine
antagonists, he has often been seized at the back of
his neck by fighting dogs, but invariably upon being so
seized has turned his head with wonderful celerity, en-
abling him to seize the lower jaw of the attacking dog by
a grip of his own, which seems to be very discourag-
ing to the latter, judging by the instant hold-breaking.

Only once have we seen Dingo nonplused and
distressed. This was on an occasion when, in a night
foray, we had secured a very large female raccoon,
which was secured alive by noosing out of an old
hollow tree where she had a few }^oung kittens, too
young for saving. She was wild and ferocious, and had
to be bound very securely.

276 Reminiscences of

As Dingo was so ready and eager for scraps, the
'coon was brought out to him the following day and
staked within easy limit, and when let go, flew for
him, who was equally eager, and immediately fol-
lowed an encounter of sanguinary ferocity difficult to
describe. A 'coon, protected by its bountiful fur and
rapidity of movement, is more than a match for any
ordinary dog, and in weight — in this instance — was
much more than Dingo's, but the latter was more
alert than the 'coon, and provided with larger teeth
and probable tenacity. Still, the 'coon was fighting
for life and the loss of offspring, while Dingo was
fighting simply for fun, and he soon obtained all he
wanted, although no white feather existed among
his holdings, and he worked himself up into a great
fury.

It was soon apparent that it would be a long-drawn
contest, and for fear that Dingo might in the end
receive serious injury, which looked probable, he was
withdrawn from reach, although desperately deter-
mined. That night the 'coon broke away, and has
since been missing.

Dingo seems never quiet, and is always on the
move about his arena, circling around incessantly,
and, although having a house of rest and refuge, seems
never to occupy it or to be found sleeping.

Often in the night his peculiar wild call breaks
out in answer to other distant wild coyote calls, but if
he breaks away by the breaking of his chain he is
always found about again, and is secured.

The coyotes are the great pest of the sheep busi-
ness, and our loss from them annually amounts,
over a long period, to from 200 to 300 head, although

A Sportsman 277

recently, by having a remarkably clever hunter and
trapper our losses are less.

We suffer correspondingly from adjoining town
dogs, which are constantly shot at sight, and buried
without monuments or head-stones. Signs are up
warning against fetching on dogs, but the latter pay
little heed to it and suffer in consequence. No matter
how many coyotes are killed they never cease coming
on, and sometimes four or five a week are destroyed.

They are especially plentiful at lambing time in
March, and, although they will not then often attack
full-grown sheep unless they are disabled and sepa-
rated from the flocks, are particularly partial to young
lambs. The mother will face about toward the coyote,
and as soon as she is distracted off a little, the coyote
will dash in and carry off the lamb. In the lambing
season the ewes are gathered loosely about in selected
localities, and herded night and day, when occasional
fires are kept burning at night and lighted lanterns
are hung about, which excite the suspicions of the
coyote, as he is very wary and cunning, and if left to
his own free action, will destroy six or a dozen lambs
to one of his eating.

The coyotes can only be trapped by the exercise of
great care, as they are more cunning and suspicious
than foxes, but with trap and poisoned meat are
tolerably well kept down, and are now of less damage
than formerly.

Wild-cats, though quite scarce, will occasionally
appear, and one cat will frequently kill a dozen lambs
before being itself killed.

The great American bald eagle is also a destroyer
of young lambs, but on appearance can generally be

278 Reminiscences of

trapped by putting steel traps on elevated poles where
the eagles alight to survey the situation, and, although
they often get away with a lamb or two, are pretty
sure to be trapped.

If undisturbed, they will do much injury upon a
sheep ranch, especially at lambing time, when an
eagle will easily carry off a lamb a few pounds in
weight, and will often attack full-grown sheep, almost
invariably striking the latter at the back or side of the
neck.

Three golden eagles lately attacked — acting in
concert — a small flock of separated sheep, and before
the herder could drive them away succeeded in seri-
ously wounding half a dozen, three of which died the
same day, and the balance within a week afterwards,
either from the direct wounds or the almost invari-
able blood poisoning which seems to follow when struck
by the talons of the eagle.

The same result often occurs with human beings
when struck by eagle talons, and two of our men in
past years, when taking eagles from traps, were
wounded, one through the hand and the other in
the thigh, and both were many days under the care
of a physician for treatment.

The one struck in the thigh had killed, as he sup-
posed, a trapped bald-headed eagle, when his atten-
tion was drawn to the mate of the trapped one, which
swooped upon him several times most dangerously ; and
while engaged in warding it oflf with his gun, he was
hard struck by the dying eagle, which firmly imbedded
its talons in his thigh, from which he could not dis-
engage himself, and while so held succeeded in shoot-
ing the mate.

A Sportsman 279

Afterward he was compelled to cut off the striking
eagle's leg and carry it so to town, where it was re-
moved, and for a long time he was laid off from work,
and under medical care.

There are three classes of eagles which attack
sheep: the bald-headed, the large gray, and the
golden, or black. The latter is smaller than the
first two, stretching from wing tips about five feet,
while the two first so stretch to an extent of from
six to eight feet.

The attack first referred to was by three golden
eagles together. The method of attack is to fly
over the retreating sheep, and from a height of about
thirty feet make a swoop down at the neck of the
sheep, and repeat such attacks until the sheep falls
over, when the eagle descends and makes quick work
in rending for his ravenous apetite.

In this case of attack by the three eagles, their
attacks were not confined to a single sheep, so that
half a dozen were made victims, although the eagles
by being followed and shot at by the herder failed to
secure one for eating. One of the sheep which soon
died had a large piece of flesh and skin torn from its
neck down to the shoulder blade and its jugular vein
cut, and quickly bled to death. The eagles flew away,
upon being disturbed, to some neighboring trees, but
were too wary to allow approach for shooting. The
herder, however, being supplied with medicine pills,
i. e. str\'chnine, of potent power for eagles, dogs, and
coyotes — one half grain for the first, one grain for the
second, and two grains for the third — soon had a large
hare killed, which he cut up into numerous savory
portions, all liberally impregnated with destructive

28o Reminiscences of

stimulants, which he exposed at a favorable place, and
removed himself to a considerable distance where he
could observe the scene. This would have been a use-
less effort for the bald-headed or gray eagles, which are
not known to return to feed a second time upon a
carcass once fed upon, or when disturbed in feeding,
but the golden or black eagles will return, and are often
poisoned or trapped from returning. In this instance,
after some time had elapsed, the three eagles that had
occasioned so much destruction were seen to alight,
one after the other, at the poisoned meat, which was all
consumed by them.

After this, and their circling about in the sky, one
was observed to fall to the ground, and was found dead,
while the others disappeared in the distance and were
not seen afterwards, and undoubtedly died from the
poison.

While animals have a particularly keen sense of
smell, birds are much lacking in this respect, and would
seem often to be entirely without it, and the cunning
crow is easily deceived by whisk\--soaked com, and
becomes so senseless as to be caught by hand, and all
kinds of birds are easily poisoned by strychnined
grain.

But birds make up for this deficiency by an ap-
parently abnormal keenness of sight, as witnessed
particularly in the buzzards, which, flying at a great
height — so high as to be invisible to human sight, — are
speedily attracted by an exposed dead animal, even
in a rock}^ field, where surrounding objects bear some
resemblance to the dead animal.

The eagle and hawk are very expert on the wing,
and the hawk lives largely upon birds of quick motion,

A Sportsman 281

caught on the wing in the open, where they cannot
gain the shelter of trees or bushes.

The eagle is often observed swooping upon the
fish -hawk, carrj^ng off its prey in mid-air, frightening
the latter to drop its burden, and catching the coveted
prize before it falls to the ground.

Our herders have often observed the eagle chas-
ing a hare in the open fields, and catching it in its
clutches despite its rapid doublings which so often
trick an overtaking greyhound, and often while
chasing on the doublings will strike over the hare
senseless with a wing blow.

It has been amusing to witness the eagle chasing
a hare which has gained a fence line for protection,
passing through the line from side to side more rapidly
than the eagle can shift over, by which the hare has
been seen to follow a fence line for a mile or so, and
consume an hour of time, before a favoring clump of
bushes, or trees, or brush heap afforded safe shelter.

Since writing the above, I have received notice of
two more sheep being killed by eagles, which have
been unusually plentiful this season, and we have
lately killed about fifteen.

The coyotes have also been plentiful, and of late
we have averaged, poisoning and trapping, five or
six a month; and despite their plentifulness, we have
suffered but lightly from them, owing to the watch-
fulness of the herders, and now that the lambing
season has commenced from about seven thousand
ewes, we give particular care.

This region on the foothills of the mountains,
twenty miles north from Sacramento, so mild and
pleasant in winter and free from ice and snow, is one

282 Reminiscences of

where myriads of birds congregate from the inclem-
ent regions north — in fact, one where citrus products
are grown in perfection, and where deciduous fruits
are ripened eariier than elsewhere in the United States,
and early peaches and cherries are forwarded to
Eastern markets from about here in May.

Thousands of robins, larks, doves, quail, black-
birds, linnets, sparrows, and an endless variety of small
birds abound, large numbers of which remain through
the year.

The quail, all of the large mountain variety with
head plumes, do not lie very well to the dog, and fly
very swiftly, but fall readily enough to the quick
shot.

Duck and geese are also plentiful, and the latter
have to be more or less herded ofiE the grain fields
in winter, where they alight often in large numbers,
and if not disturbed will destroy many acres of grow-
ing grain by feeding on and pulling out the young
sprouts.

I often take my greyhounds, coupled without slips,
to accompany me when driving or riding, which they
enjoy very much, and give pleasure in the contem-
plation. They will, however, diverge occasionally for
a speeding hare, which they cannot overtake when
coupled, and will soon return from, and pay no atten-
tion to a flock of sheep while passing through or by them
while observed ; but let them once get out of sight with
an intervening hill, or far in the rear, near a flock of
sheep, and they will go for them as wild wolves
might, and if not interfered with will mutilate dozens
of them in short time. And think of Jack, my daughter's
gentle fox terrier, who fell back with the greyhounds

A Sportsman 283

one day when they were coupled, as usual, and who
lagged so that I went back with suspicions of mischief
and found Jack as busy as any, holding down a large
ewe, which he was evidently exerting himself to dis-
embowel. I gave all big whacks with my stout stick,
and knocked Jack senseless with a blow on the head,
which I terribly regretted, as I thought I had killed
him. But he revived after some time, and when I got
the dogs back to the carriage, where my wife and
daughter were, I observed that Jack seemed rather
groggy, and lifted him for his mistress to carry, remark-
ing that he appeared exhausted with his run. Jack
never mentioned the occurrence, nor did I to my daugh-
ter until some time afterwards, when she forgave me,
since Jack appeared as lively as ever.

One of my greyhounds, and one of the fleetest, was
so beautiful, graceful and affectionate, that we made
a house dog of her, Penelope by name, whose poses by
the fireside were pictures of elegance, and we were all
very proud of her, seemingly such a perfection of gentle-
ness and intelligence. She had the full run of the prem-
ises, and never seemed to stray off far. One day a
shepherd reported that she had made her appearance
in the early morning among his flock of lambs and
killed eight or ten of them. We considered this very
improbable, although his description of the killing dog,
which he was not able to get a shot at, corresponded
to that of Penelope. I interviewed her upon the sub-
ject, but one glance of her gentle, loving eye dissipated
any suspicions which had been aroused, and I told the
shepherd he must have been mistaken, and that he must
get his gvm work in on the next killing. When I arose
the next morning I found the shepherd waiting for me.

284 Reminiscences of

saying eleven more lambs had been killed during the
past night and in the early morning, and that he was xm-
able to get a shot at the killing dog, but had distinctly
traced it to my house, and that dog, lying now so peace-
fully by the fire, was the one. Could it be possible?
I examined Penelope, and alas ! on her breast in several
places were blood marks scarcely yet dried, as well as
woolly shreds, which too plainly indicated her guilt.
Penelope again denied the accusation with outstretched
paws and reproachful glance, but had afterwards to be
relegated to the kennel enclosure.

Another performance of Penelope had occurred,
which certainly exhibited a reasoning power which we
had overlooked, from its ingenuity and amusing charac-
ter, of slight importance compared with lamb killing.
Having the free range of the house, she discovered tliat
the dinner table had a bread roll, wrapped about by a
napkin, adjoining each dinner plate — a tempting morsel
for her — and during the desertion of the dining ;md
adjoining sitting room she availed herself of the oppor-
tunity of taking one of the rolls — just one each day,
and no more. The regular shortage of a roll each day
at dinner occasioned remark, to which the butler as-
serted that he regularly supplied the full complement.
This occurring so repeatedly gave some wonderment
at the mysterious disappearance of a single roll each
day, as all asserted, each of us, we were not the
cause. This brought it up to the butler, who put him-
self, concealed, one day before dinner, where he could
view the table, and was much surprised to detect
Penelope in the act (when she supposed the coast was
clear) of deftly removing one of the rolls, which she
carried into an adjoining room, and quickly, as she

A Sportsman 285

supposed, destroyed all evidence, and then resumed her
pensive and innocent attitude in front of the open fire,
her favorite resting place.

WTiile town and farmers' dogs of all kinds will attack,
mutilate and prey upon sheep, even their supposed
best friend, the collie, brought up with them, will do
the same thing — not with his master's own flock,which
he will guide and protect with his life, but the sheep
belonging to a neighbor, which the collie evidently con-
siders beyond the pale of his protection. This is a
fact well known to sheepmen, and denotes the inborn
tendency towards destrvictive inclinations bom in so
many animals — and by no means lacking in the supe-
rior man, who has this inclination largely developed,
however guarded it may be by reasoning — as indicated
by the collie dog in selecting a foreign flock of sheep
for his blood-craving taste, without sacrifice of his
home loyalty.

And who shall say that animals are devoid of rea-
soning powers, or that dogs and the most intelligent
animals are wanting in this respect? Admitting that
such is a fact, it is for consideration if (in the inevitable
progress of evolution, which, by the laws of nature,
is irresistible) it is not reasonable to believe that ad-
vancement may be made in developing that sense,
as indicated in the superior animal, man, whose source
may have been at some period more obscure than
shown at the present time by the inferior animals.
The period of man's evolution must have been very
long, consuming, possibly, many hundreds of centuries,
and it is only within a very few thousand years that he
reached the level of intelligence requisite for him to
mark rough hieroglyphics upon the face of time. But he

286 Reminiscences of

was endowed with remarkable physical advantages
over any other existing animals, particularly in the
essential of speech, and in the flexible arm and hand,
without which his inferiority, compared with his present
position, would be most striking. Added to this his
long life, surpassing that of others, gave ample op-
portunity for the storing of experience and its trans-
mission largely to succeeding generations.

And the all-important, animated element of soul,
an existence of intelligence and reason, — by what
adducible evidence shall it be denied to other intelli-
gent animals?

The dog has been the companion of man from the
earliest historical records, and probably long before,
and has in that experience gained advantages not
allotted to other dumb animals, and, despite his want
of articulator}' organs, fully understands many words
addressed to him in various languages, and if he had
the power of speech would certainly respond in answer,
so that his failure to do so is wholly from a physical
defect.

I have witnessed man}^ remarkable instances of
hisi intelligence, and I am reminded particularly of the
extraordinary abUity of the dog Bozzie, a collie that
belonged to Mr. Clason, of Chicago. The owner — a
gentleman of position and character — ^has given much
attention to breeding collies of superior intelligence,
and had in Bozzie one of such surprising ability that one
can hardly credit the results. This dog, bred from a
line most intelligent, exhibited in puppyhood such re-
markable docility and alertness that her owTier gave
particularly patient teaching, resulting in marvellous
feats which would make one doubt his own senses.

A Sportsman 287

Bozzie was familiar with the alphabet and numerals,
and would spell out correctly almost any simple words,
and many of two syllables, and do simple sums in
addition, subtraction and division, beyond the pos-
sibility of trickery, and while her master is out of her
presence. Being given, say, the number of seven, for
instance, to add two and deduct three, Bozzie immedi-
ately gives six barks ; and how much are five and three ?
when eight barks are quickly given; divide ten by two,
and five barks are returned. The element of telepathy
or mind-reading is now a subject of scientific inquiry,
and a controversy is now going on concerning it in
some of the newspapers. Bozzie appears to be an
adept in this particular, and if a number is written on
a piece of paper — not to her master but concealed by
the writer — she will immediately give the number of
barks.

Mr. Clason some time ago dined by invitation with
President Roosevelt at Washington and was accom-
panied by Bozzie, who excited the wonderment of the
Roosevelt family by giving the ages of the President's
children, by barks, correctly, upon being asked by each
in turn, the questioners being instructed to keep men-
tally in mind their partictdar ages. This would seem
incredible were it not vouched for by witnesses. She
would count, and give readily in barks, the number of
persons present with her. One sceptic gave her as
follows : Multiply two by five, then divide the amount
by two, adding three and subtracting six, whereon
Bozzie immediately gave two barks; and another
the following: Divide eight by two, and this half by
two, and the result again divide by two. Bozzie im-
mediately gave one bark. And many other sums of a

288 Reminiscences of

similar character, to which the answers were correctly
given, as well as the correct spelling of many words of
one and two syllables. This seems incredible, but is
said to be well vouched for.

If this does not indicate intelligent reasoning, it
would be diflficult to say what it is that directs the
dog's mind ; and I believe in my own mind, that if intel-
ligent dogs could be endowed by the power of speech,
and longevity equal to man's, and have the flexible
hand of man, which is an immensely valuable feature,
they could be instructed as children are in language,
reading, and writing, and in consequent evolution take
rank above many of the degraded tribes of men who are
accounted the possessors of immortal sovils, which are
by assimiption denied to all the animals lower than man.

Since I have written the above about Bozzie, I learn
from correspondence with Mr. Clason that she has de-
parted from earthly life, and that one of her descend-
ants, Tess, now two years old, is almost equal in intel-
ligence and action with her mother, and that a still
younger offspring, one year old, Bozzie III., is exhi-
biting an intelligence which the owner thinks exceeds
that of any of her race.

Now come the accounts of the wonderful horse,
Hans, at Berlin, Germany, which is exciting much
comment and scientific examination by experts, and
whose picture has appeared in several illustrated
journals of prominence. It is stated that this horse
counts readily up to one hundred, and will indicate
a number correctly below that, by striking the floor
with one of his front feet, and will do sums in
arithmetic in complex numbers, and in fractions. It
seems almost, if not quite, incredible.

A Sportsman 289

This Hans, a Russian stallion nine years old, jet
black in color, with bright eyes, and small, expressive
ears, which seem to act in responsiveness to his actions
and attentiveness, has never been touched by a whip,
and is as human in gentleness and affection with his
owner and master as an animal could be, is rewarded
for his intelligence simply by a judicious giving of
carrots, of which he is very fond. He has never been
publicly exhibited by his enthusiastic owner and in-
structor, Herr Von Osten. Being given the name of
the day, say Wednesday, he will readily strike four times
with his right foot, for the day of the week, and being
told that it is the twentieth day of the month, and be-
ing asked what day of the month it will be a week after-
wards, will strike twenty-seven times. From half a
dozen pieces of cloth or paper of various colors, he will
pick out and designate any particular one named by
color. It is a simple feat for him to give the correct re-
sult of adding several simple numbers together. He will
give immediate answers to questions of how many times
six will go into thirty, and what number of times
six will go into eighteen, and what is the seventh
part of thirty-five, and the answer of similar sums,
of adding two numbers together, say four and five, and
deducting six. And in vulgar and decimal fractions
he seems quite at home, as in questions of this char-
acter, and will answer how much must you deduct
from four to obtain one and three-twelfths, giving first
the whole number of two, and afterwards nine strokes
for twelfths. This and many other arithmetic sums
too numerous to mention.

Had not Hans been submitted to the most critical
examinations by scientific savants — the last being a

290 Reminiscences of

committee of Professor Haeckel, the most eminent
biologist and critical expert known, Professor Stumpff
of the Berlin University, and Professor Norenburg of
the Prussian Ministry of Education, who coincided
with all of the distinguished committees of examina-
tions, that Hans clearly exhibited thoughtful and reas-
oning powers, with remarkable memor}' — one might
well doubt the statements made, and believe that Hans
simply followed a fixed routine, or resorted to signs
and aid from his master, but has proved to be entirely
independent of him, and to pass the ordeal of examina-
tion as triumphantly during the absence of his master
as when he was present, clearly demonstrating that he
understood the Gei-man language when addressed to
him, and in no way depended upon the aid of any
trickery or drilled memory.

And if all intelligent and reasoning animals have the
element of soul — and who can tangibly deny — ^where
shall we draw the line? When we view the starr}^
sky and obsei-ve the many millions of suns, many eclips-
ing our own in magnitude, and by analogy having their
subordinate satellites as ours, and actually showing
them in a few instances, as that of Sirius and Procian,
and by the spectroscope and prism showing such as
have almost identically the elements of our sun and its
planets, may it not be a reasonable conjecture that there
may be countless worlds similar at least to our own in
having elements favorable to animal and plant life?
If it be so, and none can deny, may there not be many
worlds possessing beings of intelligence and soul, pos-
sibly far in advance of those upon our habitation,
created l)\' the immutable laws of nature which have
created ours? And beyond our tmiverse, in endless

A Sportsman 291

space, are seen, by telescopes of the greatest power,
faint glimmerings of nebulas, which may yet be re-
solved by increasing powers into universes as immense
as ours, from which light moving with the velocity of
electricity, sufficiently rapid to circle our earth seven
times in a second, would require hvmdreds of years of
time to reach our world. And beyond those glimmer-
ing lights in endless space, What? We cannot affirm,
and we cannot deny. We cannot solve the mysteries
of nature; nor can we deny the Almighty power of
creation in extent.

Light, which arrives in eight minutes through the
space of ninety-three millions of miles from the sun, and
an hour from the most distant planet of our solar
system, Neptune, which requires hundreds of years to
make its orbital journey around the sun, which our
earth completes in one, requires two or three years to
reach us from the nearest fixed star in the sky, and if we
could direct a new light from our earth or an electric
message into space, it could only, in a hundred millions
of years, have just commenced its journey through
endless space, upon a route which would be illimitable.

How little we know of anything beyond our immedi-
ate reach! Of even our companion planets, or even
of the moon our satellite, but a few thousand miles
distant, whose features our scientists are not all agreed
upon, and yet in our conceit we detennine, without
logical evidence, the distinctiveness of intelligence,
reason, mind, and soul. We, the superior animals,
are progressng from the identical natural source
from which all living creatures have emanated
and progressed under the immutable laws of
nature.

292 Reminiscences of

CALIFORNIA is conspicuous for its variety of
fishes, in its streams which abound with dis-
tinctive kinds of trout, and in the Pacific waters which
lie along the coast, where an endless variety of game
fashes are to be found.

It is somewhat annoying for the many lovers of
the eastern trout to be informed that our eastern
trout, technically speaking, are not trout at all, but
charrs, and that the true trout must be sought for
on the Pacific Coast, simply because it sheds its teeth
from the vomer, which is the middle part of the roof
of its mouth, as does the salmon, while the true trout
in the form of its vomer differs from the charr, and
preserves its teeth through life. For this slight
difference the ichthyologists have seen fit to desig-
nate our eastern trout as charr. It is natural that
when the first settlers in America, familiar with
the English trout (Salmo Fario), finding the carmine-
spotted and brilliant-hued fishes with high game
qualities, called them trout, though far more beautiful
than the English, or those of German or Northern
European regions, which are true trout in the scientific
sense.

Our eastern and central trout are correctly the Sal-
velinus Fontinalis. It is considered by the most emi-
nent authorities that the various trouts of the northern
Pacific streams, the rainbow, cut-throat, steel-head
and golden, all true trout, have descended from the so-
called steel-heads, as well as the various lake trouts,
the latter being similar to those of our eastern and
central lakes, of dull color and brown spots.

The steel-heads {Salmo Gairdineri), found in the
various streams of the northern Pacific, take

A Sportsman 293

readily to salt water, as well as charr, and reach a
maximum weight of tweiity-five pounds and over, and
are of high game qualities, and readily take the fly,
as well as fresh bait. They are speared in large num-
bers in some streams in the autumn, as they come in
from the sea. The designation of steel-heads has been
given from the lustrous steel coloring of the heads.
Otherwise this trout is dull in color with brown spots.
At the Carmelo stream below Monterey Bay they
come in largely with the raising of the water from the
autumnal rains, where they breed extensively, return-
ing to the sea before the spring freshets are over. This
stream exhibits the peculiarity late in the spring of
clogging up its outlet to the sea in low water by an
accumulative sand bank, through which the water
seeps, making an entrance impassable for the passage
of fish. Down in the stretches of pools so confined
the young steel-heads are plentifully found of one and
two years old, weighing from a quarter to half a pound,
which afford good fly fishing. These young trout go
out on the first rise of water, and grow rapidly in the
sea. It is not uncommon when the first rains come,
when the rise of the stream has not become sufficient
to break the barrier of sand at the outlet, to see the
steel-heads seeking a passage through the shallow water,
and at times throw themselves bodily out on the sand
in their eagerness to get through; and when the water
rises sufficient for passage, though still shallow, the
spearers take their stand and secure sometimes large
quantities of the trout by this barbarous method. The
incident of throwing themselves out of the water on
the sand where fresh water percolates through the
bank is also observed with salmon on the Pacific,

294 Reminiscences of

showing the strong impulse of nature in this respect
with the Sahno family, which must gain fresh water
to renew its species. I have often observed in eastern
waters the struggling efforts of trout to get through
the shallow reaches of water over sand banks at the
mouth of streams, and often observed trout working
through when compelled to forward themselves on
their sides, and have dug channels through the sands to
facilitate their passage.

The steel-head trouts are very plentiful on the Pacific
coast, particularly at the northern rivers, where they
ascend plentifully with the salmon at the spawning
season. They are the largest trout known, perhaps
being disputed in this respect by the cut-throat trout
(Salmo Mykess), in Lake Tahoe between the States of
California and Nevada, where thc}^ attain their largest
size.

The designation of cut-throat is given to this trout
from its having a crimson or scarlet coloring on the
membrane between the branches of the lower jaw. It
is, perhaps, more extensively distributed over a large
area than any other, though its markings to a consider-
able extent are influenced by its local surroundings.
It is plentiful in the north Pacific streams of Kamts-
chatka, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, northern Cali-
fornia, and in the streams on both sides of the Rocky
Mountains, and in the Utah basin, and in Colorado, and
more southern idstricts. The steel-heads are not, how-
ever, esteemed so highly for food as the other trout,
though very gamey.

The rainbow trout (Iridius), a favorite in the Cali-
fornia streams, is a plump silvery-bluish-colored fish
with red lateral streaks. Structurally it is claimed to

A Sportsman 295

be dentical with the steel-heads, and it is claimed that
when given access to the sea, its colors are changed
more or less in conformity with the former, and a ques-
tion exists which ma}' have been the original parent of
the other. In fact no fishes exhibit the characteristics
of rapid change of colors, as affected by surroimdings,
like the trout.

The golden trout, lately brought to notice, taken
from a central California stream, is conspicuous for its
bright golden color, and by some is claimed to be of a
distinctive genus. I have not seen it, and its classi-
fication will of course depend upon its structural form-
ation, and not likely to be a new one, and will likely
be classified with other known trout in the State, and
possibly with the charr, Dolly Varden, which ap-
proaches more than any other on the Pacific in its
gamy qualities to the eastern trout.

A charr (Salvdinus Malma) is also found on the
Pacific Coast, a red-spotted, gamy fish, and a ready fly
taker, known as the Dolly Varden. It is of gaudy
color and a favorite, and although a charr, has been
officially classified from the Smithsonian Institution of
Washington in this instance as the Dolly Varden trout,
and will so remain, charr as it is.

This impulse of nature with the Salmo family to seek
fresh water for spawning is pursued to a most ex-
traordinary extent, and is fatal to millions of salmon
annually on the Pacific Coast, while trout of less bulk,
and adaptive agility, have slight loss in this particular.

The salmon, however, not satisfied with reaching
water sparkling with vitalizing life, pushes on as if
impelled with necessitated urgency, as far as the
stream extends, or until its strength is exhausted, for-

296 Reminiscences of

ttinate or not. as it may prove, if it escapes the seines
and revolving catch wheels of the canners, or the spears
of the Indians, or the foray of wild animals which
depend upon it for nourishment through many months
of the year. In that mad rush of advance impelled
by mutual desire, the salty waves at the estuaries of
the streams are often incarnadined with the ruddy life
blood from moving masses of salmon, set free by the
propeller blades or revolving wheels of passing steam-
ers; and, incredible as it may seem, these schools of
moving salmon are at times so compressed across the
surface of streams, near the outlets, as to hide the water
from view, and if they could be so held, sustainable for
foot passage, one could cross from one side of the stream
to the other without wetting his feet. I have a picture
of a pack of this character, taken on an Alaska stream.
Upon the salmon entering fresh-water streams its
first movements are in leisurely swimming about as if
in enjoyment of the change of water; and at night —
for it is a nocturnal fish as are all of the Salmo species
— it commences its up-stream journey, which seldom
exceeds two or three miles an hour, and on it goes
upon its death excursion, as almost invariably
experienced in the principal long Pacific rivers. In
the Columbia River it ascends to the Spokane Falls
from six to eight hundred miles, and in the Sacramento
River four hundred miles, and up the San Joaquin
River to the extent of its tributaries, some hundreds
of miles, when they all, at least all of those which reach
the upper waters, never return, and countless millions
in ages past have thus perished, and will doubtless
continue to do so.

During this ascent, in the fresh-water stream,

A Sportsman 297

the salmon constantly deteriorates in quality, strength,
color and form, as it receives no nourishment from
food whatever, and the occasional incidents of its taking
spawn, or a baited hook, have no bearing on its status.

As they get on, their silvery hues, so conspicuous
in the sea, fade away, and their flesh likewise loses
its bright pink color, and its blood pales steadily, and
those which reach the higher waters arrive in such a
wretched condition that it may be doubted if many of
them are fitted for the last act in the drama of the
salmon, of emitting the spawn of reproduction.

I have personally witnessed the. condition and
situation of these worn-out salmon, stranded in the
upper waters of the San Joaquin River, stagnant with
the decay of dead fish, where those surviving, mutilated
from bruises, with worn fins and tails, and half blind,
were listlessly swimming about in hopeless search
for outlet. The banks of the pools were in places
white with salmon bones and skins left by devouring
animals, which had no difficulty in securing their prey,
and attested by well- worn paths along the shores.
Even the Indians spear such fish for food, patched
with white fungus, and emaciated to the last degree.
Salmon in this condition are in such a contrast with
fresh nms that one can hardly recognize them. The
jaws of the males grow longer and hooked at the ends,
the back becomes hvunpy, and the scales disappear,
and the belly shrinks away and becomes dark in color,
and the stomach, so long disused, will be found
shrunken away to the size of a man's thumb. It
would not be possible for salmon in this condition
under the most favorable situation to ever reach a
state equal to the original. Salmon only partially

298 Reminiscences of

damaged, which find their way down to the salt water
again from spawning beds but moderately distant
from the sea, may possibly recover to a primitive con-
dition; but I very much doubt it if their stay from
the sea has been prolonged, for the inevitable result
of stomach shrinkage is bound to occur, and an almost
complete extinction of the stomach glands (pyloric
coeca) and of auxiliary internal organs.

Salmon fly fishermen are familiar with the black
salmon which are found in Atlantic stream pools,
which occasionally take the fly, having come down
from the upper waters and mingled with the fresh
runs. These are the salmon which have lain over a
year in the stream, and are more or less blind, but
have, some of them, sufficient vision to see and take
the fly. These we know to be completely worthless
for food, and they are thrown away, and if examined in-
ternally will be found to be almost deficient in stomach
and stomach glands, and we may feel rather sure
that they can never be revived to a good form again.

But as to those salmon, male and female, which re-
turn to the sea from short streams the same season after
spawning is over, it may be that they will recuperate
to a good condition again. But it may be a question
if they do, although we have no certain evidence of it.

It might be cited that almost all of the enormously
large salmon which have been taken, weighing from
sixty to even one hundred pounds, have been marked
almost invariably by some prominent features, especially
in hooked jaws. From the large salmon I have seen,
and the many casts in museums and other places,
and particularly in the large collection of salmon casts
made by the late Frank Buckland, of London, and in

A Sportsman 299

the extensive collection of salmon casts shown at the
great fisheries exhibition in London some twenty
years ago, which was a marvel of its kind, I observed
that the casts of all the large salmon were marked
by the distortions of the maxillaries as shown in the
fresh-water spawning life, with the lower jaw extended
and hooked.

Among the millions taken of the quinnat, or king
salmon, in Oregon, at the Columbia River canning
works, an occasional one, but very rarely, has been
taken weighing up to one hundred pounds, and one
frozen in ice, of eighty-two pounds, was sent on to the
Columbian Exposition. As these large salmon are
almost invariably males, the question arises if they had
experienced the vicissitudes of river and spawning life,
and were not survivors by some singular occurrence
of incidents, and had missed the usual predestinated
fate of salmon.

The warfare which goes on between the males at
the spawning beds, for the favorable consideration
and possession of the attractive mistress of the
spawning domain, are often severe in results, often
causing the death of the defeated. When com-
menced between two males, such combat continues
until the complete defeat of one, when the conqueror
is left in possession, until disputed again by a fresh
arrival. As the males seem to predominate over the
females, it can be believed that a champion male of
good record must have a strenuous experience. In
consequence of these conflicts, most of the males show
the results, in loss of fins and portions of the tails
and other mutilations ; for the muscular powers of the
salmon's jaws are great, upon which the fish depends

300 Reminiscences of

for all the mastication its food receives, and its seizure
of small fish is confined to those which can be readily
swallowed whole. The hooked jaws of the large salmon
do not necessarily show that the possessors have had
a river spawning experience, for the hooked formation
is an accompaniment of age, as shown with trout.

From the fact that the extra large salmon, of which
I have seen many casts, have not shown loss of fins-
or parts of tails, or have exhibited other mutilations,
such would seem to have escaped the river spawning
experiences, unless the bone rays of the fins and tails
have not by the process of nature been renewed.
This is rather improbable, and tends to the opinion
that these large salmon have escaped the river ex-
perience, so fatal to those of northern Pacific waters;
which critical application would not apply to the salmon
inhabiting the shorter European streams, from which
undoubtedly many salmon return to the sea after
spawning season, of which data is not at hand for con-
sideration. But that the northern rivers of the Pacific
on the American coast, as well as those of the opposite
Asian Kamtchatka waters where the salmon abound
most plentifully, all, or almost entirely all, terminate
most ingloriously their lives in the fatal season of repro-
duction, is clearly indicated.

That the salmon of the Pacific Coast, in a commer-
cial sense, is far more valuable than all the rest of the
Pacific fishes combined, or of all the salmon availed
of elsewhere in the world, is indisptitable. They
abound in such numbers as to give the canners from
California to Alaska a product of world-wide prom-
inence. The humble and unambitious codfish must
not be overlooked as of future great importance to

A Sportsman 301

the Pacific Coast, since those familiar with the subject
say that the codfish grounds of the northern Pacific
are as proUfic and non-exhaustible as those of the
banks of Ne^vfoundland. In this connection with
fishes as a food product of the future, I am reminded
of the able report on the North Sea Fisheries, read at
the great Fisheries Exhibition in London, in which
it was stated that, despite the greatly increased popula-
tion of Europe, and the increasing consumption of fish,
owing to the ready distribution of fresh fish by rail-
roads, that the North Sea, which is the prominent
European field of supply, was estimated to be able
to furnish for consumption from three to five times
the present demand, without likelihood of any notice-
able exhaustion. This is cheerful information for
those who are puzzling their brains with a fear of a
demonstration of the Malthusian theory of over-
population, which, at the present rate of increase of
population the world over, is proceeding at a ratio
which cannot long be sustained; still we have a good
leeway, and until a thousand millions of human beings
dominate the North American continent, and an equal
number the Southern, and as many more in Africa,
and a thousand million or so more for the open situa-
tions of the world, we need not have apprehension, and
we may reflect that the salt ocean alone could supply
without exhaustion, at the present time, a weight of
production equal to that daily consumed of various
products by the human race.

Of the Sah}ionid(B and its several genera found
in the temperate and Arctic regions, the salmon
is the most interesting and plentiful, and schools in
the north Pacific in immense numbers, extending

302 Reminiscences of

down half way along the eight hundred miles of the
California coast. The annual pack from California
to Alaska represents an average of about eleven hun-
dred thousand cases of forty-eight pounds to the
case, and as three salmon on the average are required
for a case, the number of salmon annually canned
would amount to between three and four millions.
The consumption does not seem yet to diminish
seriously the supply, though the number packed va-
ries considerably, sometimes running down to seven or
eight hundred thousand cases and up to a million
and three quarters of cases.

Little progress has been made on the Pacific Coast
in artificial propagation; although the ova or eggs
of the salmon are detached and free at exudation,
as with all the Salmo genera, there does not seem
to have been any very successful artificial breeding
of the salmon anywhere, despite all assertions to
the contrary. In fact in Canada, where for years
the artificial breeding of salmon has been pursued,
it is claimed that no material advantages have been
gained, and the subject is now one of controversy
between two prominent fish culturists — Mr. Samuels,
of Boston, in the affirmative and W. H. Venning,
of Ontario, in the negative — and as Mr. Venning
has been for many years a commissioner of the Can-
adian fisheries, his arguments seem well supported,
and his experience would seem to have much weight.

Yet the importance of this subject is too great
to be hastily summed up, and while the weight of evi-
dence has been largely with Venning, that more late-
ly given by Samuels, including the results obtained
from the superintendents of half a dozen Canadian

A Sportsman 303

streams, covering a period of several years, indicates
that the hatching out and increase of sahiion at the
several streams has been decidedly fa\'orable.

The success of artificial propagation of ova from
a large variety of fishes has been so successfully in-
dicated that it would be most unfortunate if that
of the monarch of all fish, from a fisherman's point
of view, should fail; and the apparent diminution
of salmon, where hatching works have been estab-
lished, is believed by some familiar with the subject
to have occurred more from the persistence with which
the seining of salmon has been followed, than from
a failure in the artificial propagation.

It is estimated that less than four per cent of the
ova naturally distributed by the female salmon is
hatched out to successful life, owing to the various
adverse conditions which surround the fish during its
young life, while seventy-five per cent, of the impreg-
nated eggs are hatched under the careful attention be-
stowed at the hatcheries. The amount of ripe ova
found in a matured salmon spawner is often of the
weight of three or four pounds.

Experience has shown that the liberation in free
water of the freshly hatched salmon is almost in-
variably fatal to its life, as it steadily falls a victim
to other fish and the variety of water feeders which
destroy it. If retained in proper receptacles, how-
ever, and properly fed until it is five or six inches
in length, it is found to take good care of itself and
have favorable prospects of reaching maturity.

The salmon of the Pacific, singular to say, do not
take the artificial fly so readily taken by those of
the Atlantic. They will take it if trolled under

304 Reminiscences of

water when they are feeding, as they would a spoon
or even a rag, as they will any small object moving
from, or by them, and I have several times, when
trolling for them with fresh fish bait, had my leaden
sinkers taken off by them.

Among the Pacific salmon there are five varieties,
classified one hundred and fifty years ago under the
head of Oncorhynchus, by Steller, an eminent Russian
scientist, which designation has abided.

These salmon are distinct from the Atlantic
salmon {Salmo Salar) in some minor particulars.
The Pacific salmon has from fourteen to twenty bone
rays in the anal fin, to nine or ten in the Atlantic. It
has more gill rakers, larger scales, and has more or less
of brown spots about the head and back. It has the
usual silver white color, but at the head a peculiar
lustrous steel color, as one might suppose to come from
burnishing a metal of mixed lead and silver, a pale olive
cast peculiar to this fish. This description applies
to the principal salmon, the Chinook or king salmon
so plentiful, and more extensively used in canning than
any other. This salmon at the Columbia River has an
average weight of twenty -one pounds, while the same
fish from the Sacramento River averages from sixteen
to seventeen pounds.

Of the four remaining Pacific saknon the blue-back
(0. Onerka) is the next important for canning, mod-
erate in size, averaging from five to eight pounds,
being of red color and good flavor. This salmon
is prominent at the Fraser and Yukon rivers, and
ascends to the limit of those streams, and is domes-
ticated more or less in Lake Whatcom, hundreds of
miles from the sea in Washington, where it is always

A Sportsman 305

found, though diminished in size and less attractive
in form and flavor then when fresh from the sea.
When young it has a few black spots, which disappear
later on.

The silver salmon (0. Kisutch) is still smaller than
the blue-back, weighing from three to eight pounds,
of good flavor when fresh from the sea, but not ac-
counted of value in canning.

The dog salmon (O. Keia) averages about twelve
pounds in weight, frequenting the northern rivers,
and is worthless for canning or consumption, though
eaten by the Indians, who are not at all particular
about the character of their food. It is of a dull
silver color, with small black spots, and as it advances
in age its jaws grow much out of regular line.

The last variety of salmon is the humpback {O.
gorbtischa), the smallest species of all the salmon,
weighing from three to six pounds, of bluish silver
color, with plentiful small black spots. Its back is
more or less humped, from which the name is given.
Its meat is of inferior quality and, with the dog
salmon, it does not make the spring rvm up the north-
em streams; and, small as it is, becomes more dis-
torted in form and jaws than the dog salmon. Both
of these are moderate in extending up the streams,
and are noted for their peculiarity of locating for
spawning in very shallow water, where they often be-
come stranded and readily fall captive to the Indians
and wild animals.

3o6 Reminiscences of

THE salmon for canning are taken principally in
seining, although in late years large water-wheels
have been erected in favorable places on river banks
where the currents are rapid and where salmon iim,
which, revolving by the cvurents, take up at times
large quantities of the salmon heading up stream,
and in some instances have scooped up immense num-
bers, which by an arrangement of the wheel slide
into an adjoining compartment, and catches of a single
night have been made of a ntimber of tons in weight.
Spearing by the Indians and scooping up with large
hand nets are also followed to a large extent.

Most sportsmen will agree that, tempered with ex-
perience and surroundings, they have a favoring, be-
tween fishing and shooting, for one over the other;
commencing with the extremity of boyish enthu-
siasm in the catching of minnows and smaU fish,
and the knocking over of sparrows, they advance in
more fixed preferences. I will own that, although
I have had some experience in the shooting line,
my preference is for fishing, which I have followed
more assiduously than shooting.

In 1892, in the month of June, when at Monterey
on the California coast, a hundred miles south of
San Francisco, and visiting the hauls of the market
fishermen, as brought in principally by Italians and
Portuguese, I was interested in observing more or
less salmon brought in, which had been taken with
baited hooks on strong cotton handlines. This inter-
ested me so much that I accompanied some of the
boats which left at an early daylight hour, and as a
school of salmon had come into the bay, I saw a num-
ber of them taken, which was a revelation to me.

A Sportsman 307

These fishermen were on hand for any edible fish
which might come along, sinking or trolling, as the case
might be, for cod, blue-fish, barracuda, and flounders,
or for mackerel, sea bass or salmon. Their fishing
was entirely with cotton handlines, using small fresh
fish for bait, which abounded in plentifulness.

I was strongly affected in contemplation of the field
before me, and will give an account of my experiences
in this remarkable arena, where the sportsman's king
of fishes, the salmon, could be taken in full vigor in
the open sea, lustrous and eager in the pursuit of its
natural food, undiminished by the abstinence and
confinement incidental to river pool life, at the com-
mencement of the long fast which ordinarily ter-
minates its existence.

To see these vigorous, combative monarchs of the
Salmo family brought up along side of the boat, swerv-
ing in the pull, from side to side, by powerful strokes
of tail, and never ceasing in their fighting gameness,
even when struck by the cruel gaff, with its following
of spurting ruddy life's blood, or until the fatal brutal
head blow given in the boat.

Ignoble and inglorious this ending of the silver-
spangled warrior of the deep sea, whose speed through
the cr^'stal waters equals that of the dolphin, or any
denizens of the sea — equal almost to that of the
fleeting hare on land. To see this sparkling form
in fresh fulness, in the last tremulous throes of death,
seemed a sorrow. Still, perhaps, it was better to die
thus in perfection of life and action than slowly to
perish from exhaustion and mutilation in a stagnant
pool, or, blind and bloodless, gasp in starvation amid
the whirling eddies.

3o8 Reminiscences of

I saw enough to fire my hope and expectations,
and from the city I obtained two bamboo bass rods
of good strength, with large multiplj'ing reels having
rubber thumb pads, with six hundred feet of twenty-
thread linen lines and suitable hooks. The bamboo
rods I soon smashed up, but they lasted with repairs
and lashings until I secured by telegraphing to New
York for several six-and-a-half -foot steel trolling rods
with agate line runners, weighing ten ounces. These
I found most appropriate, and capable with careful
handling for all the salmon I caught, and with one I
handled successfully a ninety-pound shark, which
after some time I brought to gaff.

I engaged a good-sized fishing boat, applicable for
sailing, and two men, fishermen and old whalers,
and in the next three months I made forty fishing
trips, almost invariably leaving my lodgings before
the clear dawn, rising generally at four o'clock in the
morning ; and from my trips I secured over five thou-
sand pounds of salmon from trolling — a record I can
never expect to duplicate (nor have any particular
desire to), as the season of 1892 for profusion of sal-
mon at Monterey Bay has never been equalled since,
and in a few of the intervening years only a moderate
number have been found there, with following good
years.

I have followed the salmon trolling there moder-
ately during the years since, and expect to do so
again, but have only met with moderate success.
The feature shown there is comparatively unique, in
the finding of salmon which eagerly take fresh fish
bait in the open sea, not known of in other waters
than the Pacific, though very rarely salmon have

A Sportsman 309

been caught in European waters with spawn bait.
This may be accounted as a compensation by the
Pacific salmon for the non-taking of the artificial
fly, so universal with its Atlantic and European pro-
totype. Nor is there on the Pacific Coast any such area
of profusion of bait-taking salmon as that stretch-
ing over a distance of fifty miles from Santa Cruz
and Monterey to Carmelo. At Puget Sound, and
at the mouths of the Columbia and Eraser rivers,
the salmon likewise take bait in the sea; but more
incidentally on their passage to the rivers, without
abiding for weeks as they do off Monterey, and be-
fore the ova has advanced toward the voiding con-
dition as with those salmon seeking passage up the
rivers.

In fact, the salmon coming off Monterey are more
behind those seeking spawning beds. They have sim-
ply followed their food supplies from some sea depth.
It is a very interesting sight to witness the coming in
and arrival of the small fish and squid, accompanied
by myriads of predator}- birds, who now welcome the
harvest days long waited for, which unite them from
their before-scattered locations, in clouds composed
of many thousands, animated by a common impulse
for deglutition and destruction, exponents of the
creatures of nature, to kill and devour. The small
fish coming in the summer and the earl}- autumnal
months into and adjoining Monterey for spawning
are largely anchovies and sardines. These fishes
are about the size of herrings, though there are two
sizes of the sardines smaller than the regular full size.
These come in countless numbers, as well as the an-
chovies, swimming near the surface, and often cover

3IO Reminiscences of

acres in extent; and also the squid, a miniature octopus
in appearance, soft and boneless, which come in
prodigious quantities, and, keeping at the surface
more than the small fish, are more easily captured
by the sea-birds, although they seem the favorite food
not only of the birds, but of the salmon and a dozen
other kinds of fishes, as well as of seals and sea-lions,
but the quantity is so immense that little impression
is made upon them, or even upon the anchovies and
sardines. These schools can be observed a long dis-
tance ofif in a clear sea, though not immediately at
the surface, by the reflection of their color.

Nor should we fail to observe that all fish life ex-
isting in both salt and fresh waters owes its existence
to an article of food which is invisible to the naked eye :
to the endless variety and extensiveness of the animal-
cules and protozoa which the infantile fish, whether
supplied with umbilical sac or not, depends upon for
its first growth. This furnishes another exhibition
of the automatic revolution of the water supplies.

The squid is too delicate and tender for salmon bait,
although the stomachs of the captured salmon show

Note by the Editor of The Sportsmen's Review: It may properly
be mentioned here that Mr. Whitney received the credit of first exploiting
and giving to the public the proper methods of taking the Pacific salmon in
the sea, in a sportsman-like and artistic manner with a light trolhng rod
and fine line, as accorded to him by the prominent California newspapers,
also in foreign sporting papers and journals. His descriptions, given out
in 1892, had wide circulation among foreign sportsmen, being translated
and published in several languages. The New York Forest and Stream,
referring to him, said: "Salmon fishermen the world over owe a debt of
gratitude to him for his extremely interesting accounts of sea fishing for
salmon on the Pacific Coast. Though that fishing has been known for
years to a limited number of anglers, he has been the first one to exploit
the sport in adequate description for the benefit of the guild, and may
fairly lay claim to the discovery. Others may have known of it as the
Norsemen knew of America, but he has been the Columbus to proclaim
his discovery to the world, and to command for it the attention it de-
serves."

A Sportsman 311

more squid than anything else. It is a repulsive-
looking object, yet is accounted by many of the Portu-
guese and Italian fishemien as a great delicacy, and
is served up fried in some of the San Francisco res-
taurants. By the Chinese it is considered very good,
and until late years, when the fish commissioners have
forbid it being taken with nets, was hauled in and
dried by the hundreds of tons and shipped to China,
where it was accounted a leading luxury.

The objections of the fish commissioners were not
founded upon a fear of diminishing the supply, but
more from the general protests of residents about the
Chinese coast fishing grounds, as the odor from acres
of sun-dried squid was particularly offensive.

The method of securing the squid followed by the
Chinese was by netting at night. The squid was
attracted by displaying lights from boats, about which
the squid would cluster, whereupon other boats would
circulate around with large purse nets, and secure
immense hauls.

I have seen these squid stretched out on the surface
of the sea for over half a mile in length, and over-
cast by such clouds of muirs, shags and various fish-
eating birds as to be uncountable, and I have often
estimated as many as ten thousand birds of this
character on and hovering about a single field of squid.
Some of these birds will gorge so thoroughly as to be
incapable of flight, and if pursued in a boat can be
knocked over with an oar, and when pursued will
often disgorge as followed until they are able to rise
from the water.

On my first excursion out, from an early hour until
10 o'clock I was very fortunate in taking in eleven

312 Reminiscences of

fine salmon, which weighed nearly two hundred
pounds, the smallest being a grilse of eight pounds
and the largest twenty-four pounds. It is needless
to say that I followed the fishing with eagerness,
making an excursion out about every other day,
generally finishing up before noon, but two or three
times I was out all day when the salmon were very
plentiful, inaking notable catches. It was seldom —
not more than two or three times out of forty-odd
trips — that I failed to fetch in salmon, so one can
see that the fishing condition was most remarkable,
and no season since 1892 has shown its equal. My
largest catch when out a whole da}', which occasion
I more fully refer to hereafter, was twenty-nine sal-
mon, weighing 512 pounds, averaging a little over
seventeen pounds, my smallest salmon that day
weighing eight pounds and my largest thirty-eight
pounds. I carefull}^ weighed all the salmon I caught,
the total number being 320, and the total weight
being 5231 pounds. The largest sabnon was fifty-
four pounds, which I had no particular difficult}^
in fetching to gaflf, excepting in the time given. The
short steel ten-ounce rod is a verj' efficient one, and
will bear a much stronger strain than a heavier bam-
boo rod, especially when a heav)- fish sulks below
the boat — and it is the disposition of sharks to do this
more than salmon.

The small-sized sharks in Monterey are very plenti-
ful, the larger portion of them being under twenty
pounds in weight, which can easily be brought in,
although there are many which weigh from a hundred
pounds up, and when one of these is struck it is
better to let him go, after securing all the line possible.

A Sportsman 313

Two of the largest sharks known in any waters
are occasionally seen off the bay — the whale shark
and the basking, weighing tons. The former is seen
rarely, but the latter often. Neither of these is
known as a man-eater.

It is necessary from the Monterey pier to row off
two or three miles to reach the salmon, and some-
times farther, and the sea is not always smooth,
oftentimes too rough for those inclined to sea-sick-
ness, and the mornings are generally foggy, but clear
up before noon, when the prevailing west wind comes
up, which enables one to sail back to the pier.

It is necessary ordinarily to sink the baited hook
from thirty to forty feet below the surface, and some-
times lower. This requires a sinker of four or five
ounces in weight to keep down the hook, when rowing
the boat at a speed of about a mile and a half an hour.
I found the sinker an inconvenience in the free playing
of the fish, and devised a method to free it by fast-
ening it to a short piece of extra line, which I attached
to my main one, by a peculiar bow-knot, thirty or
forty feet from the hook, so that I could detach it
by a hard pull, as I reeled in after the strike; as the
salmon when first hooked at a depth almost invariably
remains below for a while, without commencing its
wild runs away, which occur when thoroughly alarmed
at being brought up near the surface. The first
action is generally of violent head-shaking to detach
the irritating hook, and by this head-shaking, communi-
cated along the line and rod to the fisherman, he is
aware of a salmon being on, rather than another fish,
and as he immediately and steadily reels up, the bow
line-attachment of the sinker is brought alongside of

314 Reminiscences of

the boat, and quickly removed by one of the boat-
men. But not always does this method succeed, as
the salmon may be off before it can be accomplished
and the sinker in such case may remain, clogging the
free runs, until the last one.

I devised a much better method later on for throw-
ing off the sinker. My steel hooks of three quarters
of an inch spread at the bow, and long shanked, I
had soldered on to a stout brass wire of four inches
in length, and this connected by two more pieces of
similar wire and length, by stout brass swivels. My
four-ounce leaden sinkers, round and tapering at
each end, and having a hole through lengthwise, I
strung over on a not overstrong cotton string, and
caught up the lower end of one of the brass links
below, connecting it with the one above by the cotton
string carrying the sinker. The string was strong
enough to carry easily the pull of the trolling bait,
but would break and drop off the sinker by the strike
of the salmon and leave my line free. The loss of
the sinker would, of course, occur, but was of slight
importance and value.

As the hooked salmon approaches the light at the
surface, and has been unable to throw off the hook,
his alarm is much increased, and he starts out with
great rapidity in some direction opposite from the
boat, and with an impetuosity impossible to speedily
check. It may be two or three hundred feet, or
more, before the hard-pressed reel pad on the line and
the strain of the rod almost surely incline the head
of the fish to one side or the other, which being once
accomplished practically settles the successful take;
for the salmon, once being turned from a straight

A Sportsman 315

course, must thereafter yield to the boat in a circling
route, from which he can hardly escape, carrying
in addition to the rod and reel strain that of dragging
the line across the waters.

Should a large salmon — say of twenty-five pounds
weight or more — go directly away from the boat without
being diverted, it would most likely run out all the
line and part it, as occurred in two instances during
my experience. But the severe strain which can be
exerted from the reel and rod is almost sure to divert
the fish from its apparent fixed purpose of getting
away as far as possible from the boat on the route
it first determines upon. A sufficient pressure can
be put upon the thumb pad of the reel to part the
line, or tear out the hook if not firmly placed. A
danger also exists from the overrunning of the line
if the drag is not judiciously applied; also from the
line's sinking in the balance of line on the reel when
too much pressure is applied, particularly when
the line has not been firmly and evenly reeled in
before, from which cause an entanglement takes
place and the salmon is almost surely lost.

A large shark occasionally takes the bait, too large
for handling, and taking to the bottom cannot be raised
by any strain from the rod, and has to be cut away.
A variety of other fishes will also often take the bait,
although if the salmon are present in force they will
take the bait almost exclusively. Among those mostly
taken while salmon trolling are the rock cods, from
four to twelve pounds in weight, which, unlike those
of the deeper offshore waters, of the usual color, are
a handsome fish varying in many degrees of red and
brown, and are excellent eating. Next most plenti-

3i6 Reminiscences of

ftil are the so-called blue-fish, not to be classed with
those of the same name on the Atlantic Coast, being
shaped like the cod, excepting flatter, and good eating.
The small sharks are a great bother, plentiful and
worthless. Sometimes a school of large mackerel
is struck, from which a number may be taken, weigh-
ing from two to four pounds. Also a school of sea
bass, not the striped, introduced in late years from
the Atlantic waters, but the indigenous silvery bass,
which run from fifteen to sixty pounds, and afford
good sport from their gamy qualities, fighting hard
for five or ten minutes, but passive when yielding.
These are highly esteemed for market fish. They
are not generally struck with the salmon, but by
themselves apart, and more often about the beds of
kelp, and when found may be well followed up for
sport, and a good score may be made from them, as
a school is often extensive.

Yellowtails come in later in the season, running
from ten to thirty pounds, which are very gamy, but
not applicable for food. The leaping tuna is also
an occasional visitor at Monterey Bay, and it is a
great sight to see a large school of these moving rapidly
forward on the surface of the perhaps rough water,
breaking and splashing the waves with their power-
ful tails, leaving a wake of foam and commotion.
They are, however, very rarely taken in the bay,
as they frequent the waters south more plentifully,
particularly at the Catalina Islands.

I had the good fortune on one occasion, when a
school was about in Monterey Bay, to take one of
sixty pounds, which gave me great play, and which
at several moments I expected to lose when brought

A Sportsman 317

to the extremity of the hne, but it fortunately turned,
enabling me each time to take in slack, and I finally
brought it to gaflf after half an hour's fight. On the
same day my hook was taken, evidently by a still
larger one, that made a straight run oflf, carrying
away all my line with startling rapidity, upon whom
my attempts at checking up made no impression.

Off the Catalina Island — which lies a few miles
from the California coast opposite Los Angeles — the
tuna is oftentimes found in profusion during the
summer months, and is undoubtedly the largest game
fish in the sea, and is often found much larger than
the ability of a rod fisherman can possibly overcome,
running up to several hundreds of pounds, and even
a thousand pounds has been given as a maximum.
When struck it goes off with great speed, with occa-
sional leapings from the water, and slashes about in
a manner indicative of great power. The favorite
bait used at the island is the flying-fish, employed
with a special rod and reel, and a thousand feet of
line. A tuna of two hundred pounds may be ac-
counted as the limit, and requires several hours of
hard work to fetch in. It is in reality a huge horse
mackerel, and worthless for food, and is thrown away
for the sharks and other fishes to consume.

The jewfish, or large black bass, is plentifully
caught also at the island, and, being of less fighting,
qualities than the tuna, is brought in weighing sev-
eral hundred pounds, after hours of dull, heavy work

The yellowtails are more plentiful about the Cat-
alina Island than elsewhere, and although worthless
for food are perhaps the very gamest fish in the sea
for their size, and run up occasionally to fifty pounds.

3i8 Reminiscences of

At Monterey Bay they are frequently found, and he
who gets one on his trolUng Une will have the liveliest
work of his experience ; and, as with the tuna, it is full
of irregular actions, and unexpected turns, and may
suddenly, when apparently botind for some distant
clime, come with a rush for the boat faster than one
can reel up, and double on the line and mix itself
up in a most unusual manner.

Monterey Bay is certainly a most attractive area
for the fisherman's sport, and without the salmon
his chances are most favorable in trolHng to strike
some fish which wiU give him delight. It may be
a shark or a sea bass, or a barracuda, blue-fish, or cod
or flounder. Perhaps he will strike a school of
mackerel, from which he can take in a score or more.

It is estimated that in the bay there are over a
hundred varieties of fishes, and it is not vmcommon to
see a whale in the offing, or perhaps within a few
hundred feet of a boat, as I have seen them as near
when trolling. A young one of twenty-five feet in
length made himself unusually familiar for several
days in the cove of the bay a mile out from the pier, a
place popular with the ground fishermen, whom he
alarmed with his playful ways, and one day bumped
roughly against one of the boats, and was shot at a
niimber of times, which he resented by taking his
departure.

The grampus, belonging to the whale family, are
quite common in the bay, and have frequently an-
noyed me when salmon trolling by their familiarity,
coming up and diving near my boat, particularly one
of them, which made his rendezvous off the shore in
a locality I usually passed over on my way to the

A Sportsman 319

outer salmon grounds, and where I had been taking
a salmon occasionally as I passed by. His presence
in that locality was sufficient to retard the free action
of the striking salmon, as they shy off from the im-
mediate proximity of large fish, which are presvuned
to be destroyers; and this grampus, it seemed to me,
indicated a conspicuous intention of waylaying my
boat each time I passed, and would throw himself up
out of the water sometimes alarmingly near, almost
threatening my boat's safety, so near that he could
almost be touched with an oar.

It was not very pleasant for an immense cetacean
of this character, of from twelve to fifteen feet in
length and weighing over a ton, to come up within
ten feet of the boat in his porpoise-like frolic, how-
ever friendly might be his disposition, and I made an
inward vow to look after him shortly, and accord-
ingly went out in a following afternoon equipped
for him with a large sailboat and my two men, a
whale harpoon and rope, and a musket carrying an
ounce ball. We found him in his usual locahty, and
soon had him come up within fifteen feet of the boat,
and I cast my harpoon at him with all the force I
could muster; but my want of experience in this Hne
was limited and I failed to fasten him, and he gave
no further opportunity for a good cast, keeping too
far away, and after an hoxir's effort. I concluded to
give him a shot from the musket. This I did as he
rose some fifty feet off, aiming at his head. I heard
the ball strike him, and he disappeared. Little ex-
pectations I had of seeing him more, though we tacked
about for half an hour, but saw no further rises from
him, and turned homeward. Looking aft as we

320 Reminiscences of

proceeded on, I saw what I thought to be a red blanket
floating on the surface of the sea not far astern, and
drew the attention of my men to it; a veritable red
blanket it seemed, but my men said immediately
it was the blood from the grampus, and we put back
towards it, and shortly saw the grampus come out
and down, not far off. As I observed him when he
came up I distinctly saw the blood running down the
side of his head, and again and again he came up and
down, still bleeding. This indicated a severe wound,
and the grampus by its slow movements convinced
us that its end was near. With harpoon ready we
followed close, and I soon had a close approach as he
came up, and put the harpoon in successfully, when,
allowing a good slack, we warped the rope around
a post in the bow of the boat, and went off at good
speed, with a crest rolling wave at our bow. We
found he had much strength remaining, and kept
up his brisk gait for ten or twelve minutes, when his
speed diminished, and soon after gave out entirely,
and his huge body floated on the surface. We waited
for his death flurry, but it did not come, and we hauled
our boat uj) to him and fixed a noose line over his
broad tail, and set sail with a fair strong breeze to
the Monterey pier.

Quite a number of bathers from the Del Monte
were in at the beach watching our approach when
we landed from our boat. Our grampus was grounded
some thirty feet from the shore, and all joined us in
the haul ashore, making an advance with our grampus
with each successive lifting wave as it rolled in. But
the united force was not sufficient, with more than'a
score of pullers, to get the body clear from the water,

A Sportsman 321

and the finale occurred when the last grand pull
took place, which broke the rope, and sent all tumbling
down on the sand. The tail end of our victim was
well out, however, and the retreating tide soon left
him clear. I gave him to my men, who tried out two
barrels of oil from him. We estimated his weight
as a little rising from a ton. His black, glossy hide,
for he had a veritable hide, was tough and thick, and
almost impervious to the penetration of a knife blade.
He had a few blunt teeth on his lower jaw, two inches
in diameter, but no others. My ball had penetrated
by chance a large blood vein, cutting through to the
lungs, which was fatal.

The grampus is not a fish, but a warm-blooded
animal of the sea, kindred in famity with the whale,
killer, walrus, porpoise, dolphin, etc. Its food prin-
cipally consists of small fishes, and the occasional
large class, as salmon, cod, flounders, etc., when good
fortune attends his comparatively slow movements.

Another animal of the sea of the grampus family
which I had experience in meeting, of which little is
known by the general public, is known as the killer
{Orca Gladiator of the genus Orciniis). This is the free-
booter of the sea, the pirate, the terrible; ravenous
and ferocious, and of desperate courage. As the wolf,
it fights in packs, and nothing in the sea can with-
stand it, when united with others in contest. The
mighty whale, the largest animal of nature on earth,
succumbs to the united efforts, and the wonder is
that even they can exist.

It is no idle tale I shall relate of them, nor do I
mean to adduce any instances as facts which cannot
be substantiated by sufficient evidence. If you will

322 Reminiscences of

consult the Encyclopedia Britannica you will ob-
serve the instance of one captured, measuring thirty-
seven feet in length, which contained thirteen por-
poises and fourteen seals, which seem almost incredible.

Their habitation is principally in the northern and
Arctic seas, though found about as far south as Mon-
terey. Their usual weight is from three to four tons,
and their length twenty-five to thirty feet. Their food
is principally of their own genus — warm-blooded an-
imals of the sea, porpoises, walruses, seals, sea-lions,
etc., — and like the wolves of the land they devour
their own wounded kind. They have enormously
large mouths, capable of taking in a whole porpoise
or seal, and have immensely strong jaws with about
forty tusk like teeth, of an inch and a half diameter,
and from two to three inches in length, with a double
row on the lower jaw.

They will attack a whale without hesitancy, and
tear from the lips and sides slabs of a hundred pounds,
and follow to the greatest depth the whale will go.
The whale, timid by nature, will flee before them,
and when hard pressed will loll out its tongue as a dog
will when fatigued. This will be seized by the killer
and torn away, and my boatmen — ^both old whalers —
related to me two instances, occurring off Monterey
Bay, where whales were taken, for what blubber re-
mained on their bitten-up carcasses, dying, tongueless,
and this was substantiated to me by Michael Noon, a
responsible man in charge of the Monterey pier.

The business of whaling has been carried on for
many years from Monterey, by men engaged in it
from land stations, who when observing by glasses
the blowing of whales off the coast, go out in their

A Sportsman 323

whaleboats, equipped with the usual outfit, and
after harpooning and securing a whale, cut oflf the
blubber, and securing, tow it in rafts to the shore
for trying out the oil.

Several instances have occurred when, securing
the blubber and towing it by their boats to land,
they have been attacked by the killers and lost their
cargoes. One of my men related to me, having been
on hand in such an instance, the particulars in the
case; that, suddenly attacked by a pack of killers
when towing in two rafts of blubber they had ob-
tained by cutting up a large whale, they were power-
less to prevent the total loss of their rafts, although
they lanced a number of the killers, which had no
effect upon the balance of the pack. I saw one of
these killers towed to Monterey beach, which had
been found by the fishermen in a dying condition
in the bay, resulting from being choked by an extra-
large seal, and had three other whole seals in its
stomach.

Singular that no instance is known of a man's
being taken in by a killer, while swimming in the
water, or of boats being disturbed by them, when it
would be a simple feat to knock them over, or crush
them. The largest sharks will flee before them,
and will be fortunate if not torn to pieces and de-
voured by them, which is a common occurrence.
Seals and sea-Uons are a favorite food for them, and
the largest of the latter, of the weight of a ton, with
its hide tougher than that of a bull, will be torn to
pieces and devoured by them in short order.

The sea-lions are very plentiful on the coast, off
the seventeen-mile drive between the bays of Mon-

324 Reminiscences of

terey and Carmelo, and can be observed at times
upon the island rocks off the shore by scores, rest-
ing and sunning themselves after their food-seeking-
swims, and their roaring can be heard a long ways
off. Alert and swift as they are in the sea, they are
slow and clumsy on the rocks, and in getting out
of the water upon them. On the approach of the
killers they can be seen coming in from all quarters,
and hurriedly seeking refuge on the rocks, and seem
to receive an intimation of danger in their scat-
tered localities, by that 3'et unknown and undefined
sense which communicates alarm and occurrences
so often between the denizens of the sea, though
widely separated. The salmon also cease feeding
and disappear upon the approach of the killers,
striking out in a body for deep water, and cannot be
caught for a day or two in the previous localities.

As well known to whalers, when one in a large
school of whales separated over an area of a dozen
square miles is harpooned, it is immediately com-
municated to all others, though a number of miles
intervene between them. This has been repeatedly
observed from a whaling ship, and by the second
boat out for harpooning, when the first boat has
fastened to a whale.

The first appearance of the killers occurred with me
one day at Carmelo Bay, nearly twenty miles south
of Monterey, where my boat was the sole one in that
pretty little bay of two miles wide. The first intima-
tion I had of the approach of the killers was when
we saw several sea-lions hurriedly clambering up some
island rocks near the shore, and the salmon, before
plentiful, had ceased striking.

A Sportsman 325

"Killers," said one of my men, "and there they
are," he continued, "a large pack coming around
into the bay from a point south."

I looked and saw them, not half a mile off, a sin-
gular sight, like a broken body of infantry with
bayonets up, and nothing more visible, a very
peculiar sight, for the killers have a slim black dorsal
fin, some five or six feet in height, which they
carry afloat above the water as they swim along on
the surface, as they proceed when not engaged in
pursuit or feeding. We were a mile away from our
landing, and I will confess I felt a sudden emotion
of apprehensiveness, as I saw this murderous gang
of sea bandits coming directly upon us. But my men
said, "No fear, they will not harm us," although I
foimd they had some little apprehensiveness them-
selves.

Soon they were all around us, but scattering, with
occasionally some so near that we could plainly see
their black bodies, with the white splashes on their
heads; sportivel}', some were slashing carelessly about
with their cross-set tails, plainly evincing their great
power, and I thought how easily one of them could
smash up our boat in a twinkling, if desired. I estimated
their number at one hundred and fifty, which my
men conceded, for they could not be readily counted,
as some of them would go under now and then for
a time, soon reappearing. It was a most astonishing
sight, more so than anything I ever witnessed, and
I have seen half a hundred whales about me. They
were so many pirates of the sea with their black flags
hoisted. I thought some of them looked at us very
suspiciously with their oval eyes, white-spotted below,

326 Reminiscences of

but they were evidently at the time good-natured.
I was reUeved when they passed on, and they appar-
ently gave us small regard.

Think of the immense amount of food daily re-
quired by a band of one hundred and fifty of these
pirates, and how bountiful it must be, but there are
hundreds of thousands of porpoises, seals and Uons
waiting for them. Fifty tons of food would no
more than give a good meal for one hundred and
fifty killers.

I had before reeled up my line, as successful troll-
ing for salmon was of the past, and there were no
more salmon caught there for several days. In
fact, the killers ended up the good fishing for the
season.

Among the owners of market fishing boats, and
fishermen at Monterey — where there are quite a
large number, as the station is one of first import-
ance in supplying the state demands — are a niamber
of interesting personalities: old whalers, sailors and
sea rangers. Most of them are Italians and Portu-
guese, with a motley variety of Americans, Swedes,
Norwegians and Mexicans, down to the industrious
Chinese. The latter are much by themselves, and
confined mostly to near-shore ground fishing, and
netting of squids, shrimps and small fish. They
have almost exclusively the gathering of the large
abalones fovmd on the coast between the shores of
Monterey and Carmelo, which are gathered at low
tide. The abalone shells are in demand for the beauti-
ful iridescent colors shown on the inner surface, and
the meats are dried in the sun for export to China,
with shrimps, squid and small fishes.

A Sportsman 327

It has been very interesting for me to hear the
yams from some of the old whalers and sailors, too
numerous to recite, and in some instances perhaps
beyond reasonable belief. A recitation of their yams
would fill a tolerably good-sized book. It was a
favorite frequenting place of mine at the pier dur-
ing the several months I was a resident of Monterey,
early in the afternoon, to see the catches of fish which
came in by the returning fishermen, for the varieties
of fishes were nvunerous, with an occasional show-
ing of something remarkable, out of the regular
line.

One of their accounts relating to the "killers," which
I have referred to, interested me very much, of which
I have remembrance of seeing some account in some
newspaper, and, although of extravagant quahty,
I will put it together as best I can; for the account,
seemingly so improbable as it would appear to many,
does not seem so to me, and if the incidents relating
to the aid given to the whalers by the killers did not
take place, I beheve that they could be made to occur.

The scene of action was at Twofold Bay, a deep-
water harbor off the southern coast of New South
Wales, one noted for its varieties of fishes, as Monterey
Bay is on the California Coast.

The killers, though not numerous there, frequented
the bay to some extent, and my informant had
witnessed their actions in different waters and when
in combat with whales, and in one instance when
they were accompanied by a thresher shark of enor-
mous proportions acting in union, which dealt fear-
ful blows upon a whale attacked, with its striking
tail, its adaptation in that respect being remarkable.

328 Reminiscences of

while the killers tore the unfortunate victims to
death, at which they joined in devouring.

At the Bay, a family of Davidsons — ^father and sons
— had established a whaling station similar to the one
at Monterey Bay, where they had carried on for many
years the business of whaling in conjunction with
a moderate number of killers, a dozen in nvimber,
with whom the family had intimate and friendly
business relations, which had existed over a dozen
years. These killers periodically departed from Two-
fold Bay, but would return regularly to their accus-
tomed haunts, and were so familiar with the Davidsons
as to be named separately and individually: one Tom
Tug, from his stripping success, another Fatty, another
Flukey, etc., each being well known and separately
designated.

The killers accompanying the Davidsons with
boats, would seize and hold a whale while the father
and sons would lance it to death, whereupon the
killers would drag the whale below and feast upon
it to their fill. In a day or a day and a half, the
whale would from a natural action rise to the
surface, the place being marked by a buoy; where-
upon the body would be towed to the shore for trying
out.

The method of holding an ordinary-sized whale
was most systematic, the killers distributing them-
selves about the body, and fastening on with bull-
dog-like grips, with an occasional letting go by one
or two of the killers, who would swim off a matter
of fifty or a hundred feet, and returning with all
their speed would strike the whale the most terrific
blows with their heads, and then fasten on again.

A Sportsman 329

anon tearing off large slabs of blubber from the
belly and about the head. At times the whale would
get below before it could be lanced, but would be
followed to any depth it could go, returning more or
less exhausted to the surface, throwing itself out
clear with the ferocious wolves of the sea still fastened
on.

The Davidsons stationed one of their number
during the whaling season by or at an old light-
house on a headland, where an open view of the sea
w^as shown, and here the sea was scanned by the
aid of a powerful glass, and from where the spout-
ing of a whale could be observed at a distance of two
or three miles ; but when a whale in its pleasant mood
"breached" by throwing itself bodily out of the
water, as it is wont to do, creating a great commotion
and splashing of waves and spray, it could be seen
five or six miles oflf. The killers of course could
not see this, lazily sporting about in the small bay,
spouting now and then, and showing their black
glistening backs as they rose to roll or dive, remain-
ing in waiting during the whaling season, not far
from the two whaling boats kept in readiness near
the trj-'ing-out station, their dependence being largely
placed upon the Davidson family.

Whales being sighted out in the offing, and the
fluttering flag signals two or three miles south from
the boats, thrown out at the light house station,
aroused excited action at the boat station, and the
men at the trying work rushed to the oars.

"There they blow, at the north-west, humpbacks
steering north."

Off went the boats, fully equipped, at their best speed

330 Reminiscences of

but they did not escape the notice of the killers, who
ranged themselves alongside and ahead of the leading
boat, keeping well outside the oars, leaping, rolling
and breaching in wild joy with the prospects of a
bloody fray. As they approached the whales a slower
oar was pulled, and in a moment the killers disap-
peared. They had heard or seen the spouting and
splashing ahead, and before the boats could arrive were
among the whales.

Humpbacks, stire enough, and now a mighty
scene of uplifting of huge bodies and lashing of the waters
occurs, an area of white swirling foam, amid which
the frantic whales sound for escape, but not before
a dozen ferocious killers have selected their victim,
which they are to do more than half the work in
capturing. Skilfully avoiding the flukes, they fasten
on with their bulldog grips, tearing away as they
can huge strips of skin and blubber, especially fast-
ening on about the head. Their victim, distracted
and torn, vainly attempts to sound with his com-
rades, for now they are gone, and if he can possibly
follow, he cannot rid himself of the devilish fiends
who beset him with undiminished savagery. Per-
haps half a hundred fathoms he may sound, but never
a moment can he be free from his desperate clinging
destroyers. Bleeding and frantic, and more winded
than his wont when below, he must return to the
surface again, where the boats manned with hvmian
foes are calmly awaiting his appearance.

There is no escape for him in the depths of the sea,
nor where the smilight in fulness gleams. He may
rise near the boats or some distance away, but he
cannot get below again, for his enemies are too power-

A Sportsman 331

ful, leaping at times entirely over his body, and attack
him with redoubled fierceness, tearing away from
above and below, from the great corrugations of
his ribbed belly, and his huge lips, and perhaps have
already torn away his elephantine tongue, which for
the killers is a delicate and sought-for morsel. One
or two of the killers may illustrate the great pounding
act, one blow of which has been known to render
a whale temporarily senseless, and the hapless victim,
the largest animal of the earth, now near its last ex-
tremity, moves around in circles, sometimes turning
over on its back, or swimming on its side.

Now, then, for the last act in this sad drama. The
leading boat cautiously pulls for the favorable putting
of the iron. The long lance is sped by powerful
hand in a vital spot and penetrates the tough skin as a
fork would that of an apple. Withdrawn, the warm
blood gushes out following, and perhaps two or three
more swift thrusts are made with equal success, and
then with the cry "Stem all!" the boat backs away
from the death flurry, which even the killers drop
away from. All is over, and the mighty monarch
of the ocean, with its mountain of flesh, is placid
in death. Scarcely, for before the last tremulousness
of the flurry is over, by a simultaneous effort of all
the killers, the body is seized and dragged below;
as the sanguinary animals of the forest drag their
victims to convenient places for devouring, so with
these wolves of the sea, who invariably, as experienced
by the Davidson family, drag the whale's carcass
to the bottom, or at least to a considerable depth,
where they indulge in a great feast, gorging them-
selves to fulness.

332 Reminiscences of

The boats, dropping out a buoy with sufficient
hne, with which they are prepared, return to the
shore, until the second day after, when if the whale
carcass is not yet up they wait for it as it is sure to
soon after come up, when it is towed to the trying
works. The Killers, whether actuated by a sense
of duty or not to render proper obsequies to the de-
parted, accompany the body to the surface and to
the trying works; but it may be a question if their
inclination to blubber has not a bearing on the sub-
ject, and if they are not influenced more by a self-
ish desire.

At least the killers accompany the body to the
trying works, and are a safeguard against sharks,
giving themselves interim a replenishment of stom-
ach, which is a slight loss, compared with the ad-
vantages of their services.

The Davidsons claim that with the late low prices
of oil they could not carry on the whaling busi-
ness without the aid of the killers, and have been
reticent about giving the information, which is
imparted here by one who claimed to have been a
personal witness on several occasions, acting as an
emploj'^e, and who states many other particulars ; that
there had been other occasions than those experi-
enced by the Davidsons, where the killers had ren-
dered material aid to whalers in the north seas, that
no instances had ever been known when the killers
had ever disturbed boats, or injured men in the water,
though the}' had been known repeatedly to approach
men who had been knocked overboard and to sniff
at, and go away from them, without any manifest-
ations of devouring interest; that they were, despite

A Sportsman 333

their ferocity, the most sagacious, cunning and ex-
pert creatures which Hved in the sea, possessing un-
paralleled daring and persistence, and would hover
around the sea-lion rocks for days, and had been seen
repeatedly to come up suddenly from deep water
close along-side jutting-out rocks where sea-lions were
basking, and snatch them away, although they were
five or six feet above the water — this has been con-
firmed by a number who claimed to have witnessed
it; that whalers have witnessed them not only
with the thresher or fox shark, but accompanied
by large sword-fish in attacks upon whales.

Think of what a grand sport and top holding in
sports this would be for an ambitious sportsman
wishing to exceed all others and achieve the record
over all, with the ocean for his field and the whale
for his game, with a pack of killers at his heels,
and it may be recommended to those who are en-
nuied with the tame pastime of hunting wild boars,
stags, and mountain lions with dogs, to take a hold-
ing on some northern coast station, and give him-
self over to the conquest of mighty whales, the largest
animals of creation, attended by gladiatorial bull-
dogs of the sea.

The captain of a whaling ship which returned
from a winter's whaling in the Behring Sea, a few
years ago, gave an account of the capture of a killer
by the natives of that locality, which he witnessed.
It was at the season when the ice pack was breaking
up, when the walruses, sea-lions and seals were being
disturbed from their winter quarters on the ice and
compelled to seek other quarters, a period when,
according to the natives, the killers, long absent,

334 Reminiscences of

wovild be sure to come for the advantages to be gained
in the breaking up of the pack, as they usually ap-
peared at that time in a most ravenous state.

The natives had been patrolling the ice pack for
some days for walrus, and a visiting party accompanied
the ship's crew, who were anxious to kiU a walrus.
The ice, open in some places, was generally weak
when frozen over, and the creeping on to the
walrus was followed with caution. Some walruses
were observed in a group near an open water space, and
as the party was approaching with great care there
suddenly arose a huge black object through the
ice from the water below, throwing up the splin-
terings of ice high in the air, and seized a walrus,
dragging it down below. It was the work of a moment.
It was a killer, which, observing the walrus from a
starting place below, had shattered the decaying
ice with its ponderous head, impelled with a velocity
which had been known to strike a whale momenta-
rily senseless. The witness was informed by the
natives that an occurrence similar to this had been
frequently witnessed. Shortly after this the ice broke
up in the bay, and was blown out by an off-shore
wind, when the Killers became plentiful, and their
spoutings were often heard and seen.

One day the natives started out with three of
their largest boats, each manned by half a dozen rowers,
with harpoons and steerers. Once in the bay they
took different directions. A mile out the killers
were observed, first a school of them, their high dorsal
fins standing out distinctly against the horizon, and
at times their glistening backs in the sun. Their
movements were slow and deliberate, as they swam

A Sportsman 335

slowly in single file, so slowly that it was easy to ap-
proach them. When near, the leading crew approached
with great caution, avoiding the slightest splash
or noise, but urging their boat at the greatest possible
speed.

The largest leading killer was selected, which sunk
itself moderatel)- in the water so that the boat passed
over it, and at this critical moment the harpooner
threw his weapon with all his power. As the harpoon
struck, the boat was backed with all possible speed,
but none too soon, as the killer immediately leaped
six or seven feet clear from the water, and then
dropped back with a resounding crash, sending heavy
waves after the boat. The moment the killer fell
to the water it sounded, tearing the rope from the
coil with such velocity that it fairly smoked from
the friction at the run out; several hundred yards
were taken in this way, when the killer, evidently
grounding, came up with terrific rapidity near the boat,
which the dragging of the rope was of trifling im-
portance in retarding. As the killer reached the
surface, it came entirely out of the water again,
falling back with a crash from its own weight. As
it fell, it lashed the surface water to foam with its
powerful tail, doubling itself up, and striking out
frantically in its efforts to cast away the impaling
harpoon. As it straightened, its flashing tail woiold
strike on the surface with a noise like the report
of a musket. Finding it could not disengage itself
from the harpoon, it commenced to swim around
in a circle with its back exposed, as if looking for
its enemy. Meantime the natives, not alarmed, hauled
in the slack with all their might.

336 Reminiscences of

When the killer felt the pull it plunged down
and swam rapidly out to sea, the boatmen in the mean-
time giving some turns of the rope around the bow
post. For several miles the boat was dragged with
a velocity that imperilled its safety, taking in much
water which had to be constantly bailed out. After
several miles had been gone over the killer fortunately
turned back to the bay, with apparently less speed
than first given, which gradually diminished after
an hour's towing, and finally so that the boatmen
hauled back the rope to within 200 feet of the killer.

The other two boats, which had followed as well
as they could, were now enabled to approach and
send in their harpoons to the back of the killer, now
exposed. Under this additional afifliction the killer
sounded, but not to a great depth, for it immediately
appeared, attacking one of the boats from below
with its head, which struck amidship, sending it
shattered into the air, and throwing out its occupants,
who managed to reach one of the other boats, where
they were hauled into safety.

The killer, without paying any attention to the
swimming men, completed the destruction of the
boat with its powerful tail, exhibiting while so doing
the snapping of its ferocious teeth. The killer then,
apparently satisfied with the destruction of one
of the boats, began swimming around in a circle
upon the surface of the water, and as he became
quieter he was simultaneously deeply lanced from
each of the two remaining boats, which immediately
backed off to avoid the death flurry. But too late,
for the killer still had dangerous life left, and, instead
of yielding up its struggle, sunk to moderate depth

A Sportsman Zo7

and came up at the bow of one of the remaining boats,
the first intimation of which the inmates had was
of its being crushed by the jaws of the killer. No
attack was made on the boatmen now swimming
to the last remaining boat. The end had been reached
and on the surface came the furious fiiury of the dying
gladiator. Motionless then he rested amid the waters
agitated in his last agony, with his glistening back
flecked with foam.

A dear-bought victory, as it proved for the natives,
who towed their prize ashore, hauhng it in at high
water, and when exposed a nimiber of days, it con-
stituted a long feast for them; for exposure and
partial decay had no objective effect on the Alaskan
appetite.

BUT returning to the salmon. The average time I
foimd necessary to fetch a salmon to gaff, I should
estimate from eight to fifteen minutes, but occasionally
longer; but once getting my salmon turned in a course
around the boat, his fate seemed decided, and around
it would go several times, often leaping out of the water,
exhibiting its proportions. Once brought to the surface
the salmon keeps near it in its runs, without attempting
to go below much, until brought near the boat.

Certainly no sight is more beautiful or attractive to
a fisherman than to see in the clear water this magnif-
icent fash with its brilliant colors swiftly gliding along
by the strokes of its powerful tail. When approaching
the surface in its last exertions, it will appear of various
colors, black one moment, then bluish black, with
iridescent hues, and gleaming white as its belly upturns.

33^ Reminiscences of

But its energies are not entirely gone, as shown at the
stroke of the gaff, when it exerts new Ufe, and well held
must be the gaff, with strap over wrist, or away may
the fish go, if not quickly swung into the boat by the
gaff, and will often flop out of the boat if the head blow
is not speedily given. No sight can more gladden the
heart of a fisherman than that of a dozen salmon in
his boat as he returns from a morning's troll.

I shotold say that the market fishermen lose pretty
nearly half the salmon they hook — at least when they
strike a good school — for they act quickly to reap the
harvest, and pull in with all their strength the hooked
salmon on their stout cotton hand lines with large hook
and sinker. They row and sometimes sail more rapidly
than one would with a light trolling rod, and in their
eagerness often attempt with the hook alone to lift their
fish into their boats, often losing in this manner. They
tear out the hook often in their rough haxoling in. They
sometimes fish with two hooks, having quite a stiff steel
wire fastened to the end of their lines, with a spread of
three feet, and on each end a baited hook on a foot line,
and often succeed in hauling in doubles of salmon as
well as of other fish.

But in trolling with a light steel rod, with the salmon
freed from the sinker, it is almost invariably brought to
gaff, and not one in a dozen of those hooked is lost,
even those by a skin hold. I have repeatedly taken
them in hooked in this way, and it is not difficult to
know very quickly how the fish is hooked, and in the
latter case handle more carefully, as trout fishermen
do, when they have hooked a trout in the same way
But to hook a salmon foul, say on the back, entails a long
winded fight, as has occurred in one or two of my catches.

A Sportsman 339

The taking of salmon in the open sea, fresh in their
feeding habit upon their accustomed food, was such a
novel experience to me that I took pains to study their
methods of feeding, of approach, and attack, and the
character of the food upon which they subsist, which
gives them such astonishingly rapid growth. These par-
ticulars are important in accounting for the splendid
condition they are almost invariably found in, when
fresh from the sea. The parr or smolt, taking the sea
in a year or two from the fresh water stream where it is
hatched out, is nourished first from the umbilical sac,
and following on the protozoa and ephemera, and is of
light weight, less than a quarter of a pound, but in the
sea gains a number of pounds the first year, when it is
designated as a grilse. In two or three years more it is
a well grown salmon.

At exactly what age they take to the fresh water
from the sea for spawning cannot be positively stated,
but it may be assumed that they do so after three years
of sea life. Perhaps some may go to the fresh water after
two years' sojourn in the sea, and some may wait four
years. We know that the spawn exists in the young
female identical with its growth, as well as developed
faculties in the male grilse. The ova, however, remains,
one might say, dormant, incidental with growth of the
female, but after two, three, or four years' life in the
sea, as the case may be, visibly develops, but does not
reach the voiding condition until stimulated by the ad-
vent of the fish into fresh water. Fresh water is a neces-
sitated element to anadromous fishes, and when the
ova of such have reached a comparatively matured
condition, the impulse of nature directs them to the
spawning grounds.

340 Reminiscences of

The sea fishing exhibits many characteristics of the
saknon which cannot be observed elsewhere, and are
entirely new features in the life and habits of this king
of the streams, where but one side of its dual life has
illustrated so many volumes. No accounts of accuracy
have been given of its important life in the sea, until
gained by viewing that real life as shown upon the
California coast, where the salmon is observed in its
normal condition engaged in the pursuit of its food of
nourishment.

In the sea its life is one of progress, and in the
fresh water, excepting at its commencement, one of
retrogression and extinction. With its birth and first
delicate life in the stream we are familiar, and with
its swift advancement in the sea, and with its more
rapid decline upon its retiim to that element which
was so invigorating in early days. If there could
be another chapter it would be that of its survival
from the mountain stream after the spawning season
in its return to the briny waves, such return, by a
singular fatality, deadly in effect, but of this we have
no history.

In the fresh-water pools, where the salmon rises
to the angler's fiy, it is made in a comparatively
moderate way, and if missed, the salmon returns to
its before-occupied place, where it must have a rest
before engaging a following strike, and if followed
up too quickly and eagerly, may entirely give up
further attention; but if allowed to compose itself
for a few minutes, may again rise and essay the
gaudy deceit. Not so with the salmon in the sea,
who is bold and aggressive, free in the boundless
water, eager and fearless. Even if pricked by the

A Sportsman 341

hook's failing to fasten, he will again engage, and
having secured but a portion of the vanishing bait
will seize the remainder — if but a mere shred — and
in his voraciousness become impaled; and I have
several times taken a salmon which, taking in his
first strike a portion of the bait, and hooked with a
slight hold, has again struck the remnant of bait
and, well hooked, been brought to gaff, which exhib-
ited the wound from the first strike.

On one occasion I caught a large salmon of some
twenty-five pounds, which struck fiercely and fought
hard, but was in a very bad condition from two wounds
gained in an encovmter with one of the market fisher-
men, but otherwise in good condition of flesh. The
wounds told the story. It had one side of its jaw
and mouth cut badly by a torn-out hook, and a severe
cut between its ventral and anal fins of three inches
in length and equal in width — where a gaff had torn
out. The gaff had penetrated nearly through the
salmon. It was evident that he had been well hooked
and gaffed, but brought in speedily by the fisherman
with his hea^y line and hook while still full of life. In
the clumsy and hasty work of the fisherman, one of
the holes had torn out and afterwards the other, and
the salmon went free, to finally fall a victim to my hook
and gaff. It seemed hardly likely that this salmon
could have survived the belly wound, yet he had not
indicated any failing courage in striking my bait, or in
his play.

I am reminded of a shark I once hooked in the
Gulf of Mexico with a junk of salt pork and a chain
hook — from the ship Western Star, long years ago —
when I was a passenger on the ship on a passage

342 Reminiscences of

from New Orleans to Boston. We were becalmed,
and a large shark made himself at home swimming
slowly about the ship, which excited a strong desire
in my mind for his capture, and I got out the hook
rig which the ship had, fastened to a long rope. I soon
had the shark on, and set the large shark hook well
into his jaw. He was altogether too large for hoist-
ing aboard, as his weight would svirely tear out the
hook. He would, after being hooked, swim under
and about the ship, but did not exhibit any remark-
able ferocity or fighting qualities, and would submit,
with the aid of several of the crew, to being hauled
up along-side the ship, but that was all that could
possibly be accomplished with him. The captain —
friendly disposed — got out his long shark and por-
poise harpoon, which had a long iron shank of eight
or nine feet in length. To the end of the harpoon
a stout rope was attached. I can see Captain Homer
in full remembrance now — after the many years
which have elapsed— standing on the bulwark of
the ship's side as he cast the harpoon deep into the
shark, which had quieted down considerably, and
lay supinely along-side. The penetration of the har-
poon, complete as it was, seemed to affect the coarse
sensibilities of the shark, and he gave such a wrench-
ing roll-over of his body, the captain meantime hold-
ing on the extended wooden handle of the harpoon iron,
to which a rope was attached, it bent over the iron
part, so that it became a gigantic hook, as it were,
of the harpoon through the shark's body. The
shark then made a run, but, with half a dozen men
holding both the hook and harpoon ropes, he was
soon brought along-side. A sure prize he was, and

A Sportsman 343

small insurance money would have been paid out
to guarantee his gracing the ship's deck.

The ropes were run over blocks, andthe hoistiiig
commenced on both ropes. The weight was so ex-
cessive, with over a dozen of the crew on the hauls,
that the captain thought it expedient to make a sure
thing of it by bending a noose around the shark's
tail. This was done, and over the three blocks
the sailors pulled merrily on the ropes. The shark
had almost reached the height of the bulwarks when
it was observed that the hook, hauling too heavily
upon the shark's mouth, was tearing out. It did.
The additional strain upon the great harpoon hook
began to straighten it out, and finally it came out
entirely. Fortunately, we had the noose rope on
the tail. Fortunate, indeed; when horrors ! that
began to slip; and, a shark's tail not being of that
cross-cut variety which the tunas and the blackfish
have, slowly oozed through the noose, and our shark
made a header into the green sea, from which he
never appeared to our view again.

floral: Don't count yoiu: fish until they are
strung or creeled; and then you may not be sure of
them, as a visiting chap at the Rangeleys last year
found when returning from a brook at twilight with
a creel full of fish. Passing through a path in the
woods, he heard a noise behind him, and saw a huge
bear rising up on his hind feet. Suspecting the
cause, he hastily threw down his basket, and legged
with good speed away, finding the next morning
only his tom-up empty basket and nothing else.

Among all the salmon I caught off Monterey, I
never saw one that appeared in thin fiesh: all plump

344 Reminiscences of

and full, indicating that the sources of food supply
are most plentiful. As the variovis fishes which they
prey upon, the anchovies and sardines, are not deep-
water fish, or the squid, it is pretty clear that the
salmon do not go very many miles from the shore,
probably not more than a hundred, or that they
frequent a depth greater than fifty or sixty fathoms.
There are instances where they have been caught at
sea at a depth of from twenty to thirty fathoms by
baited hooks, at different places up and down the
middle and northern coast of California, but not at
a greater depth than mentioned.

It is not likely that the king salmon, or chinook,
those of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers,
ever go more than a hundred and fifty miles from
the bay of San Francisco, and they are never seen more
than a hundred and twenty miles south of the bay.
Although identical with the chinook of the Columbia
River, seven hundred miles north, they are distinctive
in weight, those of the Columbia River averaging
four pounds heavier in weight at the canning works
over those of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.

How the salmon find their way to the several par-
ticular streams where they were hatched out, and
which they occupied in their juvenile days, I will
explain in some later references to fishes and their
ability to find their way through the sea, and this
through the confusion of the waters of the bays,
too extended to consider at this moment.

The salmon in the sea appears to be quite fearless
and indifferent about boats and fishermen, probably
never having seen any before, and if considered at all,
would probably suppose them to be some sort of fish.

A Sportsman 345

and moderately avoid them on that account. They
often pass by the boat not far from the surface, and
occasionally follow up a hooked salmon near the boat
as trout and bass will, though not frequently, and I
have occasionally observed four or five salmon fol-
lowing up my shred of a bait when reeling in to replen-
ish. When fifteen or twenty feet from the boat
they would turn of? in disappointment, which I would
endeavor to relieve as much as possible by speedily
throwing out a fresh bait. A rather exciting moment
for a fisherman.

I have examined the stomachs of a great many
of these salmon, not only of my own catch, but at the
salting works at the Monterey pier, California, and
have very seldom found any empty. The predomi-
nating food I have found more of squid than any-
thing else; next anchovies and sardines. These ap-
pear to be the principal food at the bay when the
waters are full of them. I found also varieties of
small fishes, smelts, cods, blue-fish, flounders and
others. Occasionally I have found the stomachs
packed with shrimps, which swimming in clouds
could easily be scooped in.

The stomach of the salmon does not have the dis-
tention apparent with other members of the Sal-
monidce family, not exhibiting the swollen aspect
seen often in trout, which, gorging to the limit, will
still take the minnow when only a portion of it can
enter the stomach, and with the tail part protruding
from the throat will often as eagerly strike at the
fly as if half famished.

It is clear that the salmon at home in the salt water
is an indiscriminate feeder upon any kind of small

346 Reminiscences of

fishes which come in its way, and will strike at any
moving object not too large for swallowing whole.
Although I caught some salmon with a spoon, I did
not find this offering taken as readil}^ as fresh bait,
and a large fly would be readily taken if trolled at
a depth.

The salmon come in at Monterey usually in the
first part of June, and almost wholly disappear by
September, though an occasional salmon may be
picked up out of season.

In a dead calm, or in the middle of the day, the
salmon strikes will almost cease, and the favorite
hours for success are from the break of day to nine
o'clock, during which hours I did most of my fishing.
One cannot be too early for them. The mornings
during the season are almost always calm and
breezeless, and generally foggy, often so much so
that one going out from the Monterey pier may
have no index of his course but the mellow sound
of the buoy bell, two miles out, which at inter\-als
strikes from the rising and falling of the ground
swell. This bell I have been guided by, and have
listened to so often that, for a long time after my
fishing experiences at the bay, I have imagined I
could hear its distant soft and weird sound in the
stillness of the night, when many miles away. About
this buoy was a favorite reach for the salmon. About
eight o'clock the fog, however dense, would generally
drift away landward from the almost invariably
westerly breeze, which would give good sailing speed
for home. This breeze would occasionally be so
stiff as to kick up a rough sea, not pleasant to one
inclined to sea-sickness, a complaint, however, which

A Sportsman 347

I did not experience, nor the habituated fishermen.
But even with a rough sea the fishing would hold good.

Many destroyers beside man are among the salmon
— the sea-lions, seals, and sharks being most con-
spicuous, with occasional visitations of porpoises, killers,
tvmas, and grampuses.

One morning in a dense fog an immense sea-lion
rose up from the water just ahead of my boat with
a salmon in its mouth, a rather appalling sight from
his close proximity, but harmless, as they have never
been known to attack men or boats, although a fatal
incident occurred in the bay the year before my fish-
ing, when a large sea-lion became entangled in a
fishing net — not an imcommon event — and, while
being struck at by one of the netters at close quarters,
seized him by the thigh, and carried him down, with
fatal result. The seals are plentiful and will occa-
sionally cut off the salmon while it is being hauled in.

The fishermen dispose of their fish almost wholly
for moderate prices at the Monterey pier, where
salting works are established, receiving for their
salmon from three to five cents per pound. Their
other varieties of marketable fishes are handled also
by the salters, who pack and forward to dealers at
the various markets.

It is observable that the schools of salmon are
comparatively uniform in weights, in one locality
running from twelve to twenty pounds, and in an-
other from twenty pounds up ; and off the coast at
Santa Cruz, twenty miles north of Monterey Bay,
they run lighter than at the latter locality, where
grilse are much more plentifvd.

It is a feature apparent at Monterey Bay that the

348 Reminiscences of

male salmon largely exceed the female, the latter
but little exceeding one quarter of the whole. This
is rather singular, considering that at the canning
works the sexes are about equal.

I heard accounts of large salmon at Carmelo
Bay, twenty miles south of Monterey, a place not
much frequented, being without boats and conven-
ient railroad facilities for shipping, and therefore
not desirable with the fishermen, on account of
its distance away. At this bay is the outlet of
the Carmelo River, a mountain stream which I
have before mentioned as a resort for the steel-head
trout, so plentiful at certain seasons. But one from
the bay view would hardly suspect the existence
of the river beyond the half-mile of beach through
which it cuts its way in large volume during the
annual winter rains, but now in the salmon season
the mouth is effectually sealed up by the banked-
up sand, through which but a moderate amount
of water slowly seeps. The bay is small, being about
two miles in width, while the water is very clear and
deep. The region is quite deserted excepting for
a very few Chinese huts and adobes. Prominent,
however, is the old Carmelo church some dis-
tance inland, built many years ago by the Jesuit
padres but fairly well preserved, where sennces
are occasionally held for the benefit of the few
remaining inhabitants, representing a mixture of
Mexicans and Indians scattered about the re-
gion.

I had my boat and two men go down there in ad-
vance, and by rising at the early hour of three o'clock
at the Del Monte hotel could drive down there in

A Sportsman 349

season to get the early fishing, where I had several
days of notable success.

Few bays could be more beautiful and romantic
than Carmelo — resting between two bold rocky prom-
ontories, on one of which, back from the shore,
are groups of a very rare tree, the true cedars of
Lebanon, not fovmd, I believe, elsewhere on the Amer-
ican continent. These cedars throw out their branches
in a most curious and grotesque manner, and would
instantly attract the notice of a passing totu-ist by
their remarkable appearance, so different from any-
thing seen before. When I passed them in the star-
light hour — as I did several times in early morning
or late evening — I never failed to be strongly im-
pressed by their weird and fantastic shapes.

I had an experience at Carmelo one day with the
salmon which I doubt if any other mortal ever wit-
nessed the equal of. It was not yet light after my
drive from the Del Monte when I passed from the
remnant of an old wharf among the rocks on
the south shore of the bay to my waiting boat. The
morning was fogless, with a light breeze from the
west. A few pulls brought the boat over an im-
mense school of anchovies near the surface, with which
our jig of a short rod and ten feet of line, set with
a leaden sinker on the end and half a dozen bare
hooks, soon filled ovir bait bucket. This method is
followed for obtaining bait, by dropping down the
line and pulling it up quickly, when bushels of an-
chovies and sardines can be obtained if over a swarm-
ing school, as plentifully found in the bay waters
during the season.

The long, heaving green waves from the Asiatic

35° Reminiscences of

coast were about to feel their first check on the
CaUfomia shore, and among those moderate swells
were thousands of salmon full of lusty strength, and
silver-glistening, gliding amid this immense mass of
anchovies, which scattering and demoralized vainly
sought escape. As it grew lighter the salmon could
be seen in rapid motion near the boat, and many
breaks and whirls were observable near the svirface.
The birds were already there to seize the distracted
anchovies when within reach, shrieking with dis-
cordant gabbling notes their exultation, the only
sounds which broke the quiet of the morning.

The water was clear and attractive in its bluish-
green hue. Down many feet could be seen the sil-
very anchovies in restless motion, easily followed
by their flashing brightness. Among them were the
salmon, seeming at play, but as wanton as that of
the tiger with its victim. Blue flashing streaks oc-
casionally passed near the boat. These were the
salmon in passage, and now and then one would
break fairly out of the water, but not with the play-
ful leap as seen in fresh- water pools, but breaking
from one wave to another in headlong ptirsuing
flight. This scene continued directly about me for
an hour, and my men and I were the only wit-
nesses, on the placid waters of this beautiful bay, of
this interesting scene which many salmon fishermen
would have given so much to see.

Once a sahnon came up head-on, vertically, sev-
eral feet out of the water, close to the boat, so near
that it seemed as if it would come in. It was a bold
and vigorous rush from below, undoubtedly for an
anchovy above him. It was an exciting moment,

A Sportsman 351

for I had a large salmon on my line, which was wild
with fright and frantic struggles. As I brought my
salmon to gaff, my lead sinker on its short piece
of line, some thirty feet above my hook (as I had
not then adopted the improved method of connect-
ing it near the bait), was seized within six feet of
the boat by another salmon, and torn away. I saw
distinctly in the clear water as I was reeling in my
hooked salmon, the rush of this second one and its
quick strike, and the tearing away of my sinker
near the surface, suspended on a light piece of line,
relieved me from the necessity of taking it off, which
I was about to do. I have had salmon strike at my
sinker many times, and this was the third instance
of having it carried away, showing the disposition
of this fish in its normal condition to strike at moving
objects. Losing my sinker in this instance, I dis-
pensed with it for a while as the salmon were about
so plentifully, taking in several with my bait near
the surface.

I could not, at this exciting period when salmon
were so plentiful, but regret the time required to
fetch them in, requiring from ten to twenty minutes
for each. So I had to stop playing my fish, while
the great body of anchovies moved on toward the
beach shore of the bay, driven on by their relent-
less pursuers, followed by the circling clouds of shags,
muirs and gulls, and less rapidly by my boat im-
peded by the necessity of fighting hooked salmon.
But we followed on, finally into the jaws of the ground
swell, where for half a mile in length on the sandy
beach the salmon held the anchovies for at least
two hours. Back, probably, from the advancing

352 Reminiscences of

school of pursuers, were other contingents of break-
fasting salmon taking the places of those which had
made their fiU, and no cessation of quick striking oc-
curred until the sun was an hour high.

Many of the anchovies in their fright were driven
up upon the sandy beach, where a long line was
visible of flopping fish, of which, however, the most
managed to regain their native element. At eleven
o'clock, when I ceased fishing for the time — as the
salmon had retired to deeper water — I had seventeen
in my boat.

In the afternoon I renewed my fishing, securing
twelve more, making a total of twenty-nine salmon
which gave a total weight of over five hundred pounds.
My largest fish of the day weighed thirty-three pounds,
and my smallest thirteen. I was satisfied, and had
my glut of salmon, a carnival of fishing I was sure
I would not soon see again.

While my result of the day was large, I lost more
than ever before in proportion to my catch, owing
to careless handling arising from the excitement oc-
casioned by such a plentifulness of strikers. It was
a dark record against my skill. I lost twelve fish
which had been hooked and played from five to
fifteen minutes. One large fish, despite all my ex-
ertions, ran out all my line and parted it. One sal-
mon— a very large one — sprang out of the boat and
escaped after being gaffed, before receiving the usual
quietus of a blow on the head.

I had a wagon down from the Del Monte which
conveyed all my salmon to the hotel, and I passed
the following day in forwarding salmon to San Fran-
cisco and neighboring points where I had friends.

A Sportsman 353

Many curious incidents occur with fishermen which
seem almost incredible, some of which are so singular
as to create a smile of incredulity upon the relating.
I have had many such, but one occurred of an amusing
character while I was salmon fishing accompanied
by a friend, who after I had taken in a few salmon,
and had a following stripping of bait occur, and no
fish, bantered me as I put on a fresh bait to wager
that I would take in a fish on the following cast.
I said I would take it for a box of cigars, that I would
take in a fish of some kind, not confining myself to
salmon, on that trial. I had a good strike but failed
to hook my fish, and I knew by the way my line eased
up that I had lost my bait; so I slowly reeled in, trust-
ing that possibly some mere shred of bait remaining
might lure on some straggling wanderer. But as the
end of my line appeared, and the hook looked bare, my
friend Sprague gleefully claimed the bet. But as I
lifted it in over the side of the boat I observed some-
thing of slight form attached to the hook, and upon our
close examination it was seen that I had won the bet,
for hanging upon it was a minute codfish of not more
than an inch and a half in length, which was hooked
squarely in the mouth, the point of the large hook
coming out through its gills. In reeling in my line
and bare hook, this minute specimen had probably
been swimming along in an opposite direction, and
the point of my hook had struck it squarely in its
little mouth, securing for me my wager. I have the
little chap now in alcohol in a small bottle, as a me-
mento of this occasion.

It may be claimed, by those fishermen who are
so wedded to the artificial fly, that trolling with a

»3

354 Reminiscences of

spinning anchovy or sardine is not the proper lure
for the king of fish, but it may be a question if such
a view is not of the fanciful and fantastic order, rather
than the resulting conclusions of the experienced
all-around fisherman, who, disdaining an unfair ad-
vantage over his game, does not decline the accept-
ance of a lure which may to an extent, if stolen away,
compensate for the risk taken.

As the autumnal rains commence in California,
swelling the tributaries and main streams of the
Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, emptying into
the bay of San Francisco, the salmon take leave of
Monterey Bay and its vicinity, but they are usually suc-
ceeded by new schools from the outer sea, which in
turn depart, and are followed by more, until well
into September, although an occasional salmon may
be picked up about Monterey during every month
of the year.

I have before mentioned that these salmon, as
seined at the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers,
are well proved to be those^of Monterey, as their
average size is similar, and distinctive from those of
the Colvunbia River in Oregon, several hundred miles
north of San Francisco, where the salmon average
several pounds heavier.

Their arrival at the river seining nets is timed at
three days after their departure, as I have observed
by the news from the river canning works, showing
that they leisurely make the distance at the rate of
thirty miles a day, or rather each night, as the latter
is the time of their journeying. It is observed that
when the movement takes place, from a reach of
twenty or thirty miles in extent along the coast,

A Sportsman 355

all go, excepting a few stragglers, showing a con-
certed action. It is interesting to note that in the
bay of San Francisco a large number of grilse are
found, which remain the larger part of the year,
and are freely caught in particular localities with
shrimp bait, and no other locality is known where
grilse can be caught in a similar way.

The distance from the landing at Carmelo Bay to
the pier at Monterey is twenty-five miles. I con-
cluded, after completing my fishing at Carmelo, that
I wovild take the passage in my boat from there on
its return, that I might try the salmon fishing on
the way in deep water upon the exposed ocean coast.
I had a rather exciting adventure.

I drove down in the early morning from the Del
Monte, and the day was very promising for a fair
breeze to sail up with, from the west. We started
along favorably and I found the salmon, as I ex-
pected, in the outside waters, taking in several at
the commencement. The breeze freshened up a good
deal, giving us all otir sail and boat could carry,
with the sea continually rising; and we, sailing along
in its trough, had to turn west repeatedly from
our northerly course to avoid the combing waves
which threatened to swamp us. We, however, kept
on, though it would have been better to have returned
to Carmelo, for the tide was setting in toward the
rocky shore, where no harbor of refuge existed.

The breeze continually freshened, most unusual
for the season, -and finally increased beyond the
capacity of our sail, reefed as we had it, to with-
stand, and we had to take it in, and depend upon our
oars for getting on. So we pulled on for hours in

356 Reminiscences of

our heavy boat with the waves increasing in magni-
tude, compelhng us to swing around head-on west
every time a top wave would reach us, to keep out
the water. As it was, we were soon drenched, and
bucket baihng was necessitated.

When we reached half way, we had our worst call
off the string of seal rocks and resorts of sea-lions,
which give such picturesque effect to the seventeen-
mile beach drive of the Del Monte. It seemed as if
the strong inflowing tide and the gale would set us
into this foaming region. Despite the threatening
conditions it was a beautiful sight, on this day of
sunny brightness, with the transparency and various
hues given to the oncoming green waves which rode
in majestic order, with graceful crests. Upon the
other side were the spouting rocks, and the foaming
washes of the broken waves. It was a case of being
between the devil and the deep sea.

Here my most aged boatman, worn out with
strenuous labor, suddenly pulled in his oar, and
swore he would not pull another stroke to save his
life, naming two of his former associates who had
lost their lives on a similar occasion upon the seal
rocks. I quit my bailing for him, and took the oar.
We mastered Point Lobos, but did not dock our boat
at the Monterey pier until eleven o'clock at night,
having been fifteen hours in passage.

IT was my fortune to visit the Territory of New Mex-
ico a number of times, such visits extending
over a period of twenty-five years. My first visit
was during the building of the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa F6 railroad, when the conditions of the Terri-

A Sportsman 357

tory were much unsettled, and when no other section
of the country could have equalled it in lawlessness
and rough life. In relating the experiences I had
there, which were fraught with so many unpleasant
incidents, which I do not look back upon with par-
ticular satisfaction, I have some doubt if my readers
may not look at them with some degree of incredulity,
and especially with wonderment that I should have
submitted myself to such experiences. But we do not
know what may befall us in our movements, and once
engaged we are usually necessitated to keep on, and
my recitations will be of simple facts as they occurred.

The i\.tchison, Topeka and Santa F6 railroad was
then building rapidly along the Rio Grande, having
been diverted from its proposed direction at the town
of Pueblo, in Colorado, by the opposition of the Denver
and Rio Grande railroad, which claimed the right
of way up the Arkansas River into the mining regions
of the Rocky Mountains. This route was through
a narrow gorge, where only space existed for many
miles for one railroad, and the dispute which occurred
led to an array of armed forces of several thousand
men, which threatened the peace of the whole Terri-
tor}', and was finally settled in favor of the Denver and
Rio Grande railroad by its payment in compromise
to the Santa F6 railroad of about a million dollars.

Upon this settlement, the latter road, being com-
pelled to go somewhere from the weight of its mo-
mentum arising from the capital pledged and the
eager spirit of building which then prevailed, pursued
its course from La Junta, east of Pueblo, near the
New Mexico line, into that Territory, which, seemingly,
was about as sterile and unpromising a region as could

358 Reminiscences of

be presented, especially in contrast with the fertile
and promising State of Kansas, which the road had
passed through.

The Territory of New Mexico is bordered on the
south by the republic of Mexico, and on the north by
Colorado, and on the west by the Territory of Ari-
zona, and is larger than all the New England States
with New York State combined. I had little idea on
my first visit I should have so much to do with it,
which occasioned many other visits.

The Territory presents the most barren aspect of
any region in the republic, since the Great Ameri-
can Desert, depicted upon the maps of our childhood
as extending over the immense area from the Mis-
souri River to California, has been chased down in
limits to New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada; and
the mighty plains of the supposed desert between the
river and the Rocky Mountains produced last year,
of com alone, more than sufficient, if packed in a
continuous train of cars, to reach twice around the
world.

Excepting about the Rio Grande — which spreads
out extensively in its passage through the centre of
the Territory, and along other streams tributaries of
the Rio Grande^ — but few limited cultivable tracts
exist without irrigation. A large portion of the
territory consists of dreary plains and mountain
ranges. The population was, and still is, largely
Mexican, with perhaps one-tenth Pueblo Indians,
living in villages of their own, and perhaps as many
Apaches, Navajos and Mescallaros. The Territory is
less pronounced in mineral values than any of the
western mountainous States, but has a most healthful

A Sportsman 359

climate, and abounds in many mineral springs of
undoubted curative qualities.

Could the ancient history of the region, now un-
known excepting from the traces left, be recorded, it
would be most interesting, as probably with the lower
part of Colorado; judging from the ruins of large
stone community buildings, cave-dwellings, towers on
commanding hills, and extensive irrigating canals
and aqueducts, it was likely at one time to have been
more densely settled by the predecessors of the pres-
ent Pueblo Indians, known as the Anahuacs and Tol-
tecs, estimated by the great Von Humboldt in his
Systeme du Monde to have settled here in the year
64 8 and to have flourished in this region for several
centuries.

From these descended the Aztecs, who, in the
eleventh centur}% founded the City of Mexico at
Lake Tezcuco, as found by Cortez at the time of
the Spanish invasion. This conclusion was also ar-
rived at by the early chronicler Abbd Clavigero,
from the established traditions of Mexico that the
south-flowing immigration into Mexico, and beyond
to the land of the Incas, proceeded from the region
now known as New Mexico and Arizona. Here Coro-
nado, the lieutenant of Cortez, made his famous
expediton, in 1540, in search of the traditional king-
dom and seven cities of Cibola, where greater wealth
was expected to be obtained.

But this is not a histor\^ of New Mexico and Arizona,
of which I could give many pages, and have given
elsewhere in publications.

The numerous cave-dwellings, difficult of approach,
and the watch-towers, and numerous ruins of buildings

360 Reminiscences of

where the entrances were high up, and only reached
by ladders, which could be withdrawn, all indicate
that these were periods in the history of this Toltec
and Anahuac habitation when human life was in
great peril from warlike tribes, and show that
in the two centuries preceding white occupation
a very considerable extermination had occurred;
and even in the nineteenth century the accounts
of massacres and spoliation were of an extremity
to which those of the early settlers of New England
from the Indians were of light circumstance in com-
parison.

I have had occasion to search the church records
in New Mexico by employed assistants to a large
extent for tracing genealogical descents, to ascertain
existing and unknown interests. After the Spanish
occupation, large tracts of land were awarded by the
kingdom of Spain to Spaniards as an inducement
for their settlement in the new regions acquired,
which were largely availed of. These settlers had
no difficulty in dominating the Pueblo natives of
New Mexico, who were industrious and hospitable
and non-warring, as of to-day, and united with them
in mutual defence against the warlike tribes who,
from prehistoric times, committed great ravages.
Under the customs of the Catholic faith in New Mex-
ico, most particular records since 1700 have been
made in the church archives, of births, deaths and
marriages, and the details of such in many instances
are given with extended references, faithfully tran-
scribed by the official recorders, so that a remarkably
accurate recitation occurs of families, of deaths and
names of relatives, and causes of death; and I have

A Sportsman 361

been struck with surprise to observe the large numbers
who had been killed by Indians — numerous instances
where whole families had been so destroyed, and
all families seemed to have suffered in this respect.
I am acquainted with a young man who, out of twelve
uncles and aunts, had eleven killed by Indians.
Until the Apaches were lately secured upon a reser-
vation, and the Navajos some time before, yearly
inassacres were common, but happily relieved in
recent years.

The Spaniards, ever cruel and aggressive, and
feeUng secure in their possession, finally carried
their inhuman treatment of the Pueblos to such an
extent that they rose in unanimous action on the
13th of August, in 1680, at a given signal, and very
nearly exterminated every Spaniard in the region,
amounting to several thousands — men, women and
children. This was a most remarkable revolution,
since no intimation of the unanimous uprising was
given, excepting that of two servants of the Spanish
governor at Santa F6, two days before the uprising.
The governor had barely time to concentrate his
small mihtary force of a few hundred, when he was
surrounded by several thousand natives, by whom he
was harassed for several days at great peril, and
from whom he was compelled to retreat as a last
resort, and succeeded in reaching Isleta, some sixty
miles south, where he was re-enforced by several
hundred more Spaniards — the only surviving ones
in the region who had escaped massacre. Thus sup-
ported he sustained himself for a while, when a fur-
ther general retreat was made on foot down the Rio
Grande two hundred miles to El Paso, which he

3^2 Reminiscences of

succeeded in reaching in a most inclement season,
largely diminished in force, from sviffering and
privations of exceptional character. Here he made
a sustained stand, being re-enforced by a small force
from Chihuahua, but insufficient to sustain an ag-
gressive movement.

Thus was New Mexico relieved from oppression,
and the natives, imitating the iconoclasts of the Dark
Ages, proceeded in the destruction of all that per-
tained to Spanish dominion. All the priests had
been killed and all the Catholic churches and crosses
erected were levelled to earth. All the manuscripts,
documents and records left in the archives of Santa
¥6 were burned or cast to the winds, destroying all
history of the Spanish rule for nearly a hundred years.

The mines, which had been worked by the enslaved
Indians with such suffering, were covered over and
obliterated as much as possible, many of which are
still lost.

More than ten thousand who had been compelled
to renounce their religion for the Catholic faith, and
had received the sacrament of baptism from a sprink-
ling broom of expiation, renounced their hopes of
salvation under the cross, and returned to their an-
cient forms and superstitions.

While the Spanish governor held El Paso on the
Texas line for a period of two or three years by re-
enforcements from Mexico, and made occasional
forays up the Rio Grande, little material benefit was
gained, and he found it necessar}^ to withdraw to the
City of Mexico. This left the Pueblos in full pos-
session until the year 1695, when the country was
retaken most effectually under General Zapata, with

A Sportsman 363

a large force, and was held securely iintil 1837 under
Spanish dominion. At this period an insurrection
among the Spaniards occurred, the dissatisfied ele-
ment being largely aided by the Pueblos, and by
raids from the Texas Comanches, who massacred
and pillaged alike the Pueblos and Spanairds. Then
the Apaches and Navajos, powerful tribes, inflexible
foes of the Spaniards, were aroused to action and com-
mitted frightful ravages, and the Spanish government
trembled in the scale, but finally sustained itself
until the Mexican War of 1846, when General Kearney
made his memorable march with his regiment across
the continent to California, subjecting New Mexico
and establishing a provisional government at Santa F6.

Then came the cessation of the Mexican War under
the Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty of 1848 with Mexico,
and the acquisition of that enormous stretch of country
from above Texas and the Mexican border to British
Columbia, from out of which so many States and
Territories have been added to the American Union.
This seizure of territon^ in its importance has never
been equalled in the records of historj' as an aggres-
sive exhibition of power shown by the United States
over a comparatively defenceless foe.

Our party followed the railroad down to about the
middle of the Territory, and left it at the Isleta Pueblo
for the purpose of making our way west to the Zuni
Pueblo, a hundred and twentv miles or more. Our
party comprised five, including one guide, who ac-
companied us with a pack mule, carrying supplies
and cooking utensils. Mounted and well armed with
repeating rifles and side arms we felt pretty well
secured for an advance through a mountainous and

364 Reminiscences of

desert country, quite unsettled, excepting by a few
sheep- and cattle-men, sparsely distributed in the
few limited localities where springs and feed were
found. The greater part of the region consisted
of mountains and sandy plains of barren aspect.

Rumors of troublesome Indians being about put
us on our guard, but such rumors were more or less
chronic in those parts, and we did not consider them
a sufficient deterrent, being more afraid of the reck-
less white element, then plentiful enough in the
country, and which we expected soon to get out of
reach of. But we made a bad reckoning in respect
of Indians, as we found out the first day.

We resolutely started out from the little settle-
ment of a few houses at an early hour, and fording
the Rio Grande ascended an elevated plateau, which
we crossed for seven or eight miles to a range of high
hills, which extended for some twenty miles, necessary
to cross before reaching an open countr}^ where
we expected to camp for the night. There was
no timber, and we kept as much as possible on the
ridges and the open to avoid a possible ambuscade,
keeping out our guide in advance, with his pack
mule in the rear. It was near noon, and we were
expecting to halt shortly for our midday meal at
a spring our guide knew of.

We had been told to look out carefully at this
spring, for if there were any Indians about they
were likely to be in that vicinity. We saw no signs,
and held up near the spring, which was at a little
sloping hillside, and from which, on one side, arose
a somewhat precipitous rocky blufif, perhaps two hun-
dred feet high. As we dismounted I happened to

A Sportsman 365

look up to the top of this bltiff, and thought I saw a
flashing gleam of sunlight reflected from a metallic
substance and called attention to it. We all then saw
flitting for a moment the forms of two or three Indians
concealing themselves behind some projecting rocks
at the top, and a gleaming rifle barrel apparently
pointed directly at us. The appearance we then
exhibited is more ludicrous at this moment, in con-
templation, than it was then. Our horses, mine being
already picketed, were abandoned. Our guide and
two others of the party, with their rifles, got behind
the only three small trees adjacent, and Captain
Slawson, a mining expert I had taken along — who
was afterwards killed by Indians upon another ex-
ctu-sion we made, further south — more experienced
with Indians than any one of us, excepting our guide,
endeavored to get behind his mustang, which par-
took of the excitement we felt, and insisted upon
getting on the wrong side. My own gun, being near
my picketed horse, I had no time to regain, and
seeing near a prospecting mining shaft about fifteen
feet deep, with a log down it with steps cut for de-
scending, and feeling that I had no moments to spare,
I rushed down it for temporar}^ relief; but not to
the bottom, for I heard an ominous sound altogether
too familar to my ears, which arrested my further
progress, and looking down at the bottom saw what
at first sight I thought a curled ram's horn, but
immediately saw was an enormous rattlesnake coiled
for action, with vibratory tail. It is needless to say
I stood at rest, safe for the moment from both enemies.
Rattlesnakes are very plentiful in some parts of
New Mexico, more so than I have ever seen else-

366 Reminiscences of

where, and occasion more or less loss to cattle, though
seldom striking men, who are warned of their prox-
imity by ominous rattling, and they have a habit of fall-
ing into old mining shafts, and these will hold them
from escape for weeks, until death finally gives release.

Hearing no shots I cautiously looked out of my
haven, and saw our party on guard, and that no firing
had occurred from either side. This state of sus-
pense continued for a while longer, and from Slaw-
son's not having been fired at while getting control
of his horse it was concluded that we had better
pull out as soon as possible and retrace our way
to the Rio Grande. Securing our horses we aU moimted
and retired without molestation.

It was our view that the Indians were either out
of ammunition, or limited in number, or, if in force,
were opposed to taking the risk as situated, but might
attempt to head us off elsewhere on our route. We
therefore, without indulging in the refreshments we
had expected, made as rapid time as we could back
again with due caution, and felt much relief when we
arrived on the open mesa, where little risk of being
ambuscaded would occur.

We found, after arriving at the Rio Grande settle-
ment, fresh reports of Mescallaro Indians, a branch
of the Apaches, having been heard from in the moun-
tains we were in, and also that the Apaches were
off their reservation below in Grant County, and
were committing many destructive raids. This con-
vinced us it was not prudent to attempt our visit
to the Zuni reservation, remote from railroad and
settlements of whites; and as the Santa F6 railroad
was just being completed to Deming, further south.

A Sportsman 367

to meet there the Southern Pacific from California, we
concluded to push on, and from Deming go on to the
west for fifty or a hundred miles, where glowing ac-
counts of antelope, deer, wild turkeys and bear, as well
as of mineral deposits of great value, would be realized.

But we found these reports to be less than depicted.
There poor Captain Slawson met his death, a most
fearless man, and reckless of danger. He was in-
duced to join an excursion into the MogoUon range
of mountains, where the Apaches, in detached parties,
were on the warpath. The party was composed of
four — Captain Slawson, J. P. Risque, Jack Magruder
and G. P. Smith — all acquaintances of mine. I was
invited to accompany them, but would not for a
moment consider it under the existing conditions.

Magruder, the only survivor, gave me an account
of the result. The second day out from Silver City,
while passing mounted on trail through a ravine, and
while approaching a group of small trees and under-
brush, a remark was made by Magruder that it was
a good place for Indians to hide in. No sooner said
than Slawson, being in the lead, answered: "There
are your Indians, Jack," and at the moment they
were fired upon. All but Magruder fell mortally
wovmded, shot through. A dozen Apaches rushed
tipon them, firing as they came. Magruder, being
untouched, had his horse fall with him, from which
he disengaged himself, and with his repeating rifle
rushed to the shelter of an adjoining boulder, being
repeatedly fired at, but escaping all the bullets. From
the boulder he held the Indians off and managed to
work his way up the hill among the rocks behind
him, escaping all the shots; and, being a good shot

368 Reminiscences of

himself, and abundantly supplied with cartridges,
either killed or wounded several of the Indians, which
enabled him — though at great risk — to extend the
distance between them.

Over an hotu* he held them off without being
wounded, when he observ^ed at a distance two of the
Indians making a circuit around to get at his rear.
He confessed to feeling that his hour had about come,
dark was approaching, and it became a serious
question if he could hold out long.

Looking back in his retreating, he observed the
cribbing of a miner's tunnel up the hill beyond, for
which he made a great rvm and succeeded in reach-
ing it. Upon entering this tunnel he was surprised
to see a dim light a long distance in, which he made
for, and was still more surprised to find two miners
at work there, entirely oblivious of the firing which
had been going on. Both were armed, and when
acquainted with the situation put out their candles
and awaited the issue, intently watching the mouth
of the tunnel for dusky forms. But none came, and
in a silent hour of the night the three men stole forth
to the cabin of the two miners, half a mile off, which
they found undisturbed, and from there made their
way to the nearest settlement.

From Isleta we pushed on b}' the freshly built
railroad to Deming nearly to the south end of the
Territory, arriving there at an early hour. Here, on
this day of our arrival, the important connection of the
Santa F^ railroad was made with the Southern Pacific
railroad from California — a meeting of two great rail-
roads which for many months had been pushing on
for this connection.

A Sportsman 369

Thousands of workmen had been employed, and
a rivalry- had existed for an advantage of each rail-
road over the other. Here a meeting had occurred
on the level plains, far from any settlements or towns,
at a spot destined to be one of importance; not only
from the connection of the two railroads now meet-
ing, but from the junction of two other railroads
from the south, those of the Galveston, Harrisburg
and San Antonio and the Texas Pacific.

A fifth railroad has since been connected at Dem-
ing, built by the writer with some associates, pro-
ceeding north to Silver City. No spot in the
region could have been more advantageously se-
lected, having many mountainous peaks within a
range of from forty to fifty miles, which seemed in
most instances to have been pushed up from the level
plains without the accompaniment of foothills.

Water, so wanting in New Mexico, is found here
in bountiful quantity and good quality, but a few
feet beneath the surface, and the surrounding soil
is superior for cultivation.

The situation was a ver>^ interesting one upon
our arrival that sunny morning; not only from the
large number of men employed, but from the im-
portance of the railroad connection, unequalled be-
fore in the annals of railroad building, with the ex-
ception of that of the Union Pacific and Central
Pacific roads at Promontory in Utah in 1869. Be-
fore we reached the town we found a large force
engaged in ballasting the newly-laid rails, and many
teams passing up and down the track.

At the connecting point, from fifty to a hundred
tents were pitched, with a motley collection of teams,

370 Reminiscences of

representing the caravans which had been moving along
with the building roads, now meeting at a given centre,
which was supposed to be that of the new town.

Many of those teams represented the feature which
has been represented in the vernacular of the country
as "hell on wheels," comprising those convenient
vehicles accompanying railroad building, to accom-
modate men, horses and mules with food, and others
fitted up as well as tents, to supply the superior an-
imal with spirituous refreshments and attending re-
creations in the way of cards and dice.

There were long rows of board tables, convenient
in their light construction for removal, loaded sub-
stantially with delicacies usual on such occasions —
beans, shoulders of beef, fried nuggets of bacon,
slabs of perfectly fresh bread steaming hot, pots
of coffee, and various other attractive condiments.

Many of the tents were fitted up as drinking and
gambling saloons, from which proceeded the melody
of violins and flutes, with accordion accompani-
ments. The keepers of many of these adjunctix'e
resorts were of the most abandoned and reckless
cast, as much so as one could expect to find, and one
could see in the vicious lines of their faces, and beady
eyes, that they had reached the bottom lines of
desperate life.

Two outfits of this character had now come to-
gether, composed of the lowest order of ruffians to
be found anywhere, and knowing that their oppor-
tunities for plunder were about to vanish with the
paid-off, departing laborers, were displaying unusual
activity in their last efforts.

No sooner had we landed than we were surrounded

A Sportsman 371

by a score of hard-looking characters, who viewed us
with interest, and in probable expectation of gaining
profit from our advent. Proffers of assistance in carry-
ing our hand-baggage were given, which we declined,
holding firmly to our possessions. We had nothing to
do but look about and patiently wait for the convey-
ance we had telegraphed for two days before to Silver
City, fifty miles distant, which we assumed would
arrive during the day, to carry us on to Hudson. The
latter place was situated twenty-five miles distant,
midway between Deming and Silver City, the only set-
tlement on the route where a rough sort of a hotel
existed, carried on by Hudson, a long time settled in
the region.

Two long freight trains from California stood on a
hastily constructed siding, which were being unloaded.
One of the trains had a car-load of second-class pas-
sengers bound east, and an express car. The latter
had been fitted up as a telegraph and business office
and here was our first introduction to Tucker, the ex-
press agent, a stout, resolute-looking man, who had
a pair of large navy revolvers hanging from his hip.
To him we were indebted for attention, and his ap-
pearance gave confidence. He was busily engaged in
the duties of his work and, with the telegraph operator,
appeared to be in full charge of the railroad freight
and express business.

Acquainting him with our situation, waiting for our
transportation, he permitted us to deposit our baggage
in the end of his car, promising to take care of it. It
was evident that he was well fitted for the position he
occupied, and perfectly fearless of the crowd which
honored us with their pressing attentions, and we saw

372 Reminiscences of

clearly that the assemblage stood in appreciative awe
of him; and he had undoubtedly a contingent force of
railroad employes who could be speedily called upon
for aid whenever it might be required.

He was a noted and remarkable character, this
Tucker, as will afterward be seen from what I shall
relate of him, as I had occasion to see and leani much
of him after becoming well acquainted during my many
visits to New Mexico.

Together we sauntered about more or less, keep-
ing well together and on guard, continually followed
by hangers-on, and one of our party, Adams, a young
man from Springfield, Mass., met with two advent-
ures not pleasant. He was somewhat difficult to
keep in line, and incautiously entered one of the tents
we were passing — where some minerals were displayed
on a table near the entrance. The interior was a
drinking saloon (which he had not noticed), and
no sooner had he entered than a burh' ruffian in-
vited him to throw dice for a small sum, which he
declined ; and, having satisfied his curiosity, he started
to go out, when the ruffian blocked the outlet and
said he must stand drinks for the half-dozen inmates.
Alarmed, he did so, as the easiest method of escaping,
just as we were returning to look for him, and related
his amusing experience. Somewhat startled by the
occurrence and having several hundred dollars about
him, and in anticipation of a possible hold-up, he took
out his roll of bills when unobserved, and tucked it
down next to his heel in one of his stockings. But we
were not held up, and at night when looking for his
roll of money he found it had worked out and was
lost, and he never saw it again.

A Sportsman 373

Noon came, but no team for us, and we took our
dinner at one of the tables, beginning to feel ap-
prehensive that we might be left over for the night —
not a pleasant prospect. Four o'clock came, but no
team. It was time for some action and I consulted
Tucker. He suggested that we should strike out
among the straggling stunted growth of bushes in
the neighborhood and camp there, as his car and
every accommodation was crowded full. A South-
em Pacific palace sleeping car stood on a siding about
a hundred rods beyond the settlement, left by some
of the minor officers of the railroad, who had gone
oflf to Silver City for two or three days, and had left
strict orders that it should not be occupied during
their absence, and no one about had any authority
to allow it. I found the telegraph was working
direct to San Francisco, and knowing Mr. A. N.
Towne, manager of the Southern Pacific, very well,
I concluded to try and reach him on the wire and
see if I could not get permission to take the car ; con-
cluding, if I could not get an answer in season, that
we would strike out for the bush at dark, and locating
first temporarily would at a later hour move off
a mile or more still further away, where we could
rest safely until morning.

As dusk came on we were about ready to move out,
when an answer came from Mr. Towne giving us the
car. Taking our hand baggage, and with our tele-
gram certified to by Tucker, we started off for the
car, escorted by a body-guard of about a score of
ruffians. We found the car firmly locked, with its
curtains closely drawn down, in charge of a colored
porter, who paid no attention to our knocks and

374 Reminiscences of

banging on the door, which our soHcitous friends
insisted upon aiding. We finally got the porter
to take our telegram thrust under the door, and
upon reading it he cautiously opened sufficient for
us to squeeze through, having some trouble in keeping
out our officious friends, who said we shovdd kill the
damned nigger for keeping gentlemen waiting. The
door closed locked, to the intense disgust of our body-
guard, who vented their disappointment in bad
words, banging knocks, and calls for several moments,
when they retired with oaths not agreeable to hear.

I asked Tucker before leaving if he thought there
would be any danger of an attack on the car. He
said, "No; if there is any, shoot to kill, and we'll be
up there on the run." And as he left, he repeated
in the hearing of some of our body-guard, "Have
a good night's rest, and if there is any trouble, fire a
shot, and we '11 be up there quick. "

We got along very comfortably until about ten
o'clock, when our porter, who was a pretty well
frightened fellow, and kept an attentive ear, informed
us that a squad of men was coming up the track
toward us. Sure enough, we saw them by peeping
under the curtain at the door and immediately ex-
tinguished the few lights we had burning. The
squad soon arrived, and for a while we heard them
conversing at the car end, followed by a knock at
the door, to which we paid no attention.

Several more vigorous knocks followed, with a
banging sufficient to have awakened us from sleep,
if we had been so engaged, and a rough voice
notified us that an important telegram had been
received.

A Sportsman 375

Divided upon each side of the end of the car, with-
out making any response, we sat calmly with our
repeating rifles in hand, fully prepared for any emer-
gency which might occur, and determined to fire upon
any intruders who might come in upon a forcible entry.

The united strength of several was evidently ex-
erted in pressure upon the door, but without avail.
Upon this being repeated, with violent kicking, Captain
Slawson called out asking what the matter was,
and was answered that an order had been received
to get into the car. The Captain called out in a
loud voice that no one could come in until morning,
and if any forcible entrance was made, there would
be an immediate killing.

Loose railroad ties were strewn about in the vicinity,
and it occurred to us that one of these might be em-
ployed as a battering-ram to stave in the door. The
Captain heard a mention of this from the outside, and
called out in a still louder voice that if they broke in
the door they would surely be killed, for we were
fully armed in readiness. This settled the affair, and
our callers retired after some further talk among
themselves, well aware that results too serious for
them would occur from any further advances. To-
ward morning we were awakened by our porter,
who gave us word that some mysterious actions
were going on beneath our car, and feared we were
going to be blown up. We aroused quickly in response,
and surely there were curious proceedings going on
below. A slight investigation, however, put us l^'at
ease, as we found the cause of tnis noise proceeded
from coyotes disputing for bones and offal thrown out
by the porter.

Z7(> Reminiscences of

We heard a number of pistol shots during the
night proceeding from the tented town, which we
had no curiosity to investigate, but found in the
morning that one man had been killed and several
wounded — which accounted for the shots — resulting
from a misunderstanding between some gentlemen
of the town. There was no officer of the law at the
settlement, but one Jack Smith claimed to be a
sheriff, and exercised his authority that night with
several assistants in holding up and going through
a car-load of second-class passengers, that had ar-
rived in the evening from California and was held
over on the track for proceeding north the follow-
ing day.

This fraudulently assumed sheriff, in the middle
of the night, with half a dozen drunken assistants,
stood up and robbed every one of the passengers
on this car, assaulting and knocking down several
of the victims who stopped to protest, or were too
slow in handing over. In fact, no official agent of
the law existed at the settlement, where every one
was dependent upon himself or his friends.

The conditions at Deming, New Mexico, men-
tioned, reminded me of that which existed at Chey-
enne in Wyoming Territory in the winter of 1867,
during the building of the Union Pacific railroad
on its way to Utah to connect with the Central
Pacific railroad from California. The " hell on wheels "
camped here had signalized itself in a particularly
atrocious manner at Julesburgh while on its way
accompanying the railroad, and had for some
weeks made a rest at ■ the then moderate settle-
ment of Cheyenne, where its force was largely

A Sportsman 377

augmented by numerous ruffians from the surround-
ing region, among whom were many bushwhackers
from Missouri, rehcs of the Civil War who had been
scattered and driven west by the successful Union
army, and who largely infested Colorado and Montana,
where many were shot or strung up for their misdeeds.
The night I came into Cheyenne at the terminus of the
railroad, to remain over night and take a conveyance
for Denver the following morning, something over a
hundred miles distant, a most unusual affair occurred.
A crisis had arrived. The "Hellers" had become so ag-
gressive and arrogant, that a secret action had been
determined upon by the peaceful and law-abiding
residents of the town, to get rid of the turbvilent
element, which had become so powerful as to seri-
ously threaten their safety.

Boasts had been made by the Hellers that they
proposed to run the town, and if they were interfered
with they would bum it up. A fire among the then
existing rows of wooden buildings, with the prevailing
high winds, was a subject to consider seriously. From
a conflagration the Hellers were comparatively safe,
as their array of tents, booths and vehicles were
on one side of the town, before which they paraded
in force well armed every day. The plan of the towns-
men was well carried out that night, when a hundred
men with repeating rifles at midnight appeared in
front of "Hell Town," calling for the surrender of the
most prominent Hellers who had boasted of their
ability to regulate and bum the town if they chose.

A few defiantly stepped out from the tents in re-
sponse, who were instantly shot down in their tracks.
Ample notice had been given for the Hellers to

3/8 Reminiscences of

remove, which they had paid no attention to. A
volley of bullets was fired through the tops of the
tents and sleeping wagons, from which all of the
occupants hastily retired by the rear to the bushes
beyond, and although a number of shots were fired
in the retreat at the vigilants, none were hit. The
town had been prepared and was on guard, and three
or four of the Hellers found out in the streets were
shot down. I slept so soundly that I did not hear
the shots, but in the morning found the little town
in agitation. But order was restored, and at an
early hour the Hellers removed their effects several
miles beyond the town on the line of the building
railroad.

Committees of order and protection were formed,
and proper guards were established. All arriving in
town were disarmed, and had their weapons returned
to them upon departure. The Hellers, well known,
gave the town a wide berth. When I returned a
few weeks afterward to take the cars for the East,
I found the town largely increased and in good order.
The "hell on wheels" had gone far on westward. I
was shown an adjacent graveyard devoted to the
burial of roughs, where I was informed over a score
of bodies rested, without one occupant who had died
a natural death.

In the forenoon, about ten o'clock, our convey-
ance arrived — an open wagon with four horses — and
we were glad to leave the interesting town of Dem-
ing, somewhat perhaps to the regret of sundry in-
dividuals who insisted upon aiding us in storing
away our baggage. A detachment of troops from
the Fort Bayard government station, forty miles

A Sportsman 379

distant, arrived at Deming that day to assist in pre-
serving order, at the request of the railroad people.

In a few hours we arrived at the nearest settle-
ment from Deming, twenty-five miles distant, at
the celebrated Hot Spring, owned by one Hudson,
who conducted a moderate hotel for the conven-
ience of invalids and others. This spring was of a
remarkable character, and of ancient origin, having
been referred to by the earliest travellers in the region
between two and three hundred years ago. It has
formed a basin of fifty feet in width, and some fifteen
feet in depth above the surrounding level, formed
by the debris of overflowing water during past cen-
turies. The water was clear and greenish and bubbled
up plentifully from the bottom of the basin. Its
heat was almost up to a boiling temperature when
it escapes from the bottom, and about the banks
of the pool will pretty well cook eggs in twelve or
fifteen minutes. The water in the banks being higher
than the surrounding land is conveyed in a ditch
for irrigating a spacious garden, where vegetables,
flowers, and vines are grown, as well as fruit and
ornamental trees ; and, although the water is not pure,
is svifficiently free from impurities to answer for drink-
ing, and is accounted by some to have favorable
medicinal qualities, for which the spring is sought.

It seems to be a universal habit with humanity,
when discovering any springs which are off the line
of purity, to ascribe curative qualities to them,
and no doubt many are highly beneficial. Those of
Saratoga, the Sulphur Springs of Virginia, the Hot
Springs of Arkansas, those of Carlsbad, Vichy, and
other localities are noted in this respect. Beneath

380 Reminiscences of

the city of Pueblo, Colorado, one of sixty thousand
inhabitants, there is a large area of miles in extent
where warm mineral waters of various quantities can
be reached in from six hundred to twelve hundred
feet below the surface, which have artesian pressure
sufficient to convey the water up a hundred feet above
the ground, and flow thousands of barrels a day.

Besides the Hudson spring there are many others
of a similar but minor character on the plains within
twenty or thirty miles of the Hudson. The flow
from the latter is of such quantity as to make a mod-
erate-sized stream, which runs off for a considerable
distance before being soaked up by the dry soil.

While on the subject of springs, I will mention that
New Mexico, a somewhat dry region during months
of dry weather, abounds in many noted mineral
springs of large volume. One I saw, the Berrendo,
which broke out on a level plain, with a stream as
large as a moderately sized man's body, which made
a pool sufficient at all seasons to supply ten thou-
sand cattle. At another place, where a large well was
sunk twenty feet, it could not be proceeded with
by further sinking, as water of fine quality flowed
along at the bottom in a steady stream.

The Membres stream in the mountains fifty miles
west from Deming, to which we were proceeding
and where we made headquarters — camping there
for a few weeks, and where we found fairly good
trout fishing — disappears in the ground thirty miles
from Deming, but, having a flow beneath the surface,
supplies the town with a bountiful supply of good
water, reached from twenty to forty feet below the
surface. This flow of water is drawn plentifully

A Sportsman 381

upon in the dry season by a large number of pumping
wind-mills.

After a rest of an hour or two at Hudson we drove
on for the Membres Mountains, twenty-five miles
further on, reaching there about dusk, and prepared
a rough camp for the night, building a better one
the following day. We had a terrible scare on the
way. The subject of Apache Indians was one of
more or less conversation. We were aware that
they had lately gone off the government reservation
some sixty miles from our neighborhood, but no reports
had been given of their being anywhere near our vi-
cinity, and the United States troops from Fort Bayard,
near our route, had gone out in force after them.

We had arrived in the foot-hills of the mountains,
and it was mentioned that it would not be a very
pleasant place to be met by Indians, for the road
was narrow, and the neighboring hills, covered with
pine growth, would afford fine opportunities for
being waylaid. Looking well ahead, we were as-
tounded to see two Indians with guns emerge from
a ravine into the road, and walk along, followed
shortly by several others likewise armed. It was
a bad place for a scrimmage, as the road was too
narrow to turn about in. We all leaped out with
our repeating rifles, directing our driver to turn in
and tie his horses in the brush by the road, while
we separated on each side, prepared to make as vig-
orous a stand as possible for life, as there could be
no surrender to savages so notorious for their cruel-
ties and torturing as the Apaches. Behind trees
and rocks we scudded with alacrity.

The Indians apparently had not observed us, as

382 Reminiscences of

they were some way ahead. Singular, we thought,
that these keen-eyed savages had not seen us. As
we regarded them in the distance we were wonder-
fully pleased to see a white man on horseback emerge
from the roadside and join them, and that he was
in the uniform of our government, and we instantly
conjectured that he was in charge of a party of Indian
scouts, which proved to be the case. Our heart
beatings began to subside, and we regained our seats
in the wagon and drove on among them. They were
a most villainous-looking troop, and paid no more
attention to us than if we had not addressed them
in the usual "How," "How." This suUen, cruel-
looking band shortly after broke away and joined
the Apaches from the reservation on the war-path,
and committed many forays and murders among
the scattered settlements of the southwestern parts
of the Territory. These Indians were finally gathered
in by the United States troops, after many long and
wearisome foUowings directed by General Miles.

Our camping place was in the Membres Valley,
near the stream, where a few settlements of cattle-
men and small farmers were, and a few miles above,
the somewhat deserted mining town of Georgetown.
We found deer plentiful in the neighboring moun-
tains, which supplied us with meat, and from the
streams obtained sufficient trout for our wants.
Quail were plentiful, and an occasional wild turkey
graced our table. A considerable Indian scare was
on, which deterred us from going on to the White
Mountains, and the Black range, from forty to fifty
miles west, from which we had glowmg accounts
of game by those familiar with the regions.

A Sportsman 383

We had some apprehensions of danger from the
proximity of desperate white men, cattle thieves
who were having conflicts about us in the valley
with the cattle-men, and they seemed in large force.
This induced us to remove our camp west some ten
miles to the Santa Rita Valley, where there were
a number of deserted adobe buildings, besides a
partly ruined fort built a century before by Spanish
miners, where cannons were originally mounted to
defend the workmen employed in the copper mines.
These mines were very rich, containing much native
copper, and were extensively worked in the eigh-
teenth century, before any others on the continent
now occupied by the United States, and for many
years supplied old Mexico with its copper coinage.
The copper from these mines was transported on
mule's backs more than 1500 miles to the City of
Mexico. Copper at that time was high in price,
ruling from fifty to sixty cents a pound, now con-
sidered high at fifteen cents. From 1837 to 1862
these mines ceased to be worked, owing to the un-
settled condition of a region where the Apache Indians
held the country in tribute.

In 1863 the Confederate forces, being in want of
cannon, invaded the region and had the mines worked
for copper to the extent of over a hundred tons,
which was transported across the country to Texas
ports. After the war, until the time of my visit, the
mines remained unworked until I became interested
in them, and they have been worked continually
since. These mines diverted me from the purpose
I had of writing a history of New Mexico, as I did
of Colorado in 1865.

384 Reminiscences of

We found the valley of considerable extent,
surrounded by high hills, and a most pleasant place,
having fine grazing for our horses, and good springs
of water. Upon the summit of a high mountain
rising east from the valley was an immense mono-
lith of granite, having the form of a kneeling nun,
visible for many miles from all directions, a prominent
landmark visible for more than twenty miles. At
one place, by the small stream which meandered
through the valley, was an old peach orchard planted
more than a century before, where the trees, dying
of old age, had renewed themselves with new sprouts
as the old trees fell away, and were now bearing fruit,
though of an ordinary kind. We found very good sport
about this valley, as deer were plentiful in the sur-
rounding hills.

When we returned to Deming — heretofore men-
tioned— ^we found a great change had occurred. A
large general depot was being built for the two roads.
Many houses were going up, and order was pretty
well sustained, although a good many rustlers were
about. Tucker had been made sheriff, and had
signalized his promotion by shooting down a num-
ber of turbulent characters. When committing one
of these acts, an immediate hearing occurred be-
fore the local court, from which he received a speedy
acquittal. When I came down to Deming some
months afterward he had on the day of my arrival
shot down a desperate character for whom a warrant
was out, who had shot a cattle-man in the vicinity
in a most unprovoked manner.

Tucker had killed a partner of this man, for whom
a warrant was out, who was slow about throwing

A Sportsman 385

up his hands in an arrest, and this last victim
had openly threatened the life of Tucker in retali-
ation. He came in on the day of his death while
heavily under the influence of liquor for the purpose
of carrying out his threat. Of this, Tucker was
well advised. The man came in at the station on
horseback, thoroughly armed, with his repeating
rifle in hand, inquiring for Tucker. He rode up on
the hotel platform and through an archway constructed
in the hotel for foot-passengers to cross the tracks
on each side. Meeting in this passageway one of
the hotel employes, who held up his hands to warn
him from passing, he knocked him down by a blow
on the head from his gun, and passed through, dis-
mounting on the other side, and after tying his horse
proceeded to the restaurant in the hotel, where he
seated himself with his rifle placed on the table in
front of him, and called for some food. He seemed
unable to eat anything, either from excitement, or
the condition of his stomach.

Tucker was apprised of the situation and on the
alert. The man shortly rose from the table, and
with rifle in hand made his way out to regain his
horse. As he came out from the passageway. Tucker
made his appearance from the hotel side, where
he had been waiting, and promptly ordered hands
up. Although the desperado was looking into the
two barrels of a shotgun loaded with buckshot, he
attempted to raise his own gun in defence, but be-
fore he could raise it he fell, mortally wounded from
the discharge of Tucker's gun, and the work of death
was over. Tucker's shotgun, which he habitually
carried when on the lookout for a close encounter,

386 Reminiscences of

had its barrels sawed off within six inches of the stock,
and could be well stowed away beneath his coat,
and this he kept loaded with buckshot.

The body was lying in the railroad baggage-room,
where it was a star attraction of the day. An in-
quest had been held, and a court hearing, from which
Tucker had been immediately acquitted, as acting
in self-defence in the execution of his duty. The
region was less another desperate rufhan, and I think
the notches on Tucker's gun were well up to a dozen.

Tucker was not left unmolested by the rough ele-
ment, whose ranks he had depleted, and received
several close calls from friends of the men he had
put away. He told me that, however cautious he
might be, he feared they would some day get the
drop on him, and soon after this conversation, having
one evening been shot at and slightly wounded,
he pulled out from Deming for Ohio, his native State.
He gave me what he considered valuable advice
to-be followed in close encounters when armed with
his favorite weapon, a double-barrelled gun, sawed
off short and loaded with buckshot — to shoot
always for the stomach, for, if it did not immediately
kill, it incapacitated the recipient from making
any further resistance, owing to the deathly sickness
which followed. I have never had an opportunity
yet of testing the system.

Within four years after the advent of the rail-
road. Tucker had a list of seventy-odd names of bad
men who he said had been disposed of by sudden
and violent deaths in Grant County, in which Deming
was situated.

I proceeded from Deming with Captain Slawson

A Sportsman 387

and his assistant to Santa F^, the capital of the Terri-
tory, which I made headquarters for some time,
and frequently visited it during my trips to New
Mexico, at one time staying there while Gen. Lew
Wallace was governor of the Territory. I formed
a very pleasant friendship with him, and we planned
several excursions to take together in distant and
vmexplored points of the Territory for adventure
and new discovery, to be accompanied by a detach-
ment of soldiers, but which were never realized.
At that time he was engaged in writing his cele-
brated work Ben Hur and he would often read
over to me portions he had written, which I much
admired, little anticipating, however, the great at-
tention this book would receive when published,
as it has been more extensively circulated and read
than any other of late days. We often dined and
had pleasant smokes together.

The Santa F6 railroad, which was hurriedly built
through the Territory and from Deming to Arizona,
met with more than the usual mishaps of newly
built roads, and I waited one time for two weeks in
Santa F6, during the rainy season, for the road to
be put in order from the washouts which occurred
on the line north going to Colorado, and after leaving
Santa F^ was a week in getting on to Colorado Springs,
over a distance covered in usual time in a day. And
one time, near Las Vegas, when we had halted the
train, after going over a shaky place, the track and
road-bed washed away behind us. The engine, cutting
away from us, went on to investigate the conditions
ahead, could not return, as the track broke away
between us, and our train was thus left isolated

388 Reminiscences of

for a day and a half. Altogether our train waited
for the repair of over twenty breaks, on our way to
Colorado.

The selection of route by this railroad was an un-
fortunate one, which has cost the company many
millions and will continue to be costly in the future
during seasons of flood, until a radical change in
route occurs.

While in Santa F^ upon my first return from Deming,
a friend of mine from New York, Mr. Ballou, arrived
there, accompanied by General U. S. Grant, for the
purpose of visiting a somewhat famous copper mining
district, forty miles southwest in the Sandia Moun-
tains, known as the Canon del Agua. I was invited
to accompany them, which I did. I had previously
arranged with Captain Slawson, a mining expert
in my employ, and his assistant to meet me at the
Mexican town of Bernalillo on the Rio Grande be-
yond the district to which Mr. Ballou and General
Grant were going. So this district was on my route,
and I had several days to spare. We made the jour-
ney comfortably in a day with a government ambu-
lance wagon, drawn by four mules, furnished from the
military station at Santa ¥6 to the General.

We made our residence at the mines in the house
of the mining superintendent, where accommodations
had been prepared for us. I remained here for three
days. General Grant having been President of the
United States for two terms, and having rendered
distinguished service to his country, was in conse-
quence a most important man, and had been sought
for by some parties interested in the mining property
we were visiting, to take the presidency of a com-

A Sportsman 389

pany, which had been organized upon it. The pecun-
iary condition of the retired President and General
was not an independent one, and it is reasonable
to suppose that he had a desire to improve it, and
many opportunities had been presented to him by
parties engaged in various enterprises to advance
his fortune, and likewise benefit the proposers in the
advantages to be gained from his prestige.

In this instance, it was expected that he would
take the presidency of the company which had been
formed, with a salary equal to that he had received
when President of the United States, of $25,000
per annum. I am informed that he actually did
take the presidency of the company, which he re-
linquished after one day's holding, and the com-
pany had an adverse result. During the two days
after our arrival we made excursions on horseback
over the property and its surroundings, and the
General expressed himself as highly pleased with
the result, and expressed the belief that the prop-
erty presented a field of profitable exploitation for
thousands of men for many years. This did not
correspond with my own impression, which in my
situation I had no occasion to express.

I had an opportiinity of observing General Grant
during these three or four days, and was struck with
his simplicity and reserved strength. He was pleasant
and unreserved. His knowledge of the country in
its geographical features was remarkable, as he was
entirely correct, somewhat to the surprise of his
hearers, in his estimates of distances from point to
point, accounted for by his good memory of information
acquired in his early days when stationed in New

39° Reminiscences of

Mexico as a lieutenant in the United States service.
As a tactician he was eminent, possessing that fac-
ulty characteristic of all great generals, from ancient
times down to modern, which in General Grant's in-
stance, coupled with military training and indomitable
covirage and persistence, gained for him the success
he deserved. Beyond these traits so prominent, and
of such incalculable value for the success of the Union
armies, I failed to observe in him any conspicuous
featiires of comprehensive greatness. The great bard
tells us some are bom to greatness, others achieve it,
and others have it thrust upon them. Many live and
die in obscurity, lacking the opportunity to display
their particular merits. But the opportunities oc-
curred for General Grant, Cromwell, Cortez, Lincoln,
and dozens of others whose names are familiar from
the pages of history. There are but few, however,
who have been great in all senses, of whom our Washing-
ton may be accounted one. A peculiarity of General
Grant's most noticeable was his habit of incessant smok-
ing. He seemed never without his friendly cigar. Wheii
he came from his chamber in the morning, it was with a
lit cigar, and during the day it was only laid aside at
meals, and accompanied him to his sleeping quarters.

Going on from the Canon del Agua, I reached Ber-
nalillo in a day's drive, finding Captain Slawson and
assistant, and put up with Mr. Bebo, a Hebrew store-
keeper established there. This Bebo was a good-
natured, pleasant man, who had with his family carried
on a country store for several years, who gave us com-
fortable quarters. No hotel was in the place, and only a
few houses were about, and these were of adobe and
occupied by Mexicans.

A Sportsman 39 1

Bebo had written Captain Slawson that he had a
most extensive and valuable copper property in the
Sandia Mountains, the proposed examination of which
had brought us here. According to Bebo's account,
it surpassed any known elsewhere. He had never
personally seen it, although he had its complete con-
trol through an agent who had discovered it, and
whom he had supplied with moderate means to keep
it in hand. It could be reached in a few hours' travel
from the town, and its existence, for various reasons,
had been kept a profound secret, which was now
to be divulged to me, a possible purchaser, in a most
confidential manner. His man was to arrive from
the mountains that afternoon, and the time had come
for him to arrive. Sure enough, he came. A sorry-
looking mule of stunted growth, mounted by a cavalier
of ample form but dilapidated in general appearance,
held up at the store door. His unshaved face, blotched
with red splashes, and watery eyes, partly hidden
by his flapping sombrero, were not attractive.

He sat over a pair of well-worn saddle-bags, and
about his waist was suspended a brace of revolvers.
It was Jack Williams, the possessor of a burning
secret about to be revealed.

"Come in, Jack," said Bebo.

" Yes, you bet I will, and I am half dead for a drink
of whisky," answered Jack.

"Well, come in and get one — and take oflf your
belt," said Bebo; remarking to me in an undertone,
as he passed by, "I have to do this, for Jack some-
times gets a little high when he comes in and I have
to put away his pistols."

This was comforting, and Jack proceeded to the

392 Reminiscences of

rear of the store and rapidly emptied a medium-sized
tumblerful of reddish fluid. He returned toward
the front of the store, smacking his lips, and say-ing
he felt "all right now."

We stowed away for the night, and in the morn-
ing, Jack, mounted on a mustang of Bebo's, and I,
similarly mounted, left for the great mine, which
no one but myself could be permitted to see. It was
a drizzling, wet morning, and I went on with Jack,
who was laboring vmder the influence of an evening's
indulgence in red-eye, to the hiUs, while Slawson
and his assistant took the trail for Jericho, the name
of a settlement where Jack lived, and where we were
to pass the night. Jack was verj- groggy-, and, being
supplied with a fresh bottle in his saddle-bags, took
frequent hbations to clear his sight, though he mis-
took his directions several times and I began to doubt
if he would be able to find his treasure. The sprinkle
had turned into rain, and I wished I was well away
from the prospective Golconda. which was getting to
be a mixed feature. Over hills and valleys we crossed
and criss-crossed without being able to find it, and
finally I became a good deal alarmed, esp>ecially when
Jack seemed to be approaching a maudlin condition.

The mine was simply a m%-th and utterly worth-
less. It was certainly not an occasion for me to
express a disappointment, or my opinion of the mine,
and of Jack's character, which now stood clearly
revealed. I felt boimd to conceal my disgust, and,
after again pledging myself to the utmost secrecy,
persuaded him to pilot the way to Jericho, where
we arrived after dark. This Jericho was a small
Mexican settlement, composed of a few adobe houses,

A Sportsman 393

and had lately had a small gathering of miners at-
tracted by alleged discoveries of gold mines in the
vicinity, which had not proved of much value.

Jack had offered the hospitality of his adobe, which
I found was a miserable tumble-down place, leaky
and unfurnished and hardly fit for a stable. I found
Slawson had fallen in with an old mining man
whom he had known in former years in Montana,
and had gone up with his assistant across the little
creek which ran through the settlement, to stop with
him, and had arranged for me to stop there also.
Jack was a good deal put out at this, as he was not
on good terms with Brown the miner, who he claimed
was inhabiting his adobe without paying any rent,
and said he would have his scalp before he got through
with him. But Brown cared little for this, being a reso-
lute man, and said Jack did not own the house, as it be-
longed to a Mexican who received five dollars a month
for its rental. It looked cheerful to me when I reached
it, where a blazing fireplace was giving out warmth,
and the odor of fried bacon from the rear room made
the hearty welcome I received still more agreeable.
The adobe building I will describe, as it was the
scene of a rather exciting episode that evening.

It was composed of two rooms; the front living
one was about twenty feet square, with a back one
of ten by fourteen used as a kitchen, containing an
earthen cooking range, and a table, with two or three
boxes for seats. The front room had only a plain
table, two chairs and a few boxes for seats, no bed,
but a few bear and deer skins on the floor which
answered for sleeping upon, a few blankets, and some
small articles, with some wooden hooks on the walls

394 Reminiscences of

holding clothing, with two guns and a brace of revolveis.
After a hearty meal of fried bacon, potatoes, bread,
and tea we were seated on the boxes and chairs,
while Brown was seated on a bear skin on the floor,
opposite the fire. He and Slawson were reviewing
their experiences in Montana, and the river-bank
sluicing they had been engaged in. The open door
was darkened by the entrance of Jack Williams, clad
in an old blue army overcoat, who came in from the
rain and seated himself on a vacant box near the
fire. He had given no knock at the door, and un-
bidden took his seat without saj'ing a word. Brown
and Slawson after a moment's silence continued
their conversation about times in Montana. Other-
wise the silence would have been more awkAvard.
After a few moments Jack spoke up to Brown, telling
him he wanted him to vacate the premises, as they
belonged to him. Brown, quietly seated, responded
that he hired the house of a Mexican, paying his rent
of five dollars a month, and that he proposed to remain,
and doubted very much if Jack owned the property.
Jack then with much profanity accused Brown of
taking away his friends (meaning ourselves) who
came out to stop with him. This and some more,
when Jack became so abusive that Brown, still seated,
ordered him out. Upon this Jack rose in a threatening
attitude, addressing Brown with a string of vile names.
At this Brown rose from his seat, and seizing Jack
by the back of the neck pitched him with much force
out of the door into the rain. It was too dark outside
to see where Jack fell, but he quickly recovered him-
self, and pulling his pistol fired two shots at Brown,
who still stood in the open doorway. Both shots

A Sportsman 395

missed, taking efifect in the adobe wall close to the
doorway, as we observed in the morning.

Brown at these shots rapidly fell back and seizing
one of the revolvers hanging by the fireplace, emptied
the barrels of his pistol from the doorway in the
supposed direction of Jack. All was then still, and
Brown expressed his belief that he had surely plunked
Jack ; but no search was made outside, nor was the door
closed, and Brown shortly resumed his seat on the bear
skin, and his conversation with Slawson about Montana
matters, picking up the subject where they left oflf.

I confess I did not feel at ease, and took pains to
seat myself out of range from the door and the two
windows, one being in front and the other on the side
toward Jack's house.

A few moments afterward the doorway was filled
by another caller. It was a man named Graham
(between whom and Jack existed a grudge), who
hastih^ inquired the cause of the shooting he had
heard. This Brown explained, relating the particulars.
"Good God," said Graham, "then it was Williams
who passed me as I was coming up here. Oh, if I
had only known it was he, I could have shot him easily."
Out he rushed, thinking he might overtake him. But
we heard no further shots, and he evidently failed to
overtake the valiant Jack, nor did Graham return.

The morning opened clear and bright, and we
mounted our horses and returned to Bernalillo. As
we passed Jack's miserable adobe he came out to meet
us. Just then came Graham along well mounted
on a gray mustang. He held up, and finding where
we were going said he would accompany us. I looked
for trouble, as both were armed with a brace of pistols

396 Reminiscences of

usual with these cavaUers. I looked for immediate
trouble, as Jack sneeringly remarked to Graham,
chagrined to find he was going along with us: "Well!
You can take me in now if you want to," but the
latter rode ahead without making any reply.

I told Jack I would see Bebo, and we passed on,
leaving him cursing as we departed. I told Bebo
I could not do anything in the mine, without entering
into any further explanation, and we rode on to
the town of Algodones, further up the Rio Grande.
From this town we rode on to a valley a few miles
off the road in the hills to view the ruins of a former
Pueblo settlement, now entirely deserted, and which had
been for a long time. We were attracted to the place
by the accounts we had received of the wood petrifi-
cations there. We found a large number of petri-
fied trees, evidently palms, remnants of ages before,
when the palms evidently grew in profusion, while
now only stunted pines existed.

The evidence was conclusive that in some early
period the climate of this region was semitropical,
and that this condition existed not only here, but
for hundreds of miles further north ; and at the pres-
ent day broken fragments of palm-tree petrifications
can be gathered below the foot-hill regions on the
plains beyond the present city of Denver, in Colorado,
at places quite plentiful.

We found in the valley we visited, immense palm-
tree petrifications, whole trunks of trees several feet
in diameter, and scattered in profusion over a larger
area, fragments of Indian pottery, showing that at
one time the region must have been largely inhab-
ited by a lost race, of which no history exists. Great

A Sportsman 397

climatic changes have occurred in this region and
north beyond.

At one time the Atlantic Ocean extended to the
base of the Rocky Mountains, as clearly indicated by
the immense deposits of sea-shells and petrified marine
animals now found at the base of the mountains.

The predecessors of the whales, black-fish, grampus,
porpoises, and other warm-blooded animals of the
sea, were here once in active life in prehistoric times,
of which unmistakable evidence is found. At the
time of the semitropical climate, when all the land from
the present Atlantic Coast to the Rocky Mountains
excepting a few hundred feet of Mount Washing-
ton in New Hampshire was submerged, and prob-
ably long before man had appeared in any form
similar to that of the present, the saurian family
existed in great variety, of which the ichthyosaurian
remains found from California to Wyoming indicate
the immense profusion of this class in variety.

The remains of this immense animal, showing a
frame as large as that of our modem whale, are com-
paratively plentiful in Colorado and Wyoming, from
which I have seen and secured petrified fragmentary
specimens. These immense saurians were more or
less amphibious, and may clearly be designated to
have been the whales of the Triassic and Jurassic
periods, showing in their anatomy the bones of the
fingers, feet and arms, and joints as exhibited to-day
in the flippers of the whale. These indicate an adapt-
ability for land life, once experienced in the history
of this largest animal of creation, representative of
myriads of aquatic reptiles dwelling upon land.
The recent discoveries in Italy, California, Nevada,

398 Reminiscences of

and Wyoming have resulted in the generaUzing of
diversified groups of aquatic mammals of earlier types
in the mixosaurus and shastasaurus class of reptiles,
distinctive links anterior to the life of the mammoth
fossilized saurian remains found in Colorado, to
be yet further detailed, from which the evolution
of the whale and kindred genera is readily traced,
as distinctively as that of the horse of the present
day from its five-toed ancestral type of inferior
size.

Curiously interesting is the history of evolution,
yet but partially explained, but sufficiently to in-
dicate a great future advance, though probably never
to be fully illustrated.

A NOTHER excursion I made in 1880 from Santa F^
•'^ up to the Navajo Indian government reservation of
3,000,000 acres, situated in the northwestern part of
New Mexico, extending into Arizona. This tribe,
formerly a numerous and powerful one, is in late
years reduced to a few thousand. Comparatively
peaceful by the restrictions of government, they,
however, break out occasionally in moderate ravages
from the restless character of the young braves,
but are held in good restraint, and follow a half-
civilized life, having horses, sheep, goats, and other
domestic animals, and cultivate small tracts of land
in com, beans, and other vegetables.

On their native looms they manufacture a good
many blankets of various colors, known as the Navajo,
which have an extensive sale. Many of these are of fine
texture, and often sell as high as $ 100 or more. They are

A Sportsman 399

warm and durable, and are often in gay colors from na-
tive dyes, and are plentifully met with in New Mexico.

These Indians are governed by their native chiefs
by rude laws of their own, and some are quite industri-
ous, though in this respect behind the Pueblo tribes, of
which there are many, who are village dwellers and have
always been peaceful with the whites, excepting in the
general uprising which drove out and exterminated
all the Spaniards, their cruel oppressors, in 1680.

A marked degree of difference is also observed
between the Navajos and many of the other Indian
tribes upon reservations, located in the vicinity of white
settlements, where the effect of example is distinctly
e\ident in the respectable appearance of the Indians.

The Navajos are still fierce-looking, and cling to
their old costume of buckskin leggings and moccasins,
enlivened by the gay-colored government blankets,
which are much less dtirable and expensive than
their own. Their fondness for ochre pigments is
as strong as ever, and is shown on their faces gen-
erally, and painting up is a feature of observance
upon the eve of any visit from the reservation, or
in fact any event out of the ordinary line.

Could the history of this once warlike tribe be
given, it would be one of great interest, and give much
light upon the early history of the vast region once
occupied as the scene of their plundering forays
and murderous descents upon the peaceful Pueblos
and Mexican settlers, when whole families and settle-
ments were exterminated. With the many Apaches
occupying the regions south, and with whom the
Navajos were in perpetual conflict, but were mutual
in plundering and murdering all they could reach

400 Reminiscences of

over a large area held in terrorism, it is likely that
many dark pages of history could have been written
of Indian savagery, now forgotten in oblivion, and
only attested by the ruins of large community build-
ings, the stone watch-towers upon heights, and the
deserted habitations of the cliflf-dwellers.

After the declaration of peace with Mexico in
1847 from which the United States acquired its im-
mense western domain, the ravages of the Navajos
and Apaches were frequent subjects of attention by
Congress, and many detachments of troops were
required before the Indians could be made to occupy
the reservations determined for them. Despite all
efforts of the government, it was many years after
the Navajos were settled before the various tribes
of Apaches were gathered in.

In making the excursion to the Navajo country, I
was accompanied from Santa F6 by my wife and
my cousin, Mrs. Wood, also by Captain Slawson and
his assistant, and one Meyers, who had induced the
trip by representations of valuable copper mines
near the Indian reservation, which he claimed to
own. There are a great many kinds of people in
the world, a description of whose varying peculi-
arities would fill many volumes.

I have described previously the character of Jack
Williams, who lived upon the credulity of Bebo.
There are many prototypes of Williams, varying
more or less according to attending situations, from
Williams up to the plausible villains who palm off
bogus gold bricks and mines without value.

There seems to be in mines a fascination to many,
which creates a credulity and easy confidence not

A Sportsman 401

allowed in the consideration of other business sub-
jects. The large advantages gained by some in
mining, exceptional cases of success, stimulate the
feeling for gain beyond the exercise of sound reason.
Mining interests therefore attract a class of adventurers
more plentiful than connected with other interests.
Many of these adventurers are ready to take ad-
vantage of the public in any manner and by any
dishonesty they can Bring to bear, w^hile other ad-
venturers, with a blind confidence arising from
ill-regulated and inexperienced conditions, although
sensible otherwise, will_ lead on men far superior to
themselves in acuteness, and involve them in the fol-
lowing of an "ignis jatuus" phantom which leads to
mire and loss. This class is perhaps more dangerous
than the first. But the worst of all is the plausible
rogue who has confidence in his ignorance.

This Meyers represented an entirely different type
than that of Williams, being a man of education
and some scholarly attainments, and the author of
some interesting articles regarding mechanical and
mining appliances, which had appeared in a prom-
inent mining joirmal. Despite this he proved to be
a man of impracticable ideas, deficient in good sense,
fantastic in action, and hyperbolic in illustrations;
arrogant to those we met on our route, untruthful,
and in fact a complete knave whose questionable
actions afterward gave him several experiences within
prison walls. He, however, stood w^ell in the simple
community where he resided, excepting with the
store-keepers, and posed as an eminent authority
in scientific affairs, and having a comfortable and
scholarly appearance sustained at first pretty well

>6

402 Reminiscences of

the good recommendation given of him from one
of the substantial townsmen with that ready willing-
ness so common in the extreme West.

Meyers claimed that he had acquired an immense
tract of land known as the Nacimiento Grant in per-
fect title from the Spanish and Mexican govern-
ments, ratified in patent by the United States, which
abounded in immense ledges of sandstone, impreg-
nated by nodules and particles of pure copper, which
would yield large profits if worked by modem methods.
The presentation was attractive from a prima facie
view, and to some extent as alluring as that which
induced the adventurous Coronado in earlier days
to traverse the same region in search for the golden
cities of Cibola. The evidence in result was that
the romancing Meyers had not a penny's interest
in the grant, or any means for acquiring one, and
the copper existing in the ledges was of such insignifi-
cant proportions as to prove unprofitable even if
worked over by the complete manner followed in
the Lake Superior regions, where less than one per
cent, of native copper gives large profits. But the re-
gion was very extraordinary and interesting, where
the geological features were unique in character.
Once it had been the bed of an immense lake into
which had flowed streams carrying tnuiks and
branches of trees, principally palms. The water of the
lake from some cause had been strongl}^ impreg-
nated with copper in solution, which saturated the
logs more or less, and the wood became petrified
completely, and the copper solidified in the wood
in a metallic form in minute particles. Then a con-
vulsion of nature occurred, a mighty upheaval of

A Sportsman 403

the bed of the lake, which with titanic force threw
about the sandstone ledges in a confused manner. I
saw some specimens which would be difficult to dupli-
cate elsewhere, of strips of petrified palms carrying
bright particles of native copper, and, more wonder-
ful yet, small running veins in the wood of as bright,
hard anthracite coal as could be found anywhere.

Our outfit consisted of a two-seated carr>'all with
a pair of spirited horses from a town stable, driven
by the proprietor, a Mr. Strong, to carry my wife
and cousin and self, with the driver; in addition a
common covered Bain wagon with a pair of horses,
to carry Captain Slawson and his assistant James,
with a tent and supplies. Mr. Meyers was to ac-
company us on horseback as we understood, and so
started out from Santa F^, but presently demurred
when a few miles out, saying that he had expected we
would have a place for him in the carriage, which
we thought at the time was unusual for him to ex-
pect, since he was supposed to have more invited
us upon the trip, to view his property for sale, than
we had invited him. But as he found so much fault
from horseback riding, to which he claimed he was
unaccustomed, we gave him a place in the wagon,
having his horse led behind. Presently he found the
wagon, without springs, too severe, and we took him
in the carryall, as my wife volunteered to take his
place in the wagon. As I thought it over, it seemed
so unreasonable for an apparently strong man to
take the place of a woman in the carriage, I inti-
mated rather strongly that he should return to the
wagon. This he was compelled to do, but instead of
taking the wagon he mounted his horse and went on

404 Reminiscences of

ahead, as he said to arrange at the Mexican town
of Pena Blanca, twenty-five miles fuii;her ahead,
where we intended to pass the night, for our ac-
commodations. That was the last we saw of him
until the following morning. When we arrived there
about dark we looked for him in vain, and put up
in two or three of the ordinary adobe houses, there
being no public house.

In the morning he appeared on horseback as we
were about startmg away on our journey, account-
ing for his non-appearance before by saying he had
not been well, and had gone to the house of a Mex-
ican friend for the night. We now commenced a
journey over a waterless district of fifty miles after
fording the Rio Grande, and it was necessary to take
on a barrel of water to carry ourselves and our horses
over, having a stock of hay and grain in the wagon
with our other supplies.

We passed over this desert in two days, reaching
the Rio Purco, a muddy stream, but where the country
was more fertile, with reaches of pine timber and
pleasant stopping places. The habitations were few
and far between, and we found the camping out
preferable to abiding in any of the few adobes
we met with. The scenery was attractive in many
respects, though away from the streams and valle}'s
the faces of the mountains were barren beyond any
hope of ever making fertile.

One prominent mountain height seemed ever con-
spicuous, that of Cabazon, or the Cabbage Head,
which was the guide for the direction we were to pursue.
This we finally passed, following up the Rio Purco,
and reached the mesa of the Nacimiento in six days

A Sportsman 405

after leaving Santa ¥6. We were a great surprise
and attraction at the few Mexican settlements we
passed through, as no white woman had ever been
seen there before, and the inhabitants, men and
women, old and young, and the children would come
about us as if we had been visitors from another planet.
It amused us to tear out leaves from a few illustrated
magazines we had and distribute them among the
people, which were sought for with the greatest eager-
ness, and the fortunate possessor of one of these pages
became immediately the centre of a delighted group.
We met on several occasions small bands of Navajos,
looking more savage than peaceful Indians should.
They were accompanying small bands of sheep which
they were driving out for disposal at Mexican towns.
Mounted and dressed in their buckskin garb, with
gay blankets and hideously painted faces, with red
bandana handkerchiefs bound about their heads,
they looked ferocious enough to pursue the wanton
pastimes of their ancestors.

At a spring one day, where my cousin, Mrs. Wood,
was temporarily lingering away from our party, she
was much alarmed by the approach of a Navajo
painted brave, who came on horseback at some
speed, brandishing a quart bottle which he held
by the neck in his hand. Espying her he stopped
and addressed her in the mixed dialect of Spanish
and Indian tongue, at which she was much alarmed,
but relieved at the approach of Captain Slawson,
who explained the object of the brave as being to have
the loan of a drinking cup which Mrs. Wood had
with her.

Intoxicants are forbidden by law from being

4o6 Reminiscences of

furnished to Indians, but little attention is given in
New Mexico to this, and the Navajos, though tem-
perate in the main, have means of obtaining liquor
when particularly desired, as indicated by several
of their number whom we saw under its influence.
Most Indians are gamblers, and the Navajos are
particularly addicted to it, and skilful, and adepts
at cheating. We saw the success of one of these
warriors, at a Mexican village near Santa F^, when
on our return, where he obtained all the cash of
a small sheep-owner and his flock also, of some-
thing over a hundred head, which he was driving
home to the reserv'ation.

We had some adventures in fording some of the
small streams on our way. At one of these fords
our carrj^all as well as our wagon stuck in the mud
so effectually that we had to wait some hours for a
pair of oxen to haul us out. We had an amusing
incident with Meyers, the fourth day out, illustrat-
ing one of the peculiar features of his disposition
and make-up. It had rained in the night, somewhat
to our inconvenience, and commenced again in the
morning as we were about to start on. As our cuisine
department was not equipped with a cook we had
first depended upon Hussey, the driver of our wagon
team, who had recommended himself to us favor-
ably in connection with his expressed opinion that
he was high up in the line, and intended to open a
restaurant in Santa F6 upon his return. We found
his work so wretched in this particular that I took
this department in hand myself, and delegated him
to the dish-washing line, but his results in this were
so unsatisfactory that my wife and cousin were com-

A Sportsman 407

pelled to take it on. Meyers had the quality of a
great soldier and worker in the essential of a vigorous
appetite, and exhibited a commendable promptness in
appearance at meal times, and to use an expression
of Hussey's "could bolt four days' rations at a single
meal." His cultivated taste was evinced particularly
in the selection of our delicacies, which were limited for
the campaign. We had not called upon him for as-
sistance in any particular, nor had he proffered any.
As we were ending our breakfast it commenced to
sprinkle, with an appearance of increase, and we
made haste to finish up and take the shelter of our
teams. As we were completing the dish-washing act,
I asked Meyers if he would assist in packing away
the washed tableware, and aid in stowing away the
cases and baskets in the wagon which stood ready
for departure. I could hardly believe my senses
when he declined, and there was no time for dis-
cussion at the moment. At midday, when we rested
for the noon meal and he stood about in readiness
for his usual onset, I asked if I could be sure that
he had declined to aid in loading up our wagon, at
the commencement of the rain that morning; to
which he answered, "Quite so," and that before coming
to America he had solemnly vowed never to engage
in any menial labor. I had pretty well digested the
matter before asking, and quietly informed him
that his vow was a most unfortunate one, as it would
effectually debar him from any participation in our
meal now preparing, or in any other during our ex-
cursion, as we were doing our own woi"k, the cooking and
the cleaning up, hand in hand in social union, each
doing his share, and quite willing to do so in proper

4o8 Reminiscences of

appreciation, but I certainly could not allow his fur-
ther participation in benefits derived from our mutual
exertions, which his claimed superiority of station
must from that moment debar him from. He re-
ceived my decision in silence, and mounted his horse
for a neighboring settlement. I thought he would
then probably desert us, but he came into camp at night
as usual, and afterward caught up his meals as he could
outside of our supplies, and accompanied us to the Nar-
cimiento, leaving us there, and we saw no more of him.

LJAVING had over forty years of annual experiences
■^ -^ about the Rangeley Lake waters in winter and
summer, and having passed several months in many of
my visits, I have observed some features about trout
and animals which may be of interest to fishermen, and
which may throw some light upon the lives of those
fish, which are so gamy, beautiful and delectable.

I will simply give my experiences and opinions
without any intention of entering into any contro-
versy with other fishermen whose experience, percep-
tiveness, and conclusions may be different from or
superior to my own.

In referring to the Rangeley Lakes I include that
chain of larger lakes situated in Oxford County, Me.,
commencing with the Rangeley, the Mooseluckme-
guntic, the two Richardsons, and the Umbagog, with
the adjoining and connecting small lakes and ponds.
The large lakes mentioned comprise a surface area of
eighty square miles, and the principal tributary lakes
and ponds, more than thirty in number, comprise an
equal surface area, or a total of i6o square miles.

A Sportsman 409

The drainage area tributary' to the system com-
prises over 3000 square miles, which is almost en-
tirely forest. The average precipitation of rain, which
includes that from melting snow, is estimated at 42
inches. The altitude above tide water varies from
1200 feet to 1600 feet.

The Rangeley waters are all well stocked with trout,
excepting the Umbagog, the lower lake (partly in
New Hampshire), which a dozen years ago was found to
contain pickerel, and these have been disastrous to the
trout, and in consequence have thinned out the greater
proportion of the small fish, although some quite large
ones are now occasionally caught. I have heard of
several being caught weighing from eight to nine
pounds. In winters, until the railroad was com-
pleted to Bemis lately, it was difficult to get at the
principal lakes, excepting Rangeley Lake proper, which
adjoins the small town of Rangeley, and there are no
settlements or towns adjoining the big lake or the
smaller lakes or the Richardsons, excepting the town
of Andover, which is twelve miles from the head of the
lower Richardson, and which is connected by a road
so little used in the winter that I formerly had to get it
broken out for my party, and have sometimes had to go
to the expense of S40 or S50 to do so.

In one instance, a number of years ago, five feet of
snow fell while I was at the lake, and drifted so badly
that I had to snow-shoe my way out with a com-
panion over the mountains, twenty-two miles (we being
up the lake twelve miles), which required our almost
constant exertions for seventeen hours, leaving at 6
A.M. and arriving out at Andover at 11 p.m. In one
instance we were two days in getting over the road

4IO Reminiscences of

from Andover, twelve miles to the arm of the lake,
although we had two stout teams, but had to shovel
and tramp through heavy drifts of snow, and were
compelled to camp over night on the road. Several
other times I have been compelled to camp at the
arm of the lake by having the ice break up after it had
frozen, and in one instance I had to wait a week at the
arm for the ice to form sufficiently strong to get over.
In fact I have had quite a number of adventures
in getting up to camp on the Upper Richardson Lake
over the ice in the winter, and especially since the
comparatively late law on deer shooting, which ends
the season on December 15.

To get the December shooting about the lakes is diffi-
cult, as one must get up the lake by boats, or on the ice.

From the middle of November the ice generally
makes about the shores, making it difficult to get boats
in or out, and very seldom does the ice hold after its
first freezing over, although it may get an inch or two
thick, and sometimes it breaks up when it is three
inches thick from the sea made by a high wind on open
places. The open places will grow larger, and some-
times will break up the entire lake surface; at other
times it will open in three or iouv or more parts, while
the parts left closed will accumulate ice to the thickness
of seven or eight inches, and at such times one must
haul a boat over the frozen portions and row through
the open ones.

The lake generally freezes up from the loth to the
15th of December, wholly, or sufficiently so to pass
teams over. Parts of the lake in the vicinity of springs
or currents will continue weak at all times in the
winter, and it is not very uncommon to break in with

A Sportsman 4' i

horses, though they are generally hauled out safely,
owing to the firm ice which adjoins the soft parts. The
weak parts are pretty well known however, and avoided.

While the cold in the winter, as indicated by the
thermometer,would seem extreme, it is not particularly
severe to those who come well prepared and have a
comfortable camp, for the dryness of the atmosphere
militates against the effect of the cold in a most favor-
able manner. That chilliness and bone-penetrating
cold which one experiences even in moderate weather
on our eastern or western seaboard, is little felt at the
lakes in the winter; and, familiar as I am with many
climes, I will say that I have suffered more from cold,
which my memor}^ vividly reminds me of, south of
Washington and amid the orange-ripening localities
of California, than I have in all my experiences in
winter at the Rangeley Lakes.

Yet during my excursion here in the winter of 1890
and 1 89 1 the self -registering thermometer in front
of camp indicated for thirteen consecutive mornings
an average of 8 degrees below zero, the warmest,
lowest marking being 26 degrees below, and the warm-
est morning being 12 above. That was an extremely
cold spell, as noted by the usually reliable oldest
resident in the country, who had no remembrance of
so cold a period in forty years.

One of our family trips made in 1895, was particu-
larly pleasant, and not far behind 1890 in cold;
yet no day at the lake was too cold for the children
of our party to be out snow-shoeing, skating, and
tobogganing.

Our trip was not made for shooting or fishing, as we
arrived on the last day of the open shooting, December

412 Reminiscences of

31, and we were strict observers of the game laws. We
came to enjoy the cold bracing weather, to enjoy the
sports of winter, and to view the beautiful ice-bound
lakes and the forest and mountains ; to witness the dark
and purple hues of the fringing woods, and of the dis-
tant ravines; to observe the countless minor features
incidental to the season at the lakes, of which a re-
counting would be tiresome perhaps, but of constant
note and attention to all lovers of the woods and waters.
The woods and waters are always fascinating, be it
winter or summer, the former equal to the latter — the
woods in their dark green or with their coatings of
white, the water delightful with its calm and changing
surface, or clasped with mantles of ice or snow. This
is the sanitarium for many invalids, while enervating
warm climates are pernicious. Here will be found
the enemy of insomnia, here the stimulator of appetite
and the true pepsin of digestion, here the conqueror of
ennui and care.

Our party of nine, four being children and two
ladies, exclusive of guides and assistants, came in safely
from Andover, Maine, on the last day of the year.
We were held up two days at that town by the gen-
eral blizzard, which coming from the west gave the
New England coast a cold blocking storm. The weather
during the two days at Andover was simply howling, the
mercury holding obstinately below zero, and the air most
of the time filled with cyclonic whirls of snow. But we
were comfortable at French's Hotel. On the morning
of the 31st it was still and clear, with the thermometer
18 degrees below zero, and it held below zero all day,
closing at sundown at 10 below and opening the
following morning at camp 22 below.

A Sportsman 413

The trip of twenty-two miles through the woods and
nine miles up the Richardson lakes was entirely com-
fortable and free from touches of King Frost. It was
slow going, however, from the necessity of breaking
out the road and testing the ice, consuming four hours,
including the stop of an hovir and a half midway for
lunch and warming up at the foot of the lake.

During our stay of two weeks we had but few
mornings when the lowest marking of the ther-
mometer was above zero. On January 5 three of
our party left to meet friends at Montreal. The
marking of the thermometer was 14 degrees below
zero at their time of leaving, ten o'clock, for Andover,
and closing at night 8 degrees below, but the trip was
made without any discomfort whatever. The night of
January' 4 was the coldest of any, there being a perfect
gale of wind from the northwest all through the night,
with the thermometer 18 degrees below zero, but the
morning opened still and clear, and comfortable
enough.

A gale of wind with the thermometer nearly 20
degrees below zero constitutes unmistakably a bliz-
zard, which would be fatal to hvunan life vmless some-
what protected from its fury. In our case, although
the camp was openly exposed upon the lake shore to
the full blast, we experienced no inconvenience. With
double windows and large fireplaces in ever}' room,
filled to repletion with consuming birch and maple
we were hardly conscious of the extreme cold outside,
and passed the evening in witnessing the theatrical
entertainment given by the children. To be sure, the
cold gale was searching, and, despite the fires con-
tinued through the night, it found out the water

414 Reminiscences of

pitchers in remote comers, and glazed them over with
its imprint.

The night was a comfortable one, for a slight freezing
in one part of a room with a glowing fire in another part
carmot be otherwise than comfortable in a dry air, to a
well clad and well nourished mortal. Still the contrast
was striking between the blizzard of the night and
the still air of i8 degrees below in the morning. It
seemed hardly necessary to wrap up for snow-shoeing.

I would account a still clear cold of 60 or 70 degrees
below zero to be far more comfortable than a gale
of wind having a velocity of twenty miles an hour
with the mercury at 15 or 20 degrees below zero. The
first could be endured very comfortably in an ordi-
narily well protected apartment before a glowing fire,
but the latter has a searching power, which insinu-
ates itself through the slightest crevices of the doors,
windows, and floors, and of penetrating, when one is
exposed to it, all the clothing one can put on. A mod-
erate head wind at zero is far more biting than still
cold at 30 degrees below. In fact no one but an Esqui-
mau or the exceptional man can endure the facing
of a gale at 20 degrees below zero, with any part of
his face exposed, for more than a few minutes, for the
white frosting will form on the skin almost imme-
diately, and with double veiling the eyelids will soon
glue together, and a glazing of ice will form over the
mouth and nostrils. The face would freeze so quickly
that one would hardly be aware of it, as it would be
comparatively painless.

I was snow-shoeing in the afternoon before the
blizzard came on.

The morning had opened 22 degrees above zero

I

A Sportsman 415

not very cold, but began to drop steadily after ten
o'clock. I had crossed the lake with my son Vin-
cent, to enjoy our lunch by a fire built upon the
opposite shore, perhaps two miles from camp. I
observed that the sun had a peculiar cold aspect
and that the air was filled with countless particles
of snow, which although as minute as diamond
dust flashed and scintillated in the sunlight, a
sure indication of intense frost. The tiny flashing
crystals came from the moisture in the air, for the sky
was cloudless, although tinted with an ominous hue
which indicated some change from the quiet of the
previous few days. I deemed it prudent to retrace
our steps to camp, for the winter's short day was draw-
ing to a close. When half way across the lake
we observed from the upper end approaching eddies
of whirling snow, and before we reached the camp they
were about us, the sun had disappeared and the
whole sky had become obscured from our sight by
the driving flurries. The blizzard which lasted through
the entire night had commenced. The wind fortu-
nately was at our backs, and with well hooded faces we
experienced no inconvenience. The air was so clouded
with snow about us that no lake shores were visible ;
and only from our old snow-shoe tracks, not entirely
obliterated, could we find our way correctly.

It was four o'clock, about sundown, when we reached
camp. The thermometer indicated 10 degrees below
zero. Before six o'clock the mercury fell to 18 degrees
below, where it remained all night, accompanied by
howling bursts of wind which seemed bent on forcing
in windows and doors. But the fury of the gale was
lost upon us, and the morning opened quiet and serene,

4' 6 Reminiscences of

and seemed moderate in its still coolness of i8 degrees
below.

A few days after this blizzard we learned that an
vmfortunate visitor at the big lake two miles above us
(the Mooseluckmeguntic) had been caught out in it
and very nearly lost his life. Alone and on foot he
attempted the passage of eight miles from Haines
Landing to the Upper Dam, and when overtaken by
the whirling clouds of snow, which hid the shores,
lost his bearings.

He could not face the gale and drifted with it until
he reached the shore, a long way from his course. Here,
after passing into the forest a bit, and getting some
shelter, he succeeded in building a fire, which saved
his life. His ears, hands, and feet were half frozen.
In the morning he found he was near the closed camps
of Capt. Barker at Bemis Stream, four miles out of his
course. He was unable to proceed further, still being
eight miles from the Upper Dam. He broke open one
of the camps, where he found plenty of firewood, but
nothing to eat, and remained two days without food.
He then made his way to the Upper Dam, eight miles
distant, where he arrived, though he fell seiiseless on
the ice when within half a mile, but was observed and
brought in and finally fully recovered, though left in
a very bad condition — as from freezing the flesh
sloughed off from his hands and feet, and all his fiinger-
and toe-nails — yet he still visits the lake.

In 1900 I came to camp on Thanksgiving day from
Bemis on the Great Lake, with my son Vincent
and a friend.

It was eight miles from Bemis across the lake to the
Upper Dam on our route, and two miles from there to

A Sportsman 4^7

camp. The temperature was at zero, and the big
lake was almost entirely frozen over with a thin ice.
We had a fine time, with a stiff gale blowing in the
direction we were going, with two boats breaking our
way through it, doing so for nearly all the distance with
hea\y tree boughs from the boats, but found the ice,
when within a mile of the dam too strong to break.
At this we landed on the shore, and finished the last
distance through three feet of unbroken snow, which
was slow work. The lower lake was comparatively free
from ice, which we finished with boat, arriving at camp
soon after dark. Two weeks after our arrival we had a
severe blizzard, the 9th of December. On that morning
the thermometer stood at 24 degrees above. I noted
then that the barometer had fallen very low — ^lower
than I have seen it for some years, excepting that year,
September 13th, when the remnant of the Texas hurri-
cane which destroyed Galveston reached the lake,
lashing the water into great fury. Then the ther-
mometer sank rapidly in a severe gale from the north-
west, with flying clouds of snow, and by six o'clock in
the evening was down to 10 degrees below zero, and
finally reached 17 degrees below, when the gale
from the northwest increased with great force, and
continued throughout the whole night. On the morn-
ing of the loth the thermometer exhibited 13 degrees
below zero, with the gale moderated but still strong.
By ten o'clock the thermometer was up to 9 degrees
below, but remained below zero all day, but we put
in half an hour skating on the new glare ice, which was
quite sufficient for us. We secured three deer upon
this excursion.

The trout of the Rangeley waters, designated as

4i8 Reminiscences of

the Salvelinus fontinalis, are the true speckled, car-
mine-spotted, and of the highest type in game quahties
and flavor of any which inhabit any waters, excepting
those of a kindred character, and it is very difficult to
find any other waters of equally favorable characteris-
tics. I say without prejudice, having taken trout from
some forty different localities in the State of Maine and
in many other States in the Union, as well as in foreign
countries, that the Rangeley Lakes trout altogether are
of finer form, color, and flavor than those of any other
waters I know of, while for average size they surpass
any of their class. Take them at any month of the
year, they are fat and deliciously flavored. There
wUl not be one in a hundred which from age or disease
is out of condition for food, although I will except
the spendthrift milter, in the late autumn ; for, though
arrayed in his most brilliant intensified suit of scarlet
waistcoat with dark trimmings, mottled coat, spangled
sides, and white and black leggings, he has a sin-
uousness and a lacking of flavor which should give
him liberty and an opportunity for recuperation. I
wUl not, however, except the full spawner, which,
owing to high feed, remains in good condition, deteri-
orating somewhat at the tennination of the spawning
period, from which, however, a speedy recovery is
made.

The opinion that pure water of crystal clearness is
essential to the perfect existence of trout is not sus-
tained by the condition at the Rangeley waters. Owing
to the densely wooded country about, and the ex-
cessive precipitations of moisture, and the constant
forest leaching which occiirs, all the waters with a
very few limited exceptions are somewhat opaque.

A Sportsman 419

having a yellowish tinge, which indicates the im-
pregnating effect of the abundant adjoining plant
life. This vegetable stain has its sequence in the
furnishing of the first source of trout existence by
the apparent spontaneous prodigality of infusorial
life. This is clearly evident without microscopic aid,
and throughout the waters, in a greater or less degree,
is plainly evident to the unassisted eye. This is the
primary constituent essential to young fish life. The
young trout or salmon, when relieved of the umbilical
sac, is of minute proportion, and is unable to live upon
the surface ephemera or food of after life, and subsists
wholly upon the infusoria, as do all the small fry gen-
erally designated as minnows, of which there are a
dozen varieties in the Rangeley waters. It is also the
principal food of the fresh- water smelts. The profusion
of small fish in the lakes supplying the principal food of
the trout and salmon accounts for their number and
superiority, without which they would be lacking, so
that in reality the primitive cause is the infusorial
element. This element abounds in all ponds, lakes,
rivers, and even ditches where decaying vegetable and
animal matter exists, and in countless profusion. It is
fovmd in thermal springs, and rivulets flowing from
snow-banks and glaciers, and in salt as well as fresh
water. No form of life can be more universal and ex-
tensive, while of so minute a character in the sea, and
in many fresh waters, as to require the strongest magni-
fying power to clearly observe. Even distilled water,
upon exposure to the air, will exhibit the life. Freezing
does not destroy it, nor will a deprivation of its watery
element. It may be dried in the sun for many days,
but its germ form when drifted with the dust to reviving

420 Reminiscences of

waters will again take on active life. Ehrenberg, a
celebrated German authority upon the subject, esti-
mates the reproductive capacity of a single one to ex-
ceed 200,000,000 in the space of a month. The variety
of the infusoria is extensive, more than a hundred
being classified.

The Poligastrica and Rotatoria, two prominent
species of the infusoria, are white, pulpy substances,
some of which are of pinhead size. Through the
winter ice over a clear sandy bottom, with a thin
blanket head cover, which by no means excludes the
light, one obtains abundant opportunity to observe
that the white specks, at first mistaken for pollen
or other foreign intrusion, have a motion equal
to several inches in a short time, and can be ob-
served in the still water moving in various directions,
some apparently with a revolving motion, and others
without visible action. Many have advanced the spon-
taneity or protoplasm theory concerning the pro-
tozoa, which is a subject of much discussion, and
lately a prominent German savant has advanced the
theory that this element is the primitive origin of all
life — vegetable and animal — which now exists upon
the earth. A somewhat startling theory, but that life
must necessarily have started upon this once molten
mass in a very primitive form is clearly evident; but
how, may or may not be solved.

Trout are not migratory in their habits, although in
exceptional instances when disappointed in love affairs
and driven away by successful rivals, or from a natural
excess of love adventure or physical disturbances, will
roam about, and oftentimes in such cases will take
extended departures; otherwise they will frequent the

A Sportsman 421

same feeding grounds, although taking their spring
and autumnal outings. We all know of the particular
fellows which are found year after year in the same
deep pools and by the steep rocks, which so long bid
defiance to human art, but which finally yield up their
liberties and lives to their unconquerable taste for
the insidious fly.

For }-ears after years I have seen trout, so marked
by their size or peculiarities as to be unmistakable,
come annually to the same spots and defy all fair efforts
against their privileges. In vain are the most dainty
flies of all colors and sizes flaunted in the air, and ripple-
kissed, on surface and beneath, live bait, fat worms, and
other delectable morsels. And these large fellows
do not, any more than their lusty prototypes, when
they have once taken possession of a first class
domicile, allow of the invasion by other trout
of their habitation, unless ousted b}'- superior prow-
ess. This occurs often in the season of amatory
dalliance, when two are considered sufficient com-
pany, and when eternal vigilance is found to be an
essential of satisfactory housekeeping, and where
robbers and tramps have to be continually chased
and banged at.

Nothing can be more comical and amusing than to
witness the watchfulness and incessant unrest of a
worthy burgher of mature years, who has taken unto
himself a helpmate to regulate the domestic routine
of his establishment, and to whom he has promised
immunity from outside prowlers and sneak thieves:
good-natured fellow, who has grown corpulent and
high-colored from numberless golden chubs, striped
minnows, and viscous suckers, which his vigorous

422 Reminiscences of

activity has secured. Now will he forth for a season
in a more highly oxygenized element; he will hie for
the rushing waters, and promenade among the belles
of the high world. So dressing himself in his gayest
colors of red, white and orange, with many delicate
tinted shades and sheens, and touching up his car-
mine spots, he sallies forth on a rollicking tour, which
leads to speedy subjugation. No lover can be more
complacent and attentive than he, none more willing
to shoulder the matrimonial noose, or more fiercely
jealous of the intrusion of others. It is amusing when
mated to witness his torturing anxiety at the approach
of other trout, and his inhospitable reception of them,
which is indicated by his advance toward them with
open mouth. The small trout and chubs cause him
no end of trouble, and he has no rest night or day. No
sooner does his mate indicate her intention of de-
positing an egg, by her movements before the deposit,
than several active chubs and small trout appear on
each side eager for the delicate morsel, and while those
on one side are dispersed, another daring rogue from
the other side rushes in and secures the prize ; and thus
it goes on in particular instances throughout the
spawning season, and it may be doubted if a single egg
escapes to a hatching on some spawning beds. This
destruction of eggs by trout themselves is a very serious
evil, and is shared in by chubs and suckers, and the
attending male is often charged with a taste in that
direction, and often when caught about the spawn-
ing bed is found with spawTi in its stomach. I
incline to doubt, however, if the full-charged and dis-
pensing milter is guilty of this action, and probably
not in the last stages of amatory play, as he is then

A Sportsman 423

very thin and fiat.with most intensified colors, and when
so caught has almost invariably an empty stomach.

I have obsen'ed the spawning trout on the beds
a great many times, about the shores of the lakes
and ponds, in the late autumn on clear, still
days, and in November and December through the
ice. The latter observation is the most satisfac-
tory, and is obtained by cutting a hole a foot or
two square through over the spawning beds, which
may be but two or three feet below the surface. By
placing a blanket or two on the ice for reclining upon,
and by placing another over the head, shutting out
the immediate light, the trout can be observed in
full play. The distiirbance occasioned by cutting and
clearing out the hole is over in a few minutes, and the
trout below soon become entirely fearless. On some
beds the spawners seem to be without particular mates,
having a half-dozen or more cavaliers in attendance,
whose amatory distractions donot seem to interfere with
their appetites, and who indiscriminately make a grand
rush for the eggs as soon as deposited, and it may be that
there are several spawning heaps or beds immediately
adjoining and half a dozen spawners at work, attended
by a dozen or more males, who apparently secure every
egg for digestion. I have sometimes seen fifty and even a
hundred trout thus congregated in an area not over 10 ft-
square, and in such close proximity that there was hard-
ly any intervening space between them. The spawning
beds are generally composed of a slightly raised mound of
gravel two or three feet in diameter ; sometimes the beds
are on the clean sands, without any coarse gravel what-
ever; sometimes among pebbles and a bottom grass.

The spawning beds often receive a hard scouring for

424 Reminiscences of

eggs after the spawning season is over. It is not un-
common in the late autumn before the ice makes over
the deserted beds, near the shore, to find half a dozen
speckled chaps digging over the bed for some egg
which may have escaped observation. It is not
uncommon to see them digging into the beds from a
horizontal position with their heads down and their
tails flapping above the water surface, which occasions
the first observation. Last of all comes the Chinaman
of the lake, the sucker, who works patiently at lower
wages than the dominant race, who with his porcine
snout makes havoc with the bed, and fairly roots it
apart for the last lingering morsel which remains.

Probably nine-tenths of the Rangeley trout spawn
in still water, where a moderate freshening occurs from
springs. The same quarters will be occupied year after
year, unless physical changes occur.

Nearly all the trout spawn between the middle of
September and the middle of December, although excep-
tional cases occur throughout the year, and there is no
time during the year but what trout can be found in
spawn in a fonn of more or less development. I have
observed them through the ice spawning well into Janu-
ary, and not very long ago I caught a 7 -pounder in the
first part of August which was full of ripe spawn, and
dripping. This fish was caught at a depth of about 30 ft.
on a slow troll, with a heavy sinker, with a No. 2 fly. I
know of a good many spawning beds about the lake
and ponds where after the ice first freezes over I have
taken much interest in regarding the trout below.
One of these, situated opposite a landing at one of my
adjunctive camps on a pond, I had an amusing incident
when accompanied by an enthusiastic friend and sports-

A Sportsman 425

man, Col. H. C. Nutt, one season after the ice had
freshly made. We had skated up the lake five miles
to take our lunch there. The Colonel regretted the
passing of the fly-fishing season, of which he was an
ardent votary. I said, "Well, you shall have some if
you want." He said that that was not possible, as the
waters were frozen over. I rejoined, "Nevertheless,
you shall have some. ' ' He was incredulous, and offered
to wager that he could not. "Very well," said I,
"but I don't want to win your money on a sure thing;
but I will wager you a big cigar or a box of cabman's
thirds that I will take a trout with a fly right here from
the platform in front, and put him in your hands within
five minutes from the time I commence fishing."
This offer was taken. I then had my man go in front
with an axe and break up the ice, which was between
2 and 3 inches thick, over a space of 10 by 15
feet. Then we put in a boat from an adjoining
cover and rocked it in a violent manner, driving
the ice out of the broken place, some over the ice and
some under. We then went in for lunch half an hour,
and after I reached down a fly-rod, equipped, from
over the door and cast, the Colonel standing
with his watch in hand. On the first cast my trout
struck, and in three minutes from the start I placed
a third-of-a-pound trout in the Colonel's hands. I let
the Colonel go on then, and he caught with his plain
fly from twenty-five to thirty trout in a short time.
The water where we fished was not over 3 or 4 feet deep.
The trout were of moderate size, the largest not being
over half a pound. The spot I had long known as a
favorite spawning ground for small trout, and perhaps
over a hundred were left there.

426 Reminiscences of

I think the trout in the Rangeley Lakes, excepting
the Umbagog, are abovit as plentiful as ever, although
the raising of the waters has changed their spring and
autumnal habitats a good deal, and some of the old
fishing places are of the past. Trout Cove in the large
lake above the Upper Dam was a spring fishing place
for a period of ten or fifteen days, where in the gentle
current one could satisfy his most ardent passion for
trout, and become fairly surfeited ; that is, if one could
ever become completely surfeited with fly-fishing.

Not far from Trout Cove was the run below the old,
now submerged, stone dam, which for large trout in
the autumn surpassed any spot I ever knew of. I used
to have the fishing there alone and unrestricted to my
heart's exorbitant content, over twenty years ago,
when there was scarcely another rod going. Day
after day I fished it in the height of the season, wending
my way to it a mile through the woods by lantern
light to get the first fishing of the blushing mom; and
after resting through the day I would take in the even-
ing fishing, and wend my way home an hour after dark
by the same light which had guided my morning foot-
steps. Sometimes I would get hold of a big fellow
after dark, which would so tire my patience that I
would feel like straining my leader to separation.

The water there ran dark and smooth in a passage of
30 or 40 ft. wide between large rocks into a pool of
several acres in area below. In the passage and below
were the leviathans of the deep. Now of late years,
the lake, raised 12 or 15 ft. higher, has destroyed the
current, and made a sea of the locality.

Some days one might whip the run and pool for hours
without a rise, although gigantic breaks about might

A Sportsman 427

occasionally be observed, but the favorable hour in
the right season was sure to reward the seeker. Once
I caught the pool on a day of high carnival, a day of
exultant joy, of moving and commotion among trout,
which on some days and occasions exhibit an eager
recklessness, and are fearless and bent on destruction.
It was a cold, blustering, gusty day, with occasional
sleet, late in September, when I had to go back fre-
quently to a fire on the shore to thaw out my benumbed
hands. At inters^als the water boiled about me with
swirling breaks, and visible currents of pursuing fish.
My first cast, a short one, scarcely 10 ft. away, responded
with a 5 -pounder in an instant, and I begrudged the
time it required to bring him to net. Another and
another rose in succession to my fly, which scarcely
flecked the merry ripple tops ere it was taken. No
under of fly surface draw seemed required for my first
few fish, and I screamed with delight at each strike. My
third was an 8|-pounder and the largest of the day,
and the smallest was 3 lbs., and my total catch ten
fish, which weighed 57 lbs.

I secured all alive in two large cars I had at the run,
excepting the largest, which was gilled, and on the
following day weighed the balance and gave back to the
pool all but three, which answered any use I could
have.

The largest trout I have seen after being caught
weighed almost exactly 1 1 lbs., although there are well-
authenticated instances of trout which have been caught
weighing 12 and 15 lbs., and lo-pounders have been
taken in several instances. The largest I have ever taken
weighed g\ lbs. and the second largest 9 lbs., and I
have taken a good many from 7 to a little over 8 lbs.

428 Reminiscences of

I once secured a 9 ^-pounder from the apron below the
Upper Dam some fifteen years ago, which came over
the fall of the dam above and was left dry on the apron
logs. The logs of the apron were separated somewhat,
allowing the water to pass through as it flowed over
the dam. I was some distance off. and saw the
commotion on the apron, which I first thought was my
Skye terrier at play, as he frequented the spot; but
succeeded in arriving at the apron and in securing the
fish as he had almost reached the end of the apron and
was about to drop into the water below. I have seen eels
of 10 and 12 lbs. weight caught securely between the
logs of that old apron, which came over the dam at
night, large, lusty, black-backed and yellow-bellied fel-
lows, which had doubtless done their share in ravag-
ing the lakes.

I remember well this large trout, the 11 -pounder,
which for several years in the autumn came to the
same place in a moderate swirl of water above a
dam, where in his mighty solitude — for he seemed
quite alone — ^he would signify his presence occasionally
by an uplifting at the surface which would make an
angler's heart quake. He became the target of many
ambitious efforts, both of fly-casters and bait-dabblers,
but maintained a dignified and conservative indiffer-
ence. In a quiet surface and with the sun's rays in a
favorable quarter he was often observed either in
quiet meditation or slowly taking his constitutional
promenade. In vain were flies sunk for his con-
venience, and equally vain were the tidy worms
and natty grasshoppers trailed before his majestic
presence. Some vowed he was 3 ft. long, that his
mouth was large enough to take in a black duck, and

A Sportsman 429

that he must weigh 1 5 tbs. Well, he was taken one day
by an old guide, who would have scorned to have taken
him any other way than fairly, but most curiously
he was taken while everybody was at dinner, and ac-
cording to the guide's account he had allowed his worm-
baited hook to rest on the bottom for a while, from which
it was seized by the old patriarch, and in natural
sequence completed his foraging adventures and he
soon lay gasping on the green grass. He did not
prove to be 15 lbs. in weight, or 3 ft. long; in fact, was
a ver\' short trout for his weight, measuring exactly
27^ in. in length, and of magnificent color. His photo-
graph, life-size, is before me.

A remarkable and well-authenticated catch was
made by my friend the Hon. H. O. Stanley, of Dixfield
Me., some years ago, in the large lake, of five trout in
one day, and all with a fly, which weighed 42 tbs., the
largest weighing 10 lbs. and the smallest 7 tbs. It is
doubtful if this catch with a fly has ever been exceeded
by any fisherman at the Rangeley Lakes in a single day.

We find in men the characteristics peculiar to cli-
mate, soil, and food. So with trout, excepting that they
show much more prominently than with the human race
the disparities occasioned by their surroundings. Once
when fishing through the ice for several days with a
friend at a certain place on the lake where we had re-
markably good luck in getting short, thick trout, and
which place, by the way, produces the heaviest trout in
the lake for length, and after pulling out a fat 4-pounder
which hardly measured 16 in. in length, I remarked to
my friend that he would probably be surprised to catch a
i§ tb. trout which woiald exceed the 4-pounder in length.
In demonstration of this we set a dozen lines in 30 ft.

43° Reminiscences of

of water, by an island where above all the places in the
lake I had observed the trout to be very long and slim,
and where the color indicated most positively that the
bottom was not only very muddy, but extremely dark.
Here we caught fifteen or twenty trout, which were in-
variably slim and eel-like and black-bellied. Among
them were several running from i to i| lbs., which were
not less than from 1 5 to 17 inches in length. In that
locality it is imusual to catch any trout of great weight,
although I once caught one there of the most unusual
weight, long, slim and dark, which was the longest trout
I ever saw, measuring 30 inches in length and weigh-
ing 7 lbs. He was an old one and evidently dying of
old age and lack of food, which his waning activity
failed him in gaining. A short time ago a lady, a
friend of mine, caught a plump 8-pounder, which
measiu-ed exactly 23 J inches in length, which was caught
in comparatively shallow water in a quarter where I
have taken thousands of trout, but where I have never
known a slim black-bellied trout to be taken, not
even a stray, though often strays are picked up. I
have often taken trout which I knew had arrived
where caught, within twenty-four hours, from a dis-
tance at least of two or more miles, having the markings
in color too strong to be ignored, and which had not
been long enough at the new place to get fitted out in
the prevailing garb.

Inexperienced fishermen may think this somewhat
improbable, but men with whom I have almost yearly
fished for the past thirty years will recognize the feat-
ures I have illustrated. We often remarked to each
other, "That is a cedar tree trout," or a so and so trout,
and probably correctly. Why trout will remain about

A Sportsman 431

one place for life is difficult to explain; but they do.
And so we may say about men. Why will they stay
in one place and eke out an uncertain and precarious
existence, when they can go where they could do
so much better? I often think of this while I am
travelling about the world and witness the prosperity
of some localities and the misery of others, and find
humanity pleased and satisfied in each place. No
matter where I go it is mostly the same with the inhab-
itants, lauding the respective merits of their region and
claiming advantages not possessed by others; and so
they stay and die, and their children grow up after
them and follow in the footsteps of their parents. And
so it is, I presume, with the trout. If they could talk
and express themselves and be understood, it would
probably be found that they had very good reasons of
their o-wn for continuing where they could not be other-
wise than slim and black, when they might go where
they would soon get fat and mellow with unctuous deli-
cacies. Occasionally a trout strikes out, as with human-
ity, and never returns, linking his fortune with another
colony, and unknown evermore among his old friends
and relatives.

Trout are well protected and plentiful, and no sea-
son has been better than those of late years, and if the
fishermen who display their skill at the Upper Dam
dxiring the season could see the large trout on the
spawning beds in October and November they would
hardly expect any diminution of the noble fish in the
immediate present. The water below the Upper Dam
when drawn down after October i, and the shallows
below, are covered with large trout of 4, 5, 6, and 8 lbs.,
that make great commotion and exhibit their immense

432 Reminiscences of

backs and tails with prodigal profusion. Ornamented
in their highest colors, they present a most fascinating
sight; now swimming along in pairs at a slow pace,
then whirling in great eddies, then ploughing across
reaches with speed and streaming wakes.

With cautious steps they can be approached to
within lo or 15 ft. and most closely observed, and if
disturbed and driven away to deep water will speedily
return.

I have never in many seasons seen the beds below
the Upper Dam more fully occupied by large trout than
in late years. Many believe the trout to be less plenti-
ful than before, and prophesy that in a few years trout-
fishing at the lakes will be a feature of the past, but I
do not agree with either opinion, and my annual ex-
periences extend over forty seasons.

Althovigh many trout come in at known fishing places
they bear but a small proportion to those in the lakes.
They are well distributed, and the favored fishing local-
ities but few. Probably nine tenths of the trout have
their spawning beds in retired places, in comparatively
still water and entirely unknown to the average visitor.

I think next to man the blue heron {Ardea herodias)
is the greatest destroyer of trout at these lakes. This
bird is an incessant nocturnal as well as daily feeder, and
of inordinate appetite, and although its principal food
is chubs and frogs it destroys a great many trout and
will get away with ^-pounders, if not larger. They will
have no hesitancy in striking and fatall}'^ wounding
trout of over ilb. in weight. Yearly I see trout swim-
ming about which have been struck and pierced by this
bird ; lately I caught two which were unfit for food, each
over I lb. in weight, having holes in the back nearly

A Sportsman 433

through them as large as pipe stems. It may be a
question if this bird, of which hundreds frequent the
shores of the lakes from the early spring to the ice, do
not in the aggregate kill more trout, principally small
ones up to i lb., than all the fishermen. Aided by the
loons, kingfishers, and mink, they undoubtedly do.
The mink is a voracious feeder, and will destroy large
numbers with the greatest ease from congregating
pools and the breeding streams which feed the lakes.

A mink will kill a dozen trout in a day when they
are easily accessible, eating only the heads and leaving
the bodies to decay. If one can get into a fisherman's
car it wiU strip it clean of trout in a single night, even
if there are several dozen, and carry every one off.

I had a car, which was accidentally left open,
stripped one night of a dozen trout weighing from i to
2 lbs. It was a ver>- large car, having but a small opening
in the top, of about 8 in. square, and was but half sub-
merged, leaving fuUy i ft. of raise from the water to the
exit aperture. I could hardly see how so small an
animal as a mink could haul out trout weighing more
than itself ; but a few days after, when I had replenished
the car with ten or twelve more trout, one or two of
which pulled above 2 lbs. and one nearly 3 lbs., I saw
how it was done. I was sitting upon the shore when
I observed a commotion in the car scarcely 40 ft. from
me. It was covered, but the trout were splashing about
at a great rate; and presently I saw a mink appear
on one side of the box, swimming about and beneath
it, endeavoring to find entrance. I watched him
for some minutes with great interest and amazement.
He woidd swim around the box several times, then be-
neath, then crawl up the sides and inspect the top, then

434 Reminiscences of

dive down beneath again and appear upon the other
side, then hesitate on top apparently for reflection, and
then in the most active manner commence his journey-
around and about the box again. He paid no attention
to me whatever, as I remained perfectly quiet. He fi-
nally dived into the water and disappeared. Interested
to know how he would act in taking the trout, I took ad-
vantage of his absence to go to the box and remove the
cover, and returned to my previous sitting place. In a
few moments I saw him appear at the box again; he
swam about several times before mounting. On top
he immediately discovered the opening, down which he
disappeared. At first I thought I would run up and
replace the cover, but then it occurred to me that I
should perhaps catch a tartar ; and besides I wished to
see how the work was done, as I had been the victim of
several losses of this character. The splashing in the
car indicated his entrance, and in half a minute he
appeared at the top dragging out a struggling i-tt).
trout. But the struggles were comparatively faint,
as the mink had evidently given the fish a distinctive
quietus. Down into the water he slid and disappeared.
I saw him soon appear along the shore above, when
I lost sight of him. In less than three minutes he ap-
peared again at the box and repeated his first act with
a second trout, which he disappeared with as before, and
returned after about the same lapse of time. The
third act was more prolonged, as he attacked the
largest trout in the car, heavier than himself, but finally
dragged it out and carried it off. I concluded it time
to put the cover on the box and end the play, well
satisfied that otherwise all the trout would soon
disappear.

A Sportsman 435

The trout of the Rangeley Lakes probably average
larger than from any other waters. I should estimate
the average weight of those caught in the lakes at a
pound. I have not kept any particular record of my
catches of late years, but did until some twenty years
ago, when I had a record of over 6000 trout, which aver-
aged over a pound, but my catches then included
those of winter fishing through the ice, when the lakes
were but little visited, and before it was any infraction
of the law to so fish. I was very fond of those excur-
sions of two or three weeks at the lakes, with trout for
the object, and the auxiliaries of the robust open-air
life, the shooting, skating, and other sports.

With a few companions, we would have no difficulty
in securing an average of fifty pounds of trout a day,
which, well frozen up, were carried out for distribution
among our friends. These winter trout would average
a full pound and a third, seldom taking under half a
poimd, and up to an occasional seven- or eight-pounder.

I have given considerable attention to the freezing of
fish, especially trout, during the winters when I have
been at the Rangeleys, during former years, when the
season was open for winter fishing through the ice.
Insensible to cold as the Rangeley fish seem to be,
they will invariably die in a short time when confined in
a car and pushed down under and next to the ice, whUe
they will live a long time in a weighted car if sunk to the
bottom. The sluggishness of the trout is clearly ap-
parent in the last part of the winter, and I have often
caught them in this advanced condition, when I have
wondered at their ability to take the bait. I am of the
opinion that many of them go into the mud along-side
the other fish.

436 Reminiscences of

In December and January there is a notable scarcity
of live bait, and in February and March they are very
difficult to find, although I have sought for them in doz-
ens of places, both in deep water and shallow, and those
places where I have taken any in the late months were
in the vicinity of springs, and hardly any to be obtained,
excepting in the early hours of the morning and those
preceding sundown. I have frequenth^ had to go
out fifteen or twenty miles in the adjoining country
and fetch them from spring holes. Yet the trout
caught are seldom empty of small fry or chubs, and it
is quite likely that the trout root them out to a con-
siderable extent from the mud; and that trout do root
in the mud a good deal is indicated by the earth and
often lumps of clay found in their stomachs. I have
caught large trout often with a small handful of clay
balls in their stomachs, which have remained after
the probable exudation of loose earthy matter. The
parasites attached to trout fins, so noticeable in the
winter and early spring, and which soon disappear
in open water, indicate their earth-frequenting. While
in December and early January the trout are compara-
tively plentiful in a few feet of water below the ice, they
are mostly off in from 15 to 40 feet of water afterward,
but I have seldom found them below 50 feet. In winter
they are mostly at the bottom or within i or 2 feet of it.
In this season the contents of their stomachs are quite
miscellaneous — ^glutinous ground feed, chubs, varieties
of small fry, rarely blue-backs, and suckers.

The results in freezing I have so far obtained are as
follows, relating especially to trout:

That trout may be frozen solid without destroying
life.

A Sportsman 437

That they may be fully resuscitated after several
days' freezing.

That they must be frozen quickly and at a temper-
ature equal to 10 to 15 degrees below zero.

That while frozen they must be completely pro-
tected from the sun.

That while frozen they must not be submitted to a
temperature below zero, but in one sufficient to pre-
vent any thaw.

That in resuscitating in water an abundant supply
must be given.

That the water must be at a temperature of from
32 to 35 degrees.

That the temperature of the apartment must be
kept at about the same level.

That the thawing must be so regulated that from 25
to 30 hours must be given before the fish is restored.

Upon being numbed and frozen quickly before life
is seriously affected by exposure out of water, and kept
and thawed as mentioned, they will resume their natu-
ral and normal condition, and when returned to the
lake will swim off at a lively rate. The commoner
kinds of fish may be frozen and restored with much less
care.

The bull-heads or hom-pouts, which have a great
tenacity of life, may in cold weather be frozen up and
thawed out to life very readily. I remember an in-
stance of some being caught in another locality from
the lakes, where they were left carelessly on a boat-
house floor, and speedily froze up together, which in a
week afterward were, all but one or two, fully restored
to life and activity by the cold-water cure. The bull-
head is a good liver out of water if kept moist and cool.

438 Reminiscences of

I well remember when a boy catching them on a misty-
night, and after leaving some of them in the wet grass
behind me finding them alive in the morning.

Most fishermen are familiar with the marsh grass
chub netted along the sea-shore, which retain life so
long out of the water. In former years, late in winter I
have frequently carried them up to the Rangeleys for
live bait, packed in cigar boxes, with flannel between
layers. They will keep lively for some days if kept cool
and put in water over nights.

I am of the opinion that all kinds of fish in the lakes
hibernate more or less as frogs do during the winter
months, and certainly become dormant to a consider-
able extent ; and I do not doubt that trout in a limited
way go into the fluffy mud somewhat as about all the
chubs and small fry do. In the open season the waters
fairly swarm with the latter, while they are difficult to
find after January.

Trout stalking when the conditions are favorable
may be accounted the most fascinating, exciting, and
artistic method of taking the speckled beauties.

The season in the northern waters of Maine is Sep-
tember, when the summer heat is over, and when the
cool days and nights have lowered the temperature of
the surface waters down to 63° Fahrenheit, and below;
the field, that of a placid lake or pond where trout
abovmd, when the surface is entirely smooth, or agitated
only by faint ripples.

The afternoon is more favorable than the morning,
although some days are throughout favorable.

With the above conditions, and a light boat and com-
panion guide at the stem who can skilfully propel the
boat over the water with scarcely a ripple from the

A Sportsman 439

paddle, and with a light casting rod of good length, and
a light leader and a No. 8 or 10 fly, and a landing net,
one is equipped for the sport.

It may be sunny or not, overcast or clear, it matters
not if the wind is absent or light, but on a bright or
sunny day the necessity of skilful work is more ap-
parent than when the sky is overcast or dull. When
the sun is shining or partially obscured, the boat should
be worked between the sun and breaks, to the advan-
tage of the fisherman and the disadvantage of the trout.
The effect of shadow is light compared with the ad-
vantages so gained.

Many of the lakes and ponds in Maine where trout
abound are favorable localities for this sport, although
all are not, and there are usually quite a number of days
in September when the temperature of the surface
water and other features are entirely favorable.

I will confess to have allowed some decades of fish-
ing experiences to pass before I became familiar with
this sport, to which of late years I have looked forward
with much interest and expectation.

The trout, which were plentiful near the surface
from the going out of the ice until the middle of June
when the surface water warmed up to a temperature of
65°, have sunk away to cooler depths, where they re-
main until the surface water again becomes favorable
from the cooler weather of autumn.

But in surface stalking one does not get so large fish
as in spring trolling, for it is the medium-sized fish that
gives itself the frolicsome play of surface feeding, weigh-
ing from J lb. to 2i lbs., and, in the waters which I fre-
quent, averaging a trifle over | lb.

There are certain autumnal days when the conditions

440 Reminiscences of

are favorable, when it would seem as if all the medium-
sized trout in the waters were surface feeding.

Not in an eager and conspicuous manner with splash-
ing breaks and flashing swirls, but in a quiet sucking in
from the surface of the varied ephemera which plenti-
fully abound, in a manner so quiet as to be observable
only to the experienced eye.

No minnow, however minute, can agitate the surface
of the water more delicately than a i^ tb. trout, if he
wills it, and he does when so feeding, although the oc-
casional more conspicuous break and swirl occurs in
the presence of an unusually attractive lure, apparent
to the most ordinary sight.

Equipped, the boat is propelled deftly by its stem
paddle over the feeding water. The fisherman is seated
in the middle of the boat, casting softly to the right and
left with the progress of the boat, for the advantage of
a possible surface trout that may be about. A delicate
apparent minnow break is observed off to the right, per-
haps 50, perhaps 100 or more feet distant, of which, as
soon as over, nothing remains to mark the exact spot ex-
cept a possible air bubble or two. The boat is propelled
toward the side of it, to within 35 or 40 ft., when the cast
is given over or near the spot. Perhaps the fluttering
fly is taken at the instant of its fall, for the trout may be
directly beneath, but generally not, for the fly is al-
most always taken below the surface, which position
the fly will assume on a long cast and a slow draw.

The trout is likely to have moved 10 or 1 5 ft., perhaps
more, but he is almost sure to be picked up in the neigh-
boring area if he has not been alarmed by unskilful
movements of the boat or its occupants.

Often an active trout will be on the go as feeding, and

A Sportsman 441

by the time that the boat has reached a position for
casting over the first break, a second will be observed
still beyond a possible cast, presumably from the trout
which made the first break, and before the second
break can be reached a third appears still farther on,
and sometimes so on; and I have often followed up
and secured my trout which has carried me by a dozen
breaks and fifty or sixty rods beyond the initial
appearance.

Ordinarily, if a break occurs within a few boat-
lengths' distance, which can be speedily reached, the
chances are more than half in favor of securing the fish.
If within casting distance the fish is almost sure of
being secured.

Often breaks will occur so near the boat that nothing
can be done but for the stem man and caster to remain
motionless until the boat, if under a headway, may pass
on, when the chances are half in favor of the trout
being picked up in the rear. If the boat is still, the
chances of taking the trout are diminished, as the
motions essential to shortening line and the prox-
imity of the trout are likely to alarm the fish, and when
alarmed he invariably strikes down. Occasionally
the breaks are so plentiful that one may take half a
dozen fish without moving his boat. I remember an
instance a few years ago, when accompanied by an
English fishing friend whose experience had been
mostly in the dry fly drop of the Thames, where he had
notable success, that we caught well out on the pond
fourteen trout averaging nearly a pound in weight,
without touching the paddle to the water, and my
friend became exceedingly enthusiastic, which he well
might be.

442 Reminiscences of

This fishing must not be confounded with pool fish-
ing, or that which we often find in isolated ponds which
are unfrequented, and where the little chaps, entirely
uneducated to the penalty of the hook and fearless, will
crowd about a raft or boat until a hundred or more
may be picked up.

The fishing I refer to is the stalking of the fish in well
frequented waters, where they are sought and followed
up under the peculiar conditions which regularly
occur where the trout are scattered over the surface,
and not in schools, and must be sought for by their
feeding breaks; a fishing distinctive in character, and
which I am sure is not extensively practised by all
fishermen.

It is not probable that localities favorable for this
stalking exist about all trout waters, but there are
hundreds, I dare say, of lakes and ponds in Maine
where it can be most successfully followed.

A habit I had much pleasure in, in winter was of
watching and teasing the trout in the water below the
ice. This I accommodated myself to by selecting a
good locality for trout, where the water was not over
8 or 9 feet in depth, with a sandy bottom. Lying upon
some blankets, with a single one over my head, and a
bookless line with a small chub tied at the end and a suf-
ficient sinker, I would bob for the trout, which after a
while would come swimming along, and noticing the
bait would, first indifferently, but afterward more vigor-
ously, engage with it. By drawing away the bait at
the critical moment, after considerable teasing, the
trout would follow up the bait, it being withdrawn,
and having a fair-sized hole of something less than a
foot square, and two feet or more of ice, I would shortly

A Sportsman 443

get the trout up near the bottom ice, and finally, at
a last excited dash, rapidly withdraw the bait, with
my hand at my side. The trout, following to the sur-
face in its excitement, would for a moment be too con-
fused to dive below, giving me in that moment the
opportunity to rapidly put my hands below and cast
him out upon the ice, unharmed, but much alarmed.
This may appear difficult to do, but it is really quite
simple, and I have taken four or five trout in a forenoon
from a single hole in this manner.

HOW FISHES FIND THEIR WAY IN THE WATER.

This subject has been a subject of much discussion
without resulting in any definite conclusion to many.

One opinion given is that fish are directed by an
obser\'ation of bottom ground, or other land guides,
by depth of water, its temperature, etc. Temperature
undoubtedly has a bearing on the subject, as fish seek
and occupy zones most to their hking, of which a
prominent illustration is shown by the Gulf Stream,
inhabited by a class of fish which are not found outside
of it, excepting in corresponding temperature.

All fish are cold-blooded, yet the cetacean family,
comprising the whale, orca, porpoise, seal, and kindred,
avoid warm temperatures and invade the most frigid
regions. But the seeking by the anadromous families
of their appropriate spawning localities when scattered
about in the depths of the sea, and the directness of
their efforts, has been a subject of surprise.

A conclusion generally arrived at is, that fishes are
directed by instinct; by that mysterious inward im-
pulse which, unreasoning, blindly directs its possessor
for the preservation of its kind. True enough in the

444 Reminiscences of

respect of propagation in the necessitated element of
fresh water, which nature impels a seeking for at
the appropriate season.

The question arises, how does the fish find its way to
the fresh- water stream, as instanced by those which un-
erringly arrive at the locality where their young lives
commenced. We will admit, a priori, that fishes do find
their way in the water. It is my opinion that fishes
find their way through the water by explainable
methods, as readily as humanity does in a forest
where prominent objects direct the way.

The sense of smell or a sense analgous to that is very
strongly developed in fishes, especially in the Salmo
family, with which I have had more experience than
with any other. In the Salmo family and with many
others there is a prominent line mark extending on
the body from the head to the tail, which, when ex-
amined closely, exhibits a cellular structure apart
from the adjoining body. What bearing this feature
has upon the possessor is conjectural, but it may com-
prise a sense of communication which has not been
estimated. There are probably other senses in creation
which we do not know of, independent of the human
category of five, which have a bearing little under-
stood.

In the absence of a strictly appropriate designation
I will define scent as the element of perceptiveness
which enables fishes to find their way in the water,
and I will present my views in support of that theory
from such observations as I have experienced.

All fishermen have noted the rapid way trout have
in expelling the artificial fly if not hooked, and the
attractive way bait-fishing has of drawing trout from

A Sportsman 445

a distance if followed in one place, the odor of which
moving by slow currents reaches the perceptive organs
of fish. Beyond this there is a condition of body
which imparts to other fishes, and likewise attracts,
that is inexplicable to our ordinary senses — that
which is indicated by the members of a school of fish
in keeping together, though often widely separated
beyond any possibility of being aided by vision, con-
spicuous with porpoises, orcas, sword- and flying-fish
and an endless variety of other fishes. Whales upon
a tmiform feeding route will be widely separated,
and it is a well-known fact that the harpooning of
a whale belonging to a school will be almost imme-
diately communicated to the other members, separated
half a dozen miles apart, as observed by whalers.

An eminent naturalist, Matthias Dunn, describes
the lateral line as consisting in its cells of jelly or
mucus, having patches of sensitive hairs here and there,
as electrical implements pure and simple, inclosing
the whole body of the fish, and says these cells are of
the same character as those in the electric or stinging
ray; that the fish brain is a magnet polarized by
the influence of the peculiar structure of the lateral
line, constituting a new sense which he designates as
the electric dermal, which, he thinks, aids the migrating
fish directly to its destination for spawning grounds
or other localities. The latter conclusion may per-
haps be of some doubt, though it may under natural
laws guide the fish in response to magnetic effect
from the rocks, sands and other elements.

Stahr, the naturalist, considers that the sense of
hearing is imparted by the influence of the lateral line.

Fishermen have observed the feeding activity of

44^ Reminiscences of

salmon and trout before the commencement of a
storm, the coming event being communicated prob-
ably through the lateral line. This activity may be
the result of electric stimulus, or a provision of nature
in communicating by wireless telegraphy the necessity
of obtaining food or depth shelter before the effect
of combating elements. That fashes have a limited
memory there can be but little doubt.

Seth Green related in his hatchery experience of a pet
two-pound trout in one of his hatchery pools, which,
being so tame as to take food from his hand, would
dart wildly away if approached with a fiy-rod, although
it gave no attention to a walking-stick waved out over
the water. This resulted from Mr. Green's having once
caught the trout on a fly-rod with a barbless hook.
Contrary to this instance of memory I have often caught
trout which had but a short time before escaped by
the breaking off of the fly, or the leader, with the
evidence of the previous hooking visible from the im-
bedded fly and perhaps with a dangling remnant of a
leader. I have many times caught trout which had
been hooked before.

I remember a visit a few years ago of a friend,
George A. Hull, who fastened to a good-sized trout, be-
tween four and five pounds in weight, which broke away
after being played for some moments when about to
be netted, carrying off the hook and half of his leader.
He estimated the trout as a somewhat heavier weight
than it proved to be, and came in disappointed. In
less than a quarter of an hour afterward I had this
identical trout on my fly, and brought it successfully
to net, verified by the indisputable evidence of the

A Sportsman 447

particular lost fly and parted leader. This did not
show much memory, and would shade the theory of
Dr. Dunn that the primitive memory of anadromous
fishes directed them to the particular stream of
their early life, directed by the dermal sense in its
magnet polarization as the needle guides the mariner
to point of destination.

A. H. Gouraud, in one of his articles concerning
the movements of shad to the Connecticut River
from Long Island Sound, said they approached the
mouth of the river from the east, but did not reach
the mouth by direct course from the waters of the
Sound, as the discharge from the river pursued a west-
erly course in its current, making a loop, so to say, and
the shad took their course up the current of the river
waters, thereby occasioning a distance of a score of miles
more than would be required if the shad had gone direct.
This loop course in the sound had been clearly defined
by the net fishermen. This would indicate that the
current of the river was the guide for the shad to follow.
He adds: "This fluvial characteristic may be due to
distinctive mineral particles which, retained in solution
far out at sea, may be revealed to the delicate percep-
tiveness of the fish, and so guide it from the deep to
its bourn."

I would add to the mineral particles also the vege-
table, an important element, distinct, and noticeable
by fish. It is the following of these elements that
guides the fish, which may to an extent have an edu-
cated perception as well as taste. I have frequently
found whole fresh-water clams up to two inches and
over in length in the stomachs of trout, which are

448 Reminiscences of

apparently easily digested, having been scooped up
by an appetizing eagerness from the scent of the
open clam.

It is doubtful if salmon depart far in the sea from
the estuaries of their native stream, not beyond the
reach of its diffused water, which they readily follow
up on approach of their propagating period, from three
to four years after their exit, as the salmon are not ex-
tensive travellers, as indicated by the results of seining,
and upon the Pacific Coast it is evident that they sel-
dom depart more than a hundred miles from their
streams, and that their principal habitats are at no
greater depth than from loo to 150 fathoms. I could
give pretty conclusive evidence of this from the ob-
servation I have made in this respect.

The Pacific salmon have their respective streams,
and at their season of stream-ascending are generally
distinct from any of the other several varieties, al-
though not entirely so, being accompanied occasion-
ally by derelicts from a kindred family.

I should consider it very improbable that a young
salmon conveyed from one of the St. Lawrence tribu-
taries to an European stream woiild ever find its way
back to its native stream, as its connecting link would
be lost, and should doubt the efficacy of its magnetic
dermal sense to direct it there. It is possible that a
salmon by its delicate perceptiveness may distinguish
the diluted odor of its natal tributary in the general
flow of its fresh- water stream,— else why should its as-
cending course be sustained short of its objective
point ? It is not likely it has any distinct memory of its
early association in the tributary where the first year
of its life was passed, and perhaps two years, though

A Sportsman 449

the familiar flow of its water may be detected and ap-
peal to its motive in pushing on.

Thomas Tod Stoddart, an English author-fisherman,
relates that while fishing on a stream with spawn-bait
during the day, at the close he caught several
black-bellied trout not frequenting the stream, ex-
cepting in a muddy-bottomed pond connecting, sit-
uated between two and three miles below, which had
undoubtedly been attracted to follow up the stream
by the odor of the spawn bait.

My friend Walter M. Brackett, the veteran salmon
fisherman and distinguished fish painter, with whom
for nearly half a century I have compared fishing notes,
is as strongly convinced as I am of the extraordinarily
acute sense of smell possessed by the Salmo family,
and relates in his own experience at his own Canadian
salmon stream, where he has never used any attraction
other than a fly, of noting large numbers of salmon and
trout as having been attracted and drawn up from
considerable distances down the stream, from a quan-
tity of spawn being attached to the stem of a canoe
fastened at the river bank above.

After the ice disappears in the spring, and at the
spa'WTiing season, these habitating trout leave their
localities more or less, but by no means lose their
reckoning.

Trout, if removed from their habitats and dropped
in any parts of the lake, will speedily return home; of
this I have had abundant evidence. This is especially
evinced during the spawning season, when trout taken
away from a spawning bed will return with celerity.
A particularly thin and slabby milter weighing about
two pounds I purposely experimented with, by carrying

450 Reminiscences of

him off into the lake a mile before liberating him from
the towing car, and caught him at the first place again
that evening. I liberated him the second time fully
three miles away and found him the following morning
at the old stand.

The general movements of the Salmo family occur
in the night, as in ascending streams, however tor-
tuous or difficult, lying by in the daytime. Their
feeding also is done principally after dark, when they
are more daring and predatory, and they do not assume
their full night vigorousness in the dusky twilight,
nor by moonlight, but in the darker hours, when their
boldness is conspicuous, and will take the fly of sombre
color in preference to one of white. I have wondered
with their night adaptiveness of sight how little their
day shyness is indicated, when I have frequently had
them, in pursuit of small fish, dash up within hand
reach on flat rocks or the sandy beach where I have
been sitting.

The lake water appears uniform as does the sea to the
casual observer, but there is a varying quality, and
many currents in both. These qualities are not ap-
parent to our coarser senses excepting in a very or-
dinary way, i)ut the respiratory organs of the fish, the
gills, etc., may be keenly sensitive to conditions of tem-
perature and water admixtures, even as our sense of
smell detects the faint odor of smoke in the country
fields or forest. The different qualities of water in
this lake of six miles in length which I inhabit now more
than others, are quite apparent to my taste, and I have
often remarked the odor in drinking water from the
sheltered coves, arising from vegetable matter; also
in that taken from a forty-or fifty-foot depth.

A Sportsman 451

Every stream or rivulet which empties into the lake
has a distinctive taste, apart from the others, stamped
and impregnated with the quality of the ground and
foliage through which it makes way.

The ice indicates perceptibly to the eye the prom-
inent instances in this respect; currents imperceptible
to the eye are constantly moving in various direc-
tions, and are the directing signboards for the fish.

Fishing on the California coast with fresh fish
bait, I caught some hundreds of salmon by trolling
with a light steel rod and 600 feet of line. I observed
the following features : That as schools of salmon com-
prising many thousands came in from deep water,
following up the anchovies, sardines and squid, which
came in from spawning, they would at certain periods
mostly all disappear, to be followed after a lull by
other schools. I observed that the salmon would
disappear a few days after a rise of water from either
the San Joaquin or the Sacramento river, emptying
into the bay of San Francisco, giving abundant salmon
for the seining and canning works upon the banks of
the latter. By the San Francisco papers the noting
of the salmon arrivals would be four or five days after
their disappearance from the Monterey waters.

The Japanese current known as the ktiro siwo, the
great current stream from the Yellow Sea, corre-
sponding with the American Gulf Stream, pursues
its way across the Pacific Ocean to the California coast,
regulating the climate from California to Alaska as
does the American Gulf Stream that of England,
France, and Iceland; pursues its way north some 300
or 400 miles west of California until it reaches the long
extending loop of the Aleutian Islands, which ends

452 Reminiscences of

but a few hundred miles from the Asiatic coast. This
loop of islands diverts the Japanese current inland and
the stream curves in its route until it proceeds
south along the Washington, Oregon, and California
coasts; and the remarkable feature is presented of
two mighty streams, but slightly apart, proceeding
in opposite directions in greater volume than all the
combined land rivers of the world could exhibit if
united in one body.

The speed of this mighty current south opposite the
outlet of the bay of San Francisco is estimated at be-
tween thirty and forty miles per day of twenty -fovu"
hours. Into this current pour the brackish and roiled
waters of the bay.

The fresh water combining with the salt is quickly
detected by the salmon a hundred miles below, and a
general exodus of the salmon takes place, leaving but
a few stragglers remaining.

In three or four days after their departure the
canners on the Sacramento River are abundantly
supplied by seiners.

Shortly afterward a fresh school comes in, which
departs as those before after a few days following
a fresh rise of the river waters, and appears as in the
first instance a few days after their departure at the
usual seining localities. These instances occurring
several times during my fishing period plainly indicated
to me the result of the river freshets. No mistake
could occur in the identity of the particular schools
in disappearing from the Monterey waters and appear-
ing at the Sacramento River, as the same class of salmon
known as the king or chinook, inhabiting the Col-
umbia River several hundred miles north of the

A Sportsman 453

bay of San Francisco, average about 22 pounds in
weight, while those of the Sacramento and San Joa-
quin rivers average almost exactly 1 7 pounds, as shown
by the average weights taken at each locality.

No salmon -ascending rivers existing between the
two mentioned points would clearly indicate the identity
of the Monterey and Sacramento River class. So
the salmon of the Pacific Coast go to their spawning
grounds, never to return to the refreshing sea again;
or if by chance a few should be able to, their bruised
condition and totally impaired digestive organs result
in but a brief existence. No authentic instance is
known of a river salmon's survival on the Pacific Coast.
If any had been taken they would show their identity
by their disfigured appearance, which has never been
observed.

In the banner year of 1902, 15,000,000 salmon were
canned on the coast; yet no serious diminution in
numbers has occurred, nor have the results of conducted
hatcheries shown great success, despite the general
opinion to the contrary. Therefore the great mass of
salmon regularly taken may be assumed to be the
progeny of those who sacrificed their lives for suc-
cessors.

That electrical elements are prominent features in
the denizens of the sea and fresh-water bodies, is
clearly apparent and of undoubted efficient service,
and may be a part of that element I have designated
as scent, as a general sense which gives perceptiveness
of fresh water in the sea, or of minerals and earth in
solution, from magnetic qualities. This electric quality,
or whatever we may choose to call it, we observe in
freshly-caught fish which curl up and break in cooking,

454 Reminiscences of

giving a feature not apparent when fish have been
kept a day or two.

Eels display this element prominently, and also the
bull-head or horn-pout. The marine mammals may
receive large benefits from it in their long passages
in the sea.

I am reminded of an account related to me by an
English friend, of a pet seal owned by some one he knew
who kept a lighthouse on the coast of England, which,
captured when a cub, was domesticated with the
family, being fed and allowed the range of the kitchen
on the ground floor, to which the seal had ready access.
This seal would make its way daily down to the water
and pass many hours in the element, securing more or
less food, but always returned to its place in the kitchen
at night. Blindness finally came on with age to the
seal, but it continued its journeys to the sea and, re-
turned home as regularly as before. Complete blind-
ness finally came to the seal, and, fully fed by the house-
hold, its visits to the sea became less frequent. As old
age came on, it caused annoyance by its peculiar cry
for food and lessened ability to get about ; so much so
that the family accounted it something of a nuisance,
and, not wishing to kill it, arranged with a fisherman to
carry it well off, some twenty miles away, and drop
it in the sea, expecting it would naturally die in that
element. But it appeared the second day after at its
accustomed place. Another effort was made to get
rid of it, by arranging with a sailing vessel to take it
several hundred miles out to sea and then drop it in.
This was done, and a nvimber of days passed away
without the seal. Six or seven days after, during the
night, the kitchen maid, who slept adjoining the

A Sportsman 455

kitchen entrance, fancied she heard the plaintive call
of the seal at the kitchen door, but being of a supersti-
tious cast, and believing the call was from the banshee
or bad spirit, covered her head beneath the bed clothes.
In the morning the emaciated body of the lifeless seal
was found at the kitchen door. The story may be
authentic or not, but I do not consider its truthfulness
to have been impossible.

The vegetable gro'W'th in the water, kelp, etc., and
currents were familiar to the seal, and sight would have
been of little aid to it compared with following the
perceptions of its other senses.

Some naturalists have expressed the belief that fishes
find their way to their spawning rivers or desired
localities in a direct course by the pointing of instinct,
and that alone. This conclusion does not seem to be
well evidenced or satisfactory.

But the mysterious fish of the lakes is the blue-back
trout (Salmo oquassa), entirely distinct from the Salmo
salveliniis, with which it has no affiiliation, being,
strictly speaking, an arctic trout, which in some pecul-
iar manner has found its way to the Rangeley waters,
as well as to a few other northern lakes. As ordinarily
taken they weigh about five to the pound, the maxi-
mum being near half a pound. The fish is quite dis-
tinctly a trout, with fine coloring and red spots. It has
in contradistinction to the square tail of the Salmo
family a swallow tail, and a blue back and exceedingly
small teeth. The fish is long and slim for its weight,
and for food purposes inferior, though claimed by
many to be equal to the ordinary trout, but to my
taste soft and muddy. One might fish the Rangeley
for years and never encounter one or suspect its pres-

456 Reminiscences of

ence, yet they exist in large quantities. Rarely — in
fact I have never heard of but one or two instances
where they have been caught with bait, and that in deep
water. They are strictly denizens of the deepest parts
of the lakes, and apparently subsist exclusively upon
ground feed. This ground feed of the lakes is an import-
ant element with all fish, composed of insectivorous var-
ieties and largely viscous matter, which settle profusely.
In the latter part of the month of October — from the
2oth to the 30th — the blue-backs find their way to the
mouths of some streams, and ascend more or less into
the quick water, where they deposit their spawn. Their
appearance can be counted upon by the 24th almost to
a day, and the quantity assembled is immense, and in
some instances so compact is the mass that barrelsful
can be netted from a small space. During the brief
period of spawning they are easily taken after dark
from the shallow quick water by one wading among
them equipped with a lantern and a hand net. I have
often taken several hundred of them upon an occasion
of this kind. Their tenacity of life I have noted as a
peculiar feature, for I have had them out of water for
several hours of a cold evening and fully revived some
of them by placing them in a barrel of fresh water,
where they have survived for several weeks, and in fact
would have survived much longer but for the freezing
up of the water. This fish would undoubtedly stand
solid freezing under favorable conditions equally well
if not better than the Fontinalis. The only one I ever
saw out of season I picked up some years ago on the
surface, which was in a dying condition, having been
wounded evidently by a loon, as evinced by a large
hole through its body.

A Sportsman 457

The}'- remain on the spawning beds during the nights
of about a week in the latter part of October. The
large trout often get among them on the spawning
grounds at night and make havoc. One evening as I
was wading with rubber boots, with lantern and net,
I felt a heav\^ movement on my legs, and turning my
light saw a large trout, which, I netted, weighing seven
pounds.

Of late years the landlocked salmon (Salmo con-
finis) have become fairly plentiful, particularly in the
Rangeley Lake proper, where first introduced, some
twenty years ago, and also in the large lake, and in
the Richardson Lakes. In the latter a member of my
family caught one weighing seven and one-half pounds.
The salt water smelt introduced a few years ago has
increased extensively and extended rapidly to all
the lakes of the range. This fish seems readily to
habituate itself to most fresh-water lakes, and has
increased to a very large extent in the Rangeley
waters, although confined to a small size of three or four
inches in length. Although large numbers are ob-
served dead, floating upon the surface of the water in
the spring-time, the increase seems hardly to be aflfected.
This fish is apparently an admirable food for the salmon
and trout, and in the spring would seem to be the prin-
cipal food, as their stomachs seem to be crowded with
them, and I have repeatedly observed from fifty to
seventy in a single trout of large size.

I consider without question the smelt to be the most
valuable fish for food stocking of fresh-water ponds and
lakes.

The landlocked salmon varies in size largely in the
fresh-water lakes where placed In the Sebago Lake

458 Reminiscences of

they reach a weight in some instances exceeding 20
pounds, and in the Rangeleys they are often caught up
to 12 pounds, while in the Schoodic Lakes, where they
have been long domesticated, and where I have caught
many hundreds, they seldom exceed 5 pounds. In
California, near Point Reyes, in Crystal Lake, con-
trolled by the Country Club, and where I aided some
years ago in introducing the landlocked salmon, they
gained most incredibly in weight in less than four years,
from a few ounces up to 5 and 5^ pounds. In this lake
the feed was almost entirely insectivorous, and largely —
and in fact I might say almost wholly — the larva of
the caddis fly, which abounded most plentifully, and
which seemed to be the whole contents of aU the stom-
achs I examined at various times. I regret to say,
however, that the flavor of these salmon is distinctly
off from any I have ever eaten, arising, I believe, from
the almost exclusive diet. These salmon, however,
will rise well to the fly, and are vigorously gamelike.
Crystal Lake is infested also with a red salamander
lizard, known as the water devil, quite common in Cali-
fornia waters, and one of the toughest and most tena-
cious reptiles of the batrachian family, although quite
harmless. These lizards are 3 or 4 inches in length,
and swim rapidly about with the aid of their tails.
Their skin and structure is so tough that it requires
a very sharp knife to separate them, and they have a
very tenacious life. I found one day on the shore of the
lake a salmon between 4 and 5 pounds in weight, freshly
dead, and upon examining it found one of these lizards
firmly fixed with a deathly grasp in the throat of the
salmon, likewise dead. It was plain enough that
the salmon had seized the lizard and the latter had

A Sportsman 459

secured his deadly hold in the salmon's throat, from
which I had a good deal of difficulty in parting it. I
was told by one of the cattle herders that he had seen
other instances, and in his opinion the salmon fed upon
the water devils and the latter in the lake had much
diminished since the salmon had been put in. The
odor of the water devils when cut up is very disagree-
able, and it may be that this accounts for the inferior
flavor of the fish.

While trout are fonder of insectivorous food in pref-
erence to any other, and it is a well-known fact that
while growing will gain doubly in weight on this food
over a fish diet, it is observ^able that a deterioration
in flavor occurs from this exclusive food. I have taken
trout in ponds at high altitudes in the Rock}- Moun-
tains, above timber growth, where such waters were
hardly free from ice in July, where the trout food was
exclusively insectivorous, and they were decidedly
lacking in flavor.

This landlocked salmon is ver}'- gamy in action when
struck, more so than the trout, and good eating in
the Rangeleys, though in this respect not equal to
the trout. The latter in my opinion are superior for
eating over any from localities I know of, for trout vary
much in this respect.

THE forests about the lakes are naturally adapted for
deer {Cervus Virginianiis), which have always been
comparatively plentiful, despite the inclement winters
and deep snows, and undoubtedly, owing to the
rigid Maine laws, are increasing about the lakes, for
the practically enforced regulations against shining
and crusting give an opportunity to increase, and they

46o Reminiscences of

do so slowly but surely when protected and free from
wolves, as in this locality.

While I have killed many in this locality, I find that
their shooting is attended with a great deal of exercise.
I may not be a very good hunter, but I find that I have
to travel altogether nearly fifty miles for every deer
that I get.

It seems when I start out that I am likely to get a
deer about every time I go, but I do not, nor one in a
dozen times. But the interest is unflagging. The
pleasure of being out in the forest compensates for
all exertions, and exertion is a pleasure. The forest,
never tame, is always exhilarating, and leads on with
its varied attractions. With a good compass and a
tolerable knowledge of the localities about, it is a
supreme satisfaction to be alone for a while and to be
lured on by a charm which is indescribable to those
who have not experienced it.

The object which fascinates the mind is before you,
no matter whether you accomplish it or not. It may
prove aimless as your rifle with good opportunity,
but little does it count, for expectation is rampant,
and hope lures on to the satisfaction of wholesome
fatigue.

Deer are often seen about the camps during the
close season, and particularly about the ponds. At
one fishing place, near a lily-pad gro\\'th which I often
visit in the summer, I frequently find several deer
about, and occasionally a doe with her fawn who re-
treat upon my near approach, but speedily return upon
my departure.

We often notice the inclination of animals and birds
to frequent the immediate vicinity of human beings,

A Sportsman 461

and invite their companionship, evincing a disposition
to be friendly if they could, but, alas, too often com-
pelled to pay the penalty of death for their temerity.

In the later season deer are doubly cautious and
shy, and if observed browsing in the woods appear to
be on the closest guard, and steal off upon hearing the
slightest crackling of twigs or rustling of leaves, and
generally before being obsen'ed by the sportsman.
When lying down, they will often rest until sighting
the intruder, sometimes allowing a close approach,
expecting possibly to be unobserved, and when rising
will immediately bound oflf at a rapid rate, and most
adroitly take advantage of shielding trees or bushes
to cover the retreat. Rarely they will stand a moment
or so before the sportsman but generally bound off in
the partially open forest, and occasionally, under
favorable conditions, they are first observed. These
are the opportunities sought for by the sportsman,
and fortunate he is if his shot is a stopping one;
for often, although fatally wounded, they will travel
for miles.

I have almost always during my stay at the lakes in
October and November during the open season taken
in one, and sometimes two (the latter being the limit
allowed sportsmen in one season). Last season I had
a most aggravating incident, when I did not obtain a
single deer. I had only one fair opportunity to shoot
one, and that recollection is by no means satisfactory,
for it was so fair and open that I could not have wished
it better if I would. The conditions were very favor-
able, the ground and leaves moist, a darkish day, a
gentle breeze, and myself approaching from the lee-
ward. I was proceeding at the time down an old

462 Reminiscences of

logging road which I had been on several times and
where I had observed the tracks and indications of a
very large deer. Proceeding along cautiously, as was
my wont, looking at every spot where I was putting
my feet, to avoid the crackling of a twig or decayed
limb, and still looking ahead, I observed, perfectly
motionless, not ten rods ahead of me as I turned an
angle of this old road, one of the largest bucks, I think,
I have ever seen, the one whose tracks I had observed.
He was standing apparently clear entirely from the
timber by the side of the road, broadside toward me,
perfectly motionless, with his head and large antlers
slightly turned toward me and gazing upon me with
apparently the same interest that I felt in seeing him.
Mentally I thought he was mine svirely; with the rifle
in my hand which had brought down several deer
before at single shots, and with nothing distracting
my view, nor troubled by buck fever, which I have
never experienced, but as coolly and deliberately as I
would fire at a target ten rods off, which was the dis-
tance of this buck, I brought carefully my rifle sights
to a level, and without any haste, taking the most
deliberate aim which was afforded by the oppor-
tunity, I fired. I fired at his body slightly back of the
shoulder blades. It was a rough surprise to the buck.
He turned, however, quickly taking his back track,
and throwing up his signal flag of departure, which
indicated that he was not hit, or at least had not re-
ceived any wound of importance, and went off with
bounds too rapid for me, owing to the then obstructing
foliage, to get another shot. Astounded at my failure,
I started after him, after having rapidly thrown another
cartridge into the barrel of my rifle. I could follow

A Sportsman 463

him, owing to the condition of the leaves, without
difficulty, but I found no trace of blood, and saw that
he indicated no intimation of having been wounded.
I returned to the spot where he stood when I shot, and
there I found to my mortification and great annoyance
a leafless maple sapling of about an inch and a half in
diameter, which I had not obser\'ed when I fired, and
at the level corresponding with the place which I shot
at the sapling was shattered and nearly cut oflf by my
rifle ball where its soft nose had exploded and become
diverted from its passage in some direction away from
the deer. This was the result of all my stalking, but
it could not take away the satisfaction — the daily
satisfaction — I had experienced. One must have an
object for all exertions that is sustaining, and lends
vigor and enjo}Tnent to pursuits, which when aimless
are of slight value.

The last two deer I shot I came upon unnoticed.
They were standing a moderate distance off. It seemed
a pity to shoot at them, so beautiful and innocent as
they appeared. But I did. One was half broadside
toward me, which I shot through the heart, when he
dropped in his tracks, and perhaps was not conscious
of his wound. The other was feeding, heading away
from me, and I had to whistle for him to turn, and as
he did, my buUet broke his neck. Last year, one day
when I had hunted over a ten-mile tramp most care-
fully carrying my rifle in front, ready for immediate
action, without seeing or hearing a deer, I approached
within a quarter of a mile of camp, when I relaxed my
careful walk and search, and threw my rifle carelessly
over my shoulder. The forest was thickly grown, and
as I passed a small thicket a deer rushedacross my path

464 Reminiscences of

within four feet of me, so that he aknost ran over me ;
but he appeared so suddenly and leaped so rapidly into
the thick brush that I was unable to unlimber in sea-
son, scarcely a second passing between his advent and
disappearance. This deer had apparently been lying
down when surprised.

One of our party had a curious experience two or
three years ago in this locality. He shot at a buck a
considerable distance away, observed it to fall, and
when approaching discovered that in falling the buck
had imbedded its horns in the groimd and at the same
time had thrust the front part of its head beneath
a shelving rock, from which it was impossible to with-
draw it, although the buck was not fatally wounded,
having been struck in the shoulder, where the bullet
remained, without passing through or breaking the
bones. The struggles of the deer to disentangle him-
self were immense, but without avail, and his throat
was cut after some difficulty. The deer's head was so
firmly fastened beneath the rock, and so held by its
horns, that after its death it was so difficult to remove
that it could only be accomplished by digging out
the horns. That the deer could never have liberated
itself was quite apparent.

Several years ago, in January, while coming up the
lake on the ice to camp, we obsen^ed something
about a mile ahead, which we thought might be a
broken bough, as they often blow out on the ice when
it is clear. As we came nearer we observ'^ed it had
some movement, and upon a near approach we dis-
cerned it to be a large buck, stranded by his inability
to stand on the slippery ice. He made desperate
efforts to get on his feet as we came nearer, but the

A Sportsman 465

moment he got up his legs would divide and down he
would go. How he got out so far, at least half a
mile from shore, was a puzzle, and indicated the great
tussle he must have had.

He probably had stepped out at first from the woods
on some snow ice, and made a little progress on the
lake, when his footing gave way, and in his misguided,
stniggling efforts he had worked away from shore
instead of toward it. He was pretty thoroughly ex-
hausted, although belligerent toward us still. His
efforts to get up were incessant, but his legs would
divide in a moment, which must have been very un-
pleasant to him. We concluded to give him a new
start in life; so, throwing a halter over his head, we
dragged him over the ice with our young and well shod
horse to the shore, and then by hand and other efforts
some twenty feet inland. Even then he seemed unable
to get on his feet, so wounded in sinews he must have
been from his battle on the slippery ice. We held on,
however, until he got on his legs, and saw him well off
on his tottering limbs, although his progress was slow
and undoubtedly agonizing.

We observed one day in front of camp an animal
swimming in the water about a quarter of a mile from
shore. Manning a boat, we soon overtook it and
found it was a yearling doe, which after some exciting
work, as the deer was very active, we succeeded in
capturing alive, and brought it ashore. We confined
it in an enclosure and supplied it with boughs to browse
upon, and some boiled pototoes and oats, which it
fed from during the first night, and fed regularly after,
until we let it go back to the woods. It was very shy
at first, but rapidly became tame, and when we let it

466 Reminiscences of

go it seemed loath to leave, commencing to feed near
as soon as liberated, and allowed us to approach
closely, but gradually worked its way into the forest
and finally disappeared from view.

An amusing incident happened to a friend of mine
who had hunted most persistently without success.
He wore glasses, without which he could not well see.
While passing through a thick clump of tall bushes
he was astounded by a terrific snort from a large buck
scarcely five feet in front of him, which, facing him, ac-
companied his vmnuisical ejaculation with sufficient
mouth-watering to becloud my friend's glasses beyond
use. He was compelled to clean them, and when ready
for action sought in vain for his insulting momentary
associate, who had made good his retreat. My friend
in relating his experience said, "I met a big buck to-
day, but he spat in my face, and left. Confound him,
I am going after him now, hot."

A lady friend at my camp a few years ago who had
killed a deer concluded to go out after another, and
did so, with a guide at a proper distance in the rear.
She had gone but a short distance, but proceeding
with slow pace and great care, when she was suddenly
confronted from a clump of bushes near, by an
enormous buck, which stepped out in a leisurely
manner and stood for several seconds not ten feet off,
there they stood gazing in astonishment at each
other. Then with a few graceful bounds the buck
disappeared among the trees. Upon relating the
incident upon her return I asked, "But why did you
not shoot him?", to which she replied, "I never thought
of it. I wanted to see what he would do" — and she
saw.

A Sportsman 467

Deer, though often sought for most dihgently, may
be difficult to find, and yet may be stumbled upon at
times quite readily. A few years ago a friend of mine
lately arrived from England, went out with me early in
the morning on October ist, the first day of the open
season, and being in advance of me, and not more than
half an hour after starting, shot and killed two deer
which came with a third nmning down upon him,
thus completing his quota for the season.

Now, completing my sporting reminiscences, I have
in view the writing of my business experiences.
These, hav'ing been exceedingly varied in character
and extending over half a century, will frankly exhibit
the perils, with good and bad fortune, which have
attended my ventures, from which now I am fully
retired.

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW

AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS

WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO Sl.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.

I

FEB 27 1933

APR 30 1934
JUN 121934
DEC 8 1937

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YD 02590

281682

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY

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