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Sixth Annaal Report of the Poorest, Tis and (ame (Commission of the

State of New York,

JAMES B. LYON, STATE PRINTER,

ALBANY, NEW YORK.

Igol.

Sixth Annaal Report

of the

Forest, Fish and Game Commission.

Albany, N. 4., janeary 21, 1901.

Hon. 5. Frederick Nixon, Speaker of the Assembly:

Sir:— We have the honor to submit herewith, as required Dy law, the official report of this Commission for the year ending September 30, 1900.

Very traly yoars, W. Austin Wadsworth. President. Percy S. Lansdowne, Delos H. Mackey, 8. Frank Wood, DeWitt C. Midd{eton,

Commissioners of Forest, Fish and Game.

State of New Tork,

Forest, Fish and Game Commission.

W. Austin Wadsworth, President, - - - - - - - Geneseo, N. Y. Percy S. Lansdowne, Secretary, - - - - - - - Buffalo, N. Y. Delos H. Mackey, - - - - - - - - - - Meridale, N. Y. DeWitt C. Middleton, - - - - - - - - - Watertown, N. Y. B. Frank Wood, Shellfish Commissioner, - - - - - Jamaica, N. Y. John D. Whish, Assistant Secretary, - - - - - - Albany, N. Y.

Standing Committecs.

Executive, - - - - = - Messrs. Wadsworth, Lansdowne, Middleton. Forest Preserve and State Lands, - - Messrs. Middleton, Mackey, Wadsworth. Hatcheries, Fish Culture and Game, - Messrs. Mackey, Wood, Wadsworth. Shellfish Licenses and Permits, - - Messrs. Wood, Lansdowne, Mackey. Legislation, - - - - - - Messrs. Lansdowne, Wood, Middleton.

Seperintendent of Forests. William EF. Fox, - - - - - - - - - - Albany, N. Y.

State Fish Cattarist. A. Nelson Cheney, - - - - - - - - - Glens Falls, N. Y.

Chief Game Protector. J. Warren Pond, - - - - - - - - - - Albany, N. Y.

Assistant Chief Protectors. John E. Leavitt, - - - - - - - - - - Johnstown, N. Y.

Mannister C. Worts, - - - - - - - - - Oswego, N. Y.

Chief Firewarden.

Lester S. Emmons, - < 2 - - - - - - Oneonta, N. Y. A. B. Strough, License Clerk, - - - - - - - - Albany, N. Y. A. J. Mulligan, Audit and Pay Clerk, - : - - - Albany, N. Y. William Wolf, Clerk to Chief Protector, - - - - - Waterford, N. Y. Charles E. Knowles, Clerk to Fish Culturist, - - - - Buffalo, N. Y.

Miss J. J. Fourqurean, Stenographer, - - - - - - Albany, N. Y.

5

THE PRINTING oF THIS ENTIRE BOOK, INCLUDING THE ‘ :

COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS, HALFTONES AND oy, WAS EXECUTED BY ais

Janes B. LYON, STATE PRINTER.

ALBANY, NEW YORK,

*

Table of Contents.

PAGE PREFACE, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13 REPORT OF COMMISSION, - : J = = - é = 2 . : 15 SCIENTIFIC FORESTRY, - - = c = 2 : E : 3 - c 17 PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF FORESTS, - - - - 20 - AREA OF FOREST PRESERVE, - - - - - - - - =e ae 20 FORESTRY, - - = = 2 = < : 2 Z = : Z 21 WORKING PLANS, - ye - - - - - - - - - - 22 PRODUCTION OF ADIRONDACK FORESTS, - - - - - - - 24 GREAT FoREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK, - - - - - - - 26 FOREST FIRES IN Ig00,- - : = - = : 5 - u = 27 TRESPASS AND TIMBER THIEVES, - - - - - - - - - 35 SHIPMENTS OF ADIRONDACK DEER, - - - - - - - - 39 THE St. J.AWRENCE RESERVATION, - - - - - - - - - - 45 REPORT OF THE STATE FISH CULTURIST, - - - - - - - - 47 FisH DIsTRIBUTION, - - - - - - = = q 5 = 5 5 56 Net LICENSES, - - : é = = 2 3 E é x e : 57 REPORT OF THE SHELLFISH COMMISSIONER, - - - - - - - - 58 REPORT OF THE CHIEF GAME PROTECTOR, - - - - - - - 61 FINANCIAL STATEMENT, - - = - : 2 = : : 6 2 : 65 METHODS OF ESTIMATING AND MEASURING STANDING TIMBER, - - - - 67 By A ; Knechtel. A STuDY IN PRACTICAL REFORESTING, - - - - - - - : : 87

By J. Y. McClintock.

Ps) TABLE OF CONTENTS.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF FORESTS, - - NORTHERN NEw York, LUMBER PRopucT OF, - -

CONSUMPTION OF PULP Woop, - - 3 s = MANUFACTURE OF SHINGLES AND Latu, - >

CATSKILL Forests, LUMBER PRODUCT OF, - - = é

Woop UsEpD IN MANUFACTURE OF CHEMICALS, -

MANUFACTURE OF SHINGLES AND LATH, - - =

MANUFACTURE OF EXCELSIOR, - - 5 5

MANUFACTURE OF FURNITURE, - . - <

MANUFACTURE OF PULP, - - © SRE ce Forest FIREs, - OE ae - - : - > S a A Forest WoRKING PLAN FOR TOWNSHIP 4o, - - : =

By Ralph S. Hosmer and Eugene S. Bruce.

History OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK,

By William F. Fox. Roti or PIONEER LUMBERMEN, - - . - - -

Bait MInNows, - - - - - - - - = = Ly Barton Warren Evermann.,

THe CANADIAN RED TROUT, - - - - - - - By John W. Titcomb.

NoveEs ON THE FisHES AND MOLLUSKS OF LAKE CHAUTAUQUA, - Ly B. W. Evermann and £. L. Goldsborough.

CATALOGUE OF THE FisHES OF LONG ISLAND, - - © . By Tarleton H. Bean.

NOTES ON THE FISHES OF LAKE ONTARIO, - - - - - By B. IW. Evermann and W. C. Kendall.

SOME INTERESTING GAME BiIrRDs, - - - - - - By Harry C. Oberholser.

AQUATIC INSECTS OF THE SARANAC REGION, - - > ° °

By E. P. Felt, State Entomologist.

124

139 141 14! 142 143

US

237,

283

Sz)

393 |

357

373

479

489

499

List of I{lastrations.

SUNFISH, - 2 = E 4 BLUE-WINGED TEAL, - - - = é THe Man WuHo LEADS THE Way, - - - - BREAKFAST, - - - = = : : = A Harp WINTER, - - - 2 : 2 2 THE BLACK COUNTRY,

THINNING IN PRIMEVAL Forest Mabe BY JIMBER THIEVES, Pine Butt REMOVED AND MADE INTO SHINGLES AT FOOT OF SLOPE,

SHAVED SHINGLES MADE OUT OF STATE TIMBER, -

SHAVING BENCH oR ‘“ Horse” ON WHICH THE THIEVES SHAVE SHINGLES

TIMBER STEALING, TOWNSHIP 40, - - - - Part OF TREE STOLEN AND ONE LARGE PINE “ TRESPASS ON STATE PRESERVE, - - - - - A Stupy FROM LIFE, - - - - S = THE LEAP OF THE SILVER Kinc — TARPON, - - Wuo ARE You? - - - - = 2 z A PROWLER, In THE GULF STREAM, - - - = : 2 On A Hot TRACK, - - - : : = é A DRUMMER, - - : - : 5 i FOREST SURVEY Map No. 9, - - - - MEASURING STANDING TIMBER, - - - -

MEASURING STANDING TIMBER —STRIP METHOD, - AFTER A Day’s Work MEASURING TIMBER, - - TAKING DIAMETER MEASUREMENTS, - - - - FaustTMAN’s HyPsoMETER, - - c= = = LARCH AND CATALPA — PLANTING OF 1881, - - ScotcH PINE— PLANTED IN OLD GRAVEL PIT, 1882, AUSTRIAN PINE AND NORWAY SPRUCE, - - - EUROPEAN LARCH AND CATALPA, - - - - EUROPEAN LARCH— PLANTING OF 1885, - - -

NORWAY SPRUCE, 37 FEET Hicu, 8 INCHES DIAMETER, -

AUSTRIAN PINES— PLANTING OF 1882, - - -

EUROPEAN LARCH AND SCOTCH PINE— PLANTING OF 1887,

ScotcH PINE aND EUROPEAN LARCH — PLANTED 1887, Lost CREEK, Pa., - - - - - - - SCOTCH PINE— PLANTING OF 1892, - - - -— THE PASSING OF THE SPRUCE, - - - - CONVEYOR FOR TAKING LOGS OUT OF THE RIVER, -

NOTCHED,”

>

Facing ce

IO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE, THE GLENS FALLs Boom, - - - - - - - - - facing 120 TRUCKS OF INTERNATIONAL PAPER Co. LOADED WITH PAPER FOR A METROPOLITAN Dally, - - - - - - - - - e 122 WHITEFACE MOUNTAIN, - - - - - - - - - - s 128 BuRNING LEAVES, - - - - - - - - - - eel 144 MOONLIGHT IN THE ADIRONDACKS, - - - - - - - 3 152 Map OF THE ADIRONDACK FOREST PRESERVE, - - - = : - i 157 HaRVESTING — A SUGAR GROVE, - - - - - - - - 156 A WOODLAND TRAGEDY, - - - - - - - - - - 158 RAILROAD STATION AND STEAMBOAT WHARVES, DURANT, - ~~ - - i 160 STATION AND WHARF, MARION RIVER CARRY, SHOWING CAR FLOAT WITH CAR, RR OM Rae an ae eh een he Py tet 160 SoutH ENpD oF ForRKED LAKE FROM TOWNSHIP 40 LINE, - - - ¢ 168 West Mountain FROM BLuFF Point, LOOKING INTO STILLMAN Bay, - iu 168 Map oF STATE LAND IN AND AROUND TOWNSHIP 40, - - - - " 171 Heavy SpRuCE STAND, TOWNSHIP 40, : c = E = : : - 176 SPRUCE AND Harpwoops IN MIxTURE, TOWNSHIP 40, - : - i 176 Map oF TowNSsHIP 40, SHOWING Forest TypEs AND RESERVED AREAS, - 179 BALSAM UNDER HEMLOCK, TOWNSHIP 40, - - - - - - oe 184 SPRUCE COMING IN UNDER ASPEN ON OLD Burn, West MouNTAIN, - sf 184 SUCKER Brook Bay, - - - - - - - - - - ae 192 TERMINUS OF SUCKER Brook HiGHWAyY ON RAQUETTE LAKE, - - - ce 192 Younc LivE TAMARACK ON BRANDRETH LAKE OUTLET NEAR FORKED ILA, < - = - A - = = = : - = - 200 DEap CEDAR ON MARION RIVER; KILLED By FLOODING, - - - - s 200 LUMBERING Map, - - - - - - - - = - - a 204 TREES ON OUTLET Bay THROWN By Ick, - - - - - - - 3 208 PRESENT BRIDGE AND Dam (FROM RAQUETTE LAKE), - - - - v 216 PRESENT BRIDGE AND Dam (LOOKING UP STREAM), - - - - - Be 216 VieEW OF PROPOSED LOCATION FOR DAM, FROM ORIGINAL BRIDGE PIERS, cs 224 Proposed LocaTION FoR DAM FROM BELOW, - - - - - - = 224 VIEW FROM PRESENT BRIDGE AND Dam, Lookinc Down STREAM, - ot 232 STREAM BEeLow Proposep Dam SITE, - = - - - - - . 232 CoMPARATIVE J.oss BETWEEN CHOPPING AND SAWING, - - - = a; 236 Map SHowING EARLY SETTLEMENTS, - . C - : - < - a 240 OLDEST SAWMILL IN New York, - - - - - - - 2 242 PRIMITIVE MILL, - ° = - = - . e : - - - ee 244 Skipp1InG Locs, HERKIMER County, N. Y., - - - - - = mi 246 On THE Upper ALLEGHENY, : - : - < = - - . 252 Loc DRIVING ON THE AUSABLE RIVER, - - - - - - = 2 254 LOGGING IN WINTER, - 2 - = = - - - - = 256 Camp OF ADIRONDACK RIVER DRIVERS, - - - - - : c = 258 RAQUETTE Ponp, ON RAQUETTE RIVER, - = = - - - - me 260

Steam Loc LOADER, : - = : - = = L a 2 262

2 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. II

PAGE. MEASURING AND MARKING LOGs, - - - = - < 2 - Facing 264 A Mopern Ganc, Norwoop Mec. Co., - - - - - - 2 268 AN ADIRONDACK LUMBER Camp, - - = - = z = : c 270 SawinG FALLEN TREES INTO LOGS, - - - = - = = a: 272 ADIRONDACK LoG DRIVERS, - - - - - = - - = ss 274 Loc S1ripeE—J. & J. RoGeErs Co., - - - - - = - ss 276 WATER SLIDE FOR TRANSPORTING LoGs, - - - - - - : 7” 278 TERMINUS OF WATER SLIDE, - - - - = - - - - sf 280 CauGHT NAPPING, = = : x : : 2 ‘ é f : «“ Boe MopERN BAND Saw, - S - - : - = = < 2 w 288 CIRCULAR SAW, - - - = - - = - = - = 2 és 292 JACK-LADDER AND ENDLESS CHAIN, Site e - . - - - Ri 296 MovERN REFUSE BURNER, - - - - - - - = 4 : és 304 A Goop STRING, - - - - = - = 2 = : é 307 ROACH, - - = 6 v 5 x s Bp 3 ‘: - ‘ 2 “ ae RIVER CHUB, - : = é 2 E a 2 a . 4 « — COMMON SILVERSIDE— FEMALE, - - - = - = = t é 66 312 BLUNT-NOSED MINNOW, - - - - - = = - = o a 312 STONE-ROLLER, - - - - - - - - = = a z 313 CREEK CHUB, - - - - - - - 3 = = = 2 317 Roacu, - - - Sets - - - - = - - 4 320 SHINER, - - - - - - - = = = ~ = Z 323 SILVER-FIN, - - - - - - - - - = - z = 325 RED-sIDED MINNow, - - - S = - c < : S <e 328 COMMON SILVERSIDE— MALE, - - - - - - - = - 6 328 CREEK CHUB, - - - - - - = - - = . _ Ws 328 RED-NOSED MINNow, - - - - - - - = = : a «6 328 SILVER-JAWED MINNovW, - - - - - = = 2 : c 330 Biack BULLHEAD, - - - - - - : 5 s é = 337 ComMoNn FINE-SCALED SUCKER, - - - - - - - - 339 CHUB SUCKER, - - - - - - - = : = = 2 341 ALEWIFE, - : = - - = = = = = 2 & 343 MuUMMICHOG, - - - 2 = : = = 6 = : e & 344 BPA ISH = - - - - - = = - : ‘ : a6 344 BLACK-NOSED DACE, - = - = = o Si = Z = = ‘6 344 ComMMON WHITE SUCKER, - - - = - = : S = a 344 EAasTERN MUDFISH, - - 2 = 2 = E % 2 = e 345 MummicHoG— Matr,- - - - - 2 - - : 3 - 346 GRAYBACK— MALE, - - - - - - = - 2 4 = 347 GRAYBACK— FEMALE, - - - - - - - : : E 348 Loc PERcH, - - - - - ~ - = - s é = 350 GREEN-SIDED DARTER, - . - - - = : - : = 351 A POACHER, - - - - - : = = - < 5 = 352

AN INVITATION, - - - = = > = 2 5 = = 357

192 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

BROOK SUCKER, - - - - - - : THe Lookout — MENHADEN FISHING, - - - - ROUNDING A SCHOOL, - - = - 5 ALONG THE Rocks— Tautoc FISHING, - - - MENHADEN, - = = : 3 : a © BuTrTeER FiIsu, - - - - : e . . z BonirTo, = = = S S = : 2 2 SHEEPSHEAD, - - - - - S : E z TAUTOG, - . - - : : é é = BERGALL; CUNNER, - = 2 : . 3 f On A QuiET MORNING, - - - 2 s Kine Ratt, — - - - rea - = s . SHOOTING RalItL, - - - - : : : 2 AN INTERRUPTION, - - - : - 2 Sik Sora Rain, - - - - - . : 5

A BLIND FOR SHORE BIRDS, - - - = = BALDPATE, - - - - - : ¢ C E In AMBUSH, - - - : > - 2 e : GREEN-WINGED TEAL, - - = - 2 = On a Day’s JouRNEY, SIMULIUM SOCIETY, - - = - = 2 3

MAYFLIEsS, - = - - - - - - - DRAGON FLIES AND THEIR NYMPHS, - - - - A Home or Dracon FLty NymMpus, - - - - EPICORDULIA PRINCEPS HAGEN, ADULT AND NymMPH, LEUCORHINIA GLACIALIS, - - - - - - LIBELLULA PULCHELLA DRUuRY, - - - - - LARVA OF CHAULIODES PECTINICORNIS, - - - - CoMB-HORNED FISH-FLY, CHAULIODES PECTINICORNIS, SAW-HORNED FIsH-FLY, CHAULIODES SERRICORNIS, - HORNED CORYDALIS, CORYDALIS CorNuTA LINN, - SPONGILLA FLIkEs, - - - - - - - - CapDDIs FLIES, - 7 = = = = = - EGGs OF AN UNKNOWN Cappis FLy,_ - - = > HyDROPSYCHE SCALARIS HAGEN, - - = = Havesus Hostis HaGen, - - - - - - Case, LARVA AND Pupa oF 1 HALEsus, - - c CasE, Larva AND Pupa oF 2 HALesus, = o : CasE, LARVA AND PupPA oF 3 HALESUS, - < = LEPTOCERUS RESURGENS WALK., - - - - - SEPEDON AND TETANOCERA, - - - - - At Moonrise, - - - - - - - -

facing

“ec

oe

66

PAGE, 360 367 368 372. 376 408 424 440 456 472 479 488 489 4gu 492 493 494 495 400) 498 500 508 52 512 S04 516 SLi) HL) ay) 520 520 522 524 328) 526 526

526 526 Ded 528 ps2 232

Pe aa a Pa ae ae nae PPAR IRE ena ae SPE ar PRR NaS te SPEER RES ne OE ae SPE EE De SPREE EES SPREE aE ERR NSN ne NN

GNINT I: eSu Oa Siar sv Ny }

ANZ SE GIEPOUN TAN Sila) ate

oy!

BES

sceceusleeane

PORE IP AS CIr.:

THE MAN WHO LEADS THE WAY.

HE Sixth Annual Report, herewith presented, is the first and only one of the series issued by the Forest,

Fish and Game Commission under its pres- ent organization. Its contents are of the same high character which distinguished its predecessors in the series.

The preliminary part of the report was issued separately in 1900, as required by law; but as the preparation of the main body of the text and illustrations always involves some delay, advantage is taken of the opportunity to introduce current arti- cles upon important matters related to the work of the Commission, thus bring- ing the subject up to the actual date of publication.

The financial statement shows the effec- tive utilization of the various items of the appropriation. The Superintendent of the Forestry Department, in addition to his annual report upon the present condition of the forests, and the necessary steps to be taken for their preservation, has pre- pared a history of the Lumber Industry in the State of New York, which is of the highest interest, and of very great’ econom- ical value. The history is illustrated by

a map and a number of full page plates,

dealing chiefly with forest fires and injury to trees by floods.

13

I4 PREFACE.

Timely contributions to forest literature are furnished in the articles on Methods of Estimating and Measuring Standing Timber, by A. Knechtel, F. E., and A Study in Practical Reforesting, by J. Y. McClintock.

In order to demonstrate the necessity and desirability of conservative lumber- ing, a valuable paper of the Bureau of Forestry of the United States Department of Agriculture, containing a Forest Working Plan for Township 40, New York State Forest Preserve, is printed in this volume. This article is accompanied by four colored maps and numerous full page illustrations.

In addition to the official report of the heads of the other departments of the Commission not here mentioned, a number of special articles upon the fishes, birds and insects of the State have been contributed by various authors. Dr. B. W. Evermann has furnished a paper upon the Bait Minnows, telling where they are found and for what kinds of fishing they are used, with practical directions for their capture and safe-keeping. This is illustrated by three colored plates. This author, in conjunction with Dr. W. C. Kendall has contributed a catalogue of the Fishes of Lake Ontario, with localities in which the different kinds were collected; he has also provided brief notes upon the Fishes and Mollusks of Lake Chautauqua. The notes upon the figures of fishes in colors as well as the illustrations themselves were pre- pared by Mr. S. F. Denton. Mr. John L. Ridgway is the author of the five colored plates of game birds, the account of whose habits, distribution and characteristics was written by Mr. H. C. Obevxholser. Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, Chief, Department of Fish and Game, at the World’s Fair, St. Louis, has furnished a popular account of 241 kinds of fishes of Long Island, giving notes upon their common names, distribution and habits. This paper, in connection with the other articles on fish already mentioned, furnishes the names of nearly all the fishes now known to occur in the State. An interesting and highly valuable paper on the Aquatic Insects of the Saranac Region by Prof. E. P. Felt, State Entomologist, and an article upon the Canadian Red Trout by Mr. John W. Titcomb, Fish and Game Commissioner

of Vermont, conclude the series of natural history papers.

hep r Tr

of the

Forest, Fish and Game Commission.

To the Honorable the Legislatare of the State of New York:

S required by law, the Forest, Fish and Game Commission herewith submits the annual report of the

department for the year ending on Sep- tember 30 last.

The Commission calls your attention to the accompanying reports of the Superintendent of Forests, the Fish Cul- turist, the Shellfish Commissioner and the Chief Game Protector, and respectfully

makes the following

Recommendations.

That the Constitution be so amended as to provide for the practice of con-

servative forestry on State lands (a

BREAKFAST,

vast estate of 1,384,128 acres, of a value

variously estimated at from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000, of which this Commission

has sole care and control, and which it must protect from damage by trespass,

fire and poaching), and the sale of dead, dying or mature timber under proper safeguards.

That the excellent work done by the United States government in connection

with our foresters, as shown by the report of the United States Forestry Depart-

15

16 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

ment herewith submitted, be continued and an appropriation of $3,500, as requested be made for that purpose.

That a force of Rangers be appointed for the prevention of forest fires, timber stealing and poaching on State land.

That all town firewardens be allowed a moiety of the fine in criminal actions, after payment of expenses, in cases where they can secure evidence that will lead to conviction for setting forest fires.

That the Board be allowed to set aside certain limited portions of the State lands as game refuges, and absolutely to prohibit the killing of wild animals therein.

That the anti-hounding law be permanently extended, and that no dogs of a breed which will pursue deer be allowed in the woods at any time.

That the killing of does be prohibited at all times.

That spring duck-shooting be forbidden.

That there should be no discrimination by this State in the matter of hunting and fishing against any citizen of the United Statés except in cases of citizens of States which discriminate against the State of New York.

That the Commission have power, after stocking or restocking streams, to close them to public fishing for a term not to exceed two years.

Above all, we would especially cali your attention to the difficulty of enforcing the law in regard to the pollution of streams. This is a matter of vital importance and not to be dismissed as affecting only the lives of some fishes, the pleasure of some anglers or the dividends of some pulp mills. We are a water-drinking people, and we are allowing every brook to be defiled. Nature provides that they should be kept pure by animals which feed on the dead matters which fall into them, but the chemicals with which they are polluted can destroy all forms of life, so that every. beast which dies in the mountain will soon roll down into our reservoirs, pickled in acids which no fish or bacteria can touch and live. It is not necessary to destroy or hamper any industry in order to prevent the pollution of water courses. What is really needed is to check the criminal selfishness of those who would rather poison

their fellow citizens with their offal than to spend a few dollars to take care of it.

BY THE*COMMISSTON: JOHN D. WHISH, Asszstant Secretary.

Scientific Forestry.

Work and Saggestions of the United States Experts.

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

HE preparation of a working plan for a portion of the Forest Preserve, under- cf taken at the request of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission by the Division of Forestry of the United States Department of Agriculture, has been successfully completed in the field and the results are nearly ready for publica- tion. The work was done under the appropriation of $2,000 made by the Legisla- ture at its last session, upon Township 40, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in Hamil- ton county, which contains the well-known Raquette Lake. The principal conclusions reached by this investigation may be summarized as follows:

First. Under the systematic and conservative system of management which the Division of Forestry will advise in the working plan now in preparation, only the mature softwood timber will be cut, and that under close restrictions and constant supervision. Particular attention will be given to the protection of the mountain summits and the natural beauties of Raquette Lake. To this end ample reserva- tions will be recommended, which will thoroughly protect the watersheds and pre- serve the lake shores from damage. There will be no interference whatever with the value of the forest as a conserver of the water supply.

The above statements as to watersheds and water supply are confirmed by Mr. F. H. Newell, Hydrographer of the United States Geological Survey, who, after per- sonal examination of Township 4o on the ground, approved the recommendations to be made in the working plan.

Second. Township 40 is a well-timbered township, on which there is a sufficiently heavy stand of mature spruce to insure profitable lumbering under economical and conservative methods. There is also mature pine and balsam which should be cut.

Third. The topography of this Township makes lumbering comparatively easy, since the greater part is tributary to Raquette Lake, which occupies the center of

the township. The Raquette Lake Railway is at present the only means of getting 2 17]

18 REPORT OF THE

the timber from Township 40 to the market. With the improvement of the river between Raquette and Forked Lakes, which will be strongly advised in the working plan now nearly completed, a second outlet will be secured for this timber on the greater part of Township 40, and also for all other timber tributary to Raquette Lake. The large mills at Tupper Lake and Piercefield are located on the course of Raquette River. The improvement of this river, so that logs might be driven from Raquette Lake, would make a material improvement in the bids submitted by contractors.

Fourth. Township 40 is covered by virgin forest. In a forest of this character the annual decay of the over-mature trees offsets the annual growth. Each year many large trees die, or are blown down and decay. These mature trees, if har- vested, would yield a considerable revenue, and at the same time the producing power of the forest being unimpaired, the conditions of growth would be improved. Under conservative lumbering successive crops may be.cut from this forest at recur- ring intervals for an indefinite period.

Fifth. Under practical forestry, this tract will yield a sustained revenue. By the adoption of a conservative and carefully devised system of lumbering, such as that advised in the working plan for Township 40, the State will receive a sustained and increasing income from the Forest Preserve. This would bring about the right use of the forest resources of the State lands without in any way interfering with the objects for which the Forest Preserve was created and without injury to the natural beauties of the Park.

From this statement it will be seen that the lumbering of the softwood timber under forest management is safe, practicable and can readily be made profitable financially ; that lumbering under the rules to be incorporated in the working plan would tend to improve the condition of the forest; that such lumbering would . remove over-mature trees which, by deterioration and decay, offset the production of the forest in sound timber; that by such lumbering the productive capacity of the forest would be increased, and that all this may be accomplished wholly without interference with the water supply or with any of the other objects of the Preserve:

The Division of Forestry therefore recommends that the necessary steps be taken to secure the lumbering of Township 40 by conservative methods, and it will shortly submit a detailed working plan prepared for that purpose.

Should the clause of the 1 894 amendment to the State Constitution be repealed which prohibits all cuttings in the New York State Forest Preserve, detailed work- ing plans for the Preserve will be necessary in order to lumber it with the greatest

advantage to the State and to the forest. Should the clause fail to be repealed the

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 19

first time or second time, or any number of times, these working plans will neverthe- less be ready to apply and will have a value when the repeal is finally made. The larger the area of the Preserve covered by working plans the more forcible the argu- ment in favor of the repeal of the clause prohibiting cuttings, since working plans will be made only for those forest lands which have been proved by thorough inves- tigation to be suitable for practical forestry.

I would strongly advise that the area for which working plans be next prepared

shall be Townships 5, 6 and 41, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, Hamilton county.

GIES OQURID) IPIONClshO)ay,

Forester.

ie

en Me

A HARD WINTER.

Reportof the Saperintendentof Forests.

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

HAVE the honor to submit herewith my annual report on matters connected with the Forest Preserve and the business incidental to the care, custody and control of the lands owned by the State in the Adirondack and the Cats-

kill counties.

Area of Porest Preserve.

The area of the Forest Preserve is changing and enlarging continually. It would be difficult to state the exact acreage until our new land list is compiled and pub- lished, there being 5,513 separate parcels or titles as shown on the last one printed, the schedule issued in 1897. |

There are continual accessions through the purchase of the Forest Preserve Board; and there were recently added 9,969 acres through the sale of bonded lands by the State Engineer and Surveyor. Large areas were also acquired through suits brought to re-establish the State’s title to lands which had been lost through cancel- lations improperly granted several years ago. Other suits for the same purpose are still pending, through which further accessions to the Preserve will be made.

On the other hand, the State lost title to a few small parcels through redemptions and cancellations granted in the Comptroller’s office since the publication of the last land list, such action having been based on good and sufficient reasons and in accord- ance with the requirements of the general tax law. The decrease from this source, however, was small, |

As no tax sales have been held by the Comptroller during the last five years there has been no gain in acreage from that source; nor is it expected that any consider- able area will be acquired through the coming sale which will commence December 10, 1900. Over three-fourths of the lands now in the Preserve were acquired through tax sales in former years, notably those of 1877 and 1881; but since then the acqui- sitions through this medium have steadily decreased, there having been a marked rise in the value of wild or forest lands due to the withdrawal from the market of

the large State holdings and the continual purchases by the Forest Preserve Board.

20

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 21

There has been, also, an active demand for a certain class of Adirondack woodlands

by parties who have established or who desire to form private preserves, over one- fourth of the North Woods being held and occupied at present for such purposes.

Then, again, the recent high prices for lumber and pulpwood resulted in extensive purchases for business purposes, and many lots which in former years would have been abandoned and the taxes defaulted were bought by lumbermen in order to obtain the third cutting of small spruce and other conifers that yet rernained on these lands.

Owing to this condition of affairs the owners of Adirondack or Catskill land no longer allow their property to revert for taxes; or, if any does go to sale it is bid in by individuals, and thus the State fails to acquire it. Some holders intention- ally allow the taxes on their lands to go unpaid; but it is done for the express pur- pose of bidding off these same lands at the Comptroller's tax sale, and thereby strengthening their title.

A careful examination of the land records in the Comptrollér’s office and in the forestry department of your Commission shows that the area of the Forest Preserve

at this date is approximately as follows:

ACRES. Adirondack Preserve, - - - - - - - - 1,290,987 Catskill Preserve, - - - - - - - - 79,941

1,370,928

As stated before, this acreage is composed of 5,513 separate lots or parcels, each having its own surveyed boundary lines, as shown on the large maps of the Adiron- dack and Catskill counties issued by this Department. As these parcels were con- veyed separately, either by tax certificate or grantor’s deed —most of them by the former —each one rests on its own individual title, and the ownership must be protected accordingly. I mention this in order to give some idea of the clerical work necessary in properly caring for the records pertaining to this vast amount

of real estate.

Forestry.

Owing to the restrictions of the forestry clause in the State constitution the Department is debarred from undertaking any scientific work for the improvement of the public woodlands or increase of the merchantable product thereon. Scien- tific forestry, with its thinning and pruning, involves the use of the axe; but the

constitutional clause referred to says that the ‘timber thereon ” shall not “be sold,

No bo

RERORDIOR War

removed or destroyed.” Hence, the matured trees must be allowed to decay or be blown down instead of converting them into money and using the proceeds for forest improvement; insect blight and fungal diseases must be permitted to extend their ravages unchecked; and timber that has been scorched by fire o: uprooted by windstorms cannot be sold or removed, but must remain in a tangled slash until some chance fire clears the ground and causes further destruction to the adjoining woodlands.

True, some forestry work might be undertaken in the line of reforesting or replanting some of the burned or denuded areas on the Preserve, for this would not violate any constitutional restriction. But it would be expensive, and could be car- ried on only in a small way as an experiment. A special appropriation would be necessary, and it is doubtful whether the Legislature would grant it.

In view of the well-established fact that a State forest can be made to yield a permanent annual revenue, without any diminution of its area or impairment of its protective functions, it is hoped that the people may consent in time to some modifi- cation of the law, so that the public woodlands may be managed in accordance with well-approved forestry methods, becoming thereby a source of profit instead of —

expense. Working Plans.

In order that the public might better understand the methods referred to and their proposed application to the management of the State forests, it was deemed advisable to have definite working plans made for some particular tract, a detailed description of which, together with explanatory maps, could be printed and circu- lated among the people. A favorable opportunity presented itself in the general offer made by the Forestry Division of the United States Department of Agricul- ture at Washington, D. C., which advertised that it would send competent foresters anywhere, free of charge, to make detailed plans for the care and management of woodlands, the General Government agreeing to pay their salaries provided their expenses were defrayed by the applicant for their services.

As it seemed advantageous to have a careful examination and timber survey made of some good township on the Preserve, the offer of the United States For- estry Division to send competent men to do such work was accepted. At the same time, through an arrangement with the finance committees of the State legislature, an item was inserted in the annual supply bill by which $2,000 was appropriated for the expenses of the United States foresters while engaged on the proposed work.

The men and the money having thus been provided, the Superintendent of

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 23

State Forests designated Township 40, Hamilton county (Raquette Lake), as a desirable location for inaugurating a forest survey and securing the information as to timber measurements and other details necessary for a complete working plan. This tract has not been lumbered, and is covered with a “ virgin forest,’ as it is called. Moreover, it adjoins three other townships of the Preserve — 5, 6 and 41 — which are also covered with a primeval forest in which no cutting has been done, except a small area in the south-east quarter of township 6. As the Totten and Crossfield townships contain about 25,000 acres each —land and water — the four just mentioned offer an unbroken forest of 100,000 acres for the examination and report of the foresters.

After a conference with Mr. Gifford Pinchot, chief of the Forestry Division at Washington, the various arrangements were completed, Mr. Ralph S. Hosmer, Field Assistant, and Mr. Eugene S. Bruce, Lumberman, being detailed to take charge of the work. They selected a camp site on the shore of North Bay, Raquette Lake, where they pitched their tents, and provided accommodations for their party, four- teen in number, including the cook, camp attendant, and axeman. Three foresters, who are in the employ of your Commission, were also ordered to report to them and assist in the work. One of these State. foresters, Mr. H. S. Meekham, an Adiron- dack surveyor of many years’ experience, was assigned to the important work of making the necessary field surveys and topographical map; the others, Mr. Ralph C. Bryant —a graduate of the New York State College of Forestry—and Mr. Grant B. Bruce, assisted in the work of taking tree measurements.

Through the courtesy of Hon. Edward A. Bond, State Engineer and Surveyor, I obtained from his Department the loan of a large amount of camp equipment, including eight tents, sheet-iron stoves, surveying and draughting instruments, and various necessary articles. Had it not been for his kindly assistance it would have been difficult to keep the expense of this forestry camp within che limit of the appropriation. In addition to the articles thus loaned I purchased for the use of the party two “guide” boats, United States flag, a planimeter, mapping and draughting “material, blankets, cooking utensils, etc.

The field-work having been completed, the party broke camp in the latter part of October. I then made an arrangement with Mr. Andrew Sims, who lives at Raquette Lake, to store the entire outfit in the second story of his boat-house, and the prop- erty is there now in his care, including the boats, tents, stoves, tools, tableware, cooking utensils, etc. es

From what I observed during my visits to the camp, and from a careful examina-

tion of the maps in course of preparation, also the sheets showing the timber meas-

24 REPORT OF THE

urements by species, I am able to commend highly the intelligence and industry with which the work was conducted. Whether the working plans are ever used or not, the value of the statistics and knowledge of forest conditions thus obtained will amply offset the expense. It is unnecessary here to give any of the results, facts and figures obtained by this survey, as this information will soon be published in full by the United States Forestry Division. A bulletin relating to this particular work, giving the results in detail and furnishing an intelligent, conservative working plan for the management of that township, will soon be printed at Washington and sent free to any applicant.

For the benefit of some of our good forestry people who deprecate any sugges- tion that implies the cutting of a single tree, it should be said that the working plan under consideration does not necessitate forest destruction in any way. Whatever cutting may be recommended will tend to an improvement of the forest, an increase

in the volume of timber, a greater product, and a permanent revenue.

Prodaction of Adirondack Forests.

Under a provision of the State forestry law the Superintendent of Forests is required to collect annually from the various sawmills and pulpmills statistics show- ing their annual product, so far as it is composed of timber taken from the Adiron- dack and Catskill regions. I commenced the compilation and publication of this class of statistics in 1890, and since that time they have appeared regularly in the annual reports of the Department. Of late years Mr. A. B. Strough, of your office, has rendered valuable assistance in the collection and tabulation of this important information, enabling me to devote more time to other duties.

As the reports from the various mills, showing their annual output, cannot well be made until some time after the close of the year, I am unable to give the figures for 1900. But, for the reason just stated, the lumber and pulpwood statistics for 1899 were not obtainable in time for the report of that year, and so I insert them now. As I have explained in previous reports, these statistics are not based on mere estimates. They may be accepted as reliable, because they are furnished in every instance from the office of the various firms, companies or individuals, the figures being taken from their books or based on their log contracts.

These statistics are of value not only to the trade, but they invite the attention of all who are interested in our woodlands and whatever may relate to them. As the acreage of the Adirondack forests is well known, these figures indicate the per-

centage of that territory from which the merchantable timber is removed each year.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 25

This does not imply that the land is stripped or denuded of its forest covering; for, as a general rule, the hardwoods, which form about seventy per cent. of the timber, are left untouched. But our northern forests yield, on an average, about 3,500 feet of softwood timber per acre—sawlogs and pulpwood—under the close cutting which now prevails. With this factor as a divisor one can easily determine the area that is cut over each year, and, approximately, the number of years that must elapse before there will be no merchantable softwood left except that which is on the State preserve.

The amount of timber—log measure —taken from the Adirondack forests in

1899 was as follows:

FEET.

Spruce (sawmills), - - - - - - - - - 148,203,491 Spruce (pulpmills), — - - - - - - - - 195,568,623 -Hemlock, - - - - - - - - - 46,545,772 Pine, - - - - - - - - - - ree 33,132,807 Hardwood, - - - - - - - - - - 24,296,554

TRG 5) ty Cie ala ee ea Wat a serceereae C 447,747,247 SUMING eS ew BEM eet ecm ia ccye: etn GT Sate ST 33,619,000

Lath, - - - 5 aye Te ; : ; : E 49,329,090

The spruce used by the pulpmills was reported in cords — 345,180 cords. In con- verting this quantity into feet as reported above (189,503,820 feet), I estimated a cord as equivalent to three markets or 549 feet, log measure.

By referring to the table showing the product for each year — 1890 to 1899 — it will be seen that the output for 1899 is much less than that of the preceding year, the sawmills showing a decrease of 31 per cent., and the pulpmills 17 per cent., while in the production of hemlock, pine and hardwood there was little or no change. The decrease in the spruce output may be due to the extreme drought and low water which prevailed in the summer and fall of 1899, during which many mills were shut down. Many of the large pulpmills increased their Canadian purchases of pulp- wood and bought less from the Adirondacks, which accounts for some of the ‘decrease in production. It should be noted, also, that the production for 1898 exceeded that of any other year. The maximum output was then reached, and it is

doubtful if it will ever be attained again.

26 REPORT OF THE

Great Forest of Northern New York.

Annual Production.

FEET. FEET. 1890 — Lumber, - - - - - - . 325,690,634 Pulpwood, - - - = - 51,956.262 : 377,046,896 1891 — Lumber, - - - - - - 286,710,593 Pulpwood, - - = = 3 69,274,283 355,984,876 1892 — Lumber, - - - - - - 406,954,200 Pulpwood, - - - - - 80,918,537 2 ee BAO i ensd '1893 — Lumber, - - - - - = 355,050,528 Pulpwood, - - - - - 92,135,797 447,186,235 1894 — Lumber, - - - - - - 288,700,269 Pulpwood, 2 = 3 : = 112,095,918 400,796,187 1895 — Lumber, - - - - - - 297,610,161 Pulpwood, : - - - > 151,891,281 Ca eae oma 1896 — Lumber, - - - - - = Doni 7/2 Pulpwood, - - - - - 159,894,054 430,109,426 1897 — Lumber, - - - - - 284,907,544 Pulpwood, - - - - - 166,087 872 450,995,416 1898 — Lumber, - - . - - - 314,652,289 Pulpwood, . - - - - 229,581,918 eae 544,234,207 1899 — Lumber, - - - - - - 252,178,624 Pulpwood, - - - - - 195,508,623 ATION

In the annual reports of the State Forestry Department — 1890 to 1898 — will be found the tabulated figures showing the product of each mill for that year, the amount of spruce, hemlock, pine and hardwood being stated separately. These annual reports form also a complete directory in which appears the name and loca- tion of every sawmill and pulpmill in the State, together with the business address

of the firm or individual.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. By]

Forest Fires in 1900.

The fires in the Adirondack region did little damage, comparatively, this year ; but in the Catskill district, owing to the dry season there, fires were numerous and, in some instances, quite destructive. In 1899 there were no fires in the Catskills, while in the Adirondacks they occurred to a remarkable extent. This year the con- ditions were reversed, the Catskill woodlands suffering to a considerable degree while the Adirondack fires were few and did little damage. No fires were reported this year from Herkimer or Oneida county; and one only, of small extent, occurred in Hamilton county.

The total area burned over, as compiled from the reports of the firewardens, amounted to 14,893 acres; and the value of the standing timber destroyed, as esti- mated by the firewardens, aggregated $12,499. It seems proper to mention here that there was an evident tendency on the part of these officials to overestimate both the area and the damage. In addition to the loss of standing timber the reports state that logs, bark and cordwood were consumed which were valued in all at $2,072; also a loss in buildings and fences amounting to $1,843.

A careful synopsis of the reports shows, also, that the number of days worked by the men who were ordered out to fight fire aggregated 3,101 days, representing an expenditure by the towns for wages of $6,300, one-half of which is payable by the State.

One man lost his life while fighting a forest fire in the Catskills—in Greene county. He was surrounded by the fast traveling flames before he was aware of his danger, and was burned to death. This is the second accident of this kind in the Catskills since the Forest Commission was organized, an old man having been burned to death about twelve years ago, while working at a forest fire near the Kaaterskill ekoelle

The damage to standing timber ($12,499) may seem small as compared with the acreage burned over. In explanation it should be said that most of the fires reported occurred on waste lands, barren plains, berry patches, meadows, or on tracts that had been burned over before, some of them repeatedly. It will be noticed also from the detailed report which follows that few fires occurred in the main forest dis- trict; they were mostly in the farming towns adjoining the wilderness. Moreover, the standing timber that was scorched or killed was not necessarily a loss, although so reported; for the owner would immediately cut it and sell it as cordwood, pulp- wood or sawlogs. But the timber on the State land, however, cannot ‘be cut or

removed,” even when it is dead and cumbering the ground.

REPORT). OF THE

Report on Forest Fires for 1900.

ADIRONDACK

COUNTIES.

CLINTON COUNTY.

TOWN DATE , ACRES DAMAGE CAUSE OF FIRE Black Brook May 2 700 $300 Clearing land Black Brook May 17 1,200 800 Unknown er June 20 50° 115 Unknown Essex Country. Elizabethtown June 20 400 $750 Campers Elizabethtown June 20 250. 200 Lumber camp Elizabethtown June 21 12 60 Clearing land Jay April wy 2 - - Burning house Jay April 23 4 . - Clearing land Wilmington May 2 20 60 Tobacco smoking Willsborough June 25 3 15 Clearing land FRANKLIN COUNTY. Altamont May 14 100 $10 Clearing land Franklin May 13 100 100 Clearing land Franklin May 13 250 175 Unknown Franklin May 14 75 75 Unknown Franklin May 15 60 so) Clearing land Franklin May 24 15 25 Locomotive Franklin May 25 125 25 Incendiary Harrietstown May 14 120 25 Unknown Harrietstown May 27 50 100 Clearing land Harrietstown June 24 50 25 Clearing land Harrietstown June 30 3 - : Burning garbage

“RY

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

FULTON CouUNTY.

29

TOWN DATE ACRES DAMAGE CAUSE OF FIRE Caroga May 15 200 $200 Unknown Johnstown April 25 Too 50 Incendiary Johnstown May 24 12 a5 Unknown Johnstown May 25 25 75 Unknown Johnstown May 31 80 200 Unknown Johnstown July 2 15 - - Unknown Mayfield April 27 40 50 Tobacco smoking Mayfield August 9 20 25 Unknown Mayfield August II 40 100 Locomotive Mayfield September ro se) 15 Locomotive Mayfield October 220m! ie) 50 Hunters Northampton August A | 3 15 iLewomartine Stratford May 56 | 50 50 Fishermen Stratford May 27 I5 - . Unknown Stratford May 29 20 IO Unknown

HAMILTON CouNTY. Hope October 5 | 25 | $roo Hunters

Lewis County.

Croghan May 3 3 gro Fishermen Croghan May 5 10 - - Unknown Croghan August 2 5 5 - Tobacco smoking Diana April 28 100 if) Unknown Greig May 26 152 100 Unknown Harrisburgh August 25 12 IO Clearing land Lyonsdale August 7 IO - - Incendiary

30 REPORT OF THE St. LAWRENCE COUNTY. TOWN DATE ACRES DAMAGE CAUSE OF FIRE

De Kalb July 23 18 $15 Children at play Hopkinton May 24 75 10 Locomotive Rossie © July 31 IO - - Unknown

SARATOGA COUNTY. Ballston April 26 B $15 Locomotive Ballston May 7 20 45 Clearing land Ballston May 14 I - - Locomotive Ballston July 5 I - Locomotive Ballston July 20 2 - - Locomotive Ballston August 22 2 5 Locomotive Ballston September 7 15 - - Locomotive Ballsten September 18 3 10 Locomotive Clifton Park August II 50° 25 Locomotive Edinburgh July 4 10 - - Fireworks Greenfield May 9 100 300 Incendiary Hadley May 21 80 10 Unknown Hadley October 5 150 150 Unknown Providence August II 4 - - Incendiary Wilton September 5 100 - Berry pickers

WARREN County. Horicon September 18 35 $10 Bee hunters Johnsburgh May 13 2 - - Hunters Johnsburgh May 26 20 20 Wood choppers Johnsburgh May 30 I - Fishermen Johnsburgh June II 2 - Incendiary Johnsburgh June 29 2% 2 Berry pickers Johnsburgh June 30 1% 10 Lightning Johnsburgh June 30 8 5 Lightning Johnsburgh August 5 2 5 Fishermen

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

WARREN Country — Continued.

Fort Ann | April 2S ae 15 $5 Clearing land Fort Ann | May 2a | 25 | 5 Sick tramp Fort Ann | May 12 | 20 | - - | Lightning

CATSKILL COUNTIES.

DELAWARE COUNTY.

Tompkins | April 26 | 200° | 200 Clearing land

32 REPORT OF THE GREENE COUNTY.

TOWN DATE ACRES | DAMAGE CAUSE OF FIRE Cairo - August i5 600 $500 City boarders Cairo August 6 12 50 Tramps Cairo August “9 300 100 City boarders Cairo September 12 150 25 Incendiary Hunter August TO 300 100 Carelessness Hunter August 26 250 100 Tobacco smokers

SULLIVAN COUNTY. Bethel May 7 400 $200 Clearing land Bethel May 8 300 25 Incendiary Bethel May 30 1,000 500 Telephone line Delaware April 19 225 450 Locomotive Fremont April 7 70 - Unknown Forestburgh May 6 250 20 Fishermen Forestburgh October 20 25 - Hunters Lumberland April 30 I,100 1,200 Unknown Lumberland May 7 600 500 Unknown Rockland April 4 3 = Clearing land Rockland April 5 5 - Locomotive Rockland April 24 200 - Clearing land Rockland April 26 200 100 Locomotive Rockland April 20 300 200 Unknown Rockland April 30 3 2 Incendiary Rockland May 2 20 50° I.ocomotive Rockland May 5 200 75 Unknown Rockland May 25 25 - Incendiary Rockland May 27 15 20 Incendiary

FOREST, GAME AND FISH COMMISSION,

ULSTER COUNTY.

(SS) ios)

TOWN | DATE ACRES DAMAGE CAUSE OF FIRE Olive April 29 100 $10 Unknown Olive May 16 50 50 Tobacco smoking Shandaken August ie) 20 - - Unknown Shawangunk April 8 400 200 Unknown Shawangunk May 6 100 200 Incendiary Shawangunk May 30 50 100 Incendiary RECAPITULATION. Number of acres burned over, - - - - - - - 14,893 % Of which the State owns, - : - - - - See 76234 Damage to standing timber, - - - - - = - $12,499 Loss in logs, bark and cordwood, - - = - = : $2,072 Loss in buildings and fences, - - - = = é $1,843 Total number of days worked fighting fire, - - - - 3,100 Total wages paid for same, _— - - - - - - - $6,300

CAUSES OF FIRES.

Runilmoadulocomotives: (2 ye =) Ses ted yi et as Clearing land, burning brush, etc., - = = < 2 3 19 Incendiary or wilfulness, — - : - : 2 5 - Z 13 Hunters, - - - - = : 2 : 2 Z : 8 Fishermen, - - ay ei u a 3 z x s 5 Tobacco smoking or matches, - - - - - é Z 2 6 Lightning, - - = - : : : 2 : s 3 Campers, - - - : : 2 a Z i B 2 City boarders, —- - 4 2 E a _ - s 2 Tramps, - - - > - = é : 2 e i A 2 Berry pickers, - - “ ° - : 2 =o eWae 2 2 Woodchoppers, - - = 2 - 3 i : I Bee hunters, - - - < : Avie 5 j I Lumber camp, - - - = : - ¢ Z : a I Carelessness, - - - - gets 2 : x I Telephone linemen, - - - : = 2 = é “ 1 Children at play, - - - - - - : = s I

3

34 REPO RIS OF eSEUE,

Burning garbage, - - - - - - - = Z 3 I Fireworks, July 4th, - - - - - - = E 2 I Burning house, - - S - - - : s = = I Unknown, - - - - 2 2 E : e E 8 35

127

Of the 127 fires here reported it should be noted that forty-seven of them did no damage, most of them having been extinguished before they gained any headway.

The firewardens, for the most part, rendered prompt and efficient service when- ever a fire was observed or reported to them. In some instances they instituted prosecutions for violations of the Fire Law, in which the guilty parties were convicted and fined.

If there were more prosecutions for this offense there would be less fires. But it is difficult to get evidence in these cases; and the firewardens dislike to incur the enmity of their neighbors by arresting them for carelessness in the use of fire, or by furnishing evidence when the prosecution is instituted by some State official. But if there were some pecuniary inducement the firewardens would probably feel more free to commence proceedings against guilty parties. In view of this I would respectfully suggest that it might be well to amend the law so that the firewardens shall be authorized to bring actions before a justice of the peace for any infringe- ment of the law relating to forest or fallow fires, and that the entire penalty shall go to the firewarden. As these officials receive no salary, nor any pay aside from the days’ wages paid them for their time while actually engaged in fighting fire, such a provision would enable them to receive some’ compensation for their services without increasing the expenses of the town. Furthermore, each prosecution would tend strongly to the prevention of carelessness or wilful neglect in the use of fire. ;

In response to the repeated recommendations of the Commission, the Legisla- ture, at its last session, passed an amendment to the forestry law, by which it made provision for the appointment of a chief firewarden, who should have charge of all matters relating to forest fires, the effective organization of the town and district firewardens, the collection of reports, prosecution of persons who started fires illegally, and the supervision of the accounts against the State as rendered by the various towns. As this amendment was not passed until the close of the session, the spring fires had occurred before any appointment was made. Mr. Lester S. Emmons, who was selected by the Board to fill this important position, commenced

work in June, since which time he has accomplished much in the way of perfecting the

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 35

organization of the force of firewardens. He has visited the various towns in which vacancies had occurred and secured competent, desirable men to fill these places, a task somewhat difficult, as the position offers no inducements. He has also arranged with the firewardens of the larger forest towns for a division of the terri- tory into districts of suitable size and location, and, also, for the appointment of good men to act as district firewardens. It is confidently expected that the good results of his work will be apparent in a marked decrease in both the number and area of forest fires.

As there are 758 town and district firewardens in the Adirondack and Catskill regions, it is evident that the proper organization and supervision of this large force

of officials necessitates a large amount of work on the part of the Chief Firewarden.

> Trespasses and Timber Thieves.

During the fiscal year ending October 1, 1900, forty-six different actions for tim- ber stealing, including some unintentional trespasses, were successfully prosecuted and the penalties collected. These fines amounted in the aggregate to $2,207.76. In addition to this sum $378.82 was received for the sale of logs which were seized and sold, the timber having been stolen from State lands. The fines imposed varied from $10 to $208.10; and in one case of timber cutting, which occurred on Town- ship 17, Hamilton county, the sum of $550 was paid in settlement of the trespass.

Some of the amounts collected were the result of prosecutions commenced before the beginning of the fiscal year; and, again, several prosecutions are now pending, in which the penalties have not yet been collected.

The most of these trespasses occurred along the borders of the forest, and were due to the petty thieving of a class of men who resort to this method of obtaining money whenever they think they can do so without detection. During the last year no timber cutting has been done on State lands by any of the lumbermen, except in one instance, in which the defendant claimed that there were no lines showing the State boundary. He was fined, however, an amount equivalent to three times the value of the timber taken, as it was his dutv to know where his own line ran, even if the State boundary was not marked. Very little trespassing in the way of timber cutting is done in the main forest, as there is no resident population there; and the lumbermen of late years have been very careful to have their lines marked by competent surveyors, thus avoiding trouble with the State.

In some instances trespasses are committed by persons who claim title to land,

and when prosecuted they put in a defense accordingly; but in each of these cases

36 REPORT OF THE

the State was able to prove its title clearly, upon which the usual penalties were imposed. The greater part of the timber stealing occurs along the southern bound- ary of Hamilton and Herkimer counties. One bad feature of the timber cutting in that locality is that the thieves destroy a large amount of timber in addition to that which they remove. Asarule they take the choice butt logs only —the “ fiddle butts,” as they are termed — leaving the rest of the trees in the woods to decay, and increasing the danger from fire. These fiddle butts, being composed largely of clear stuff, free from knots, are sawed into five-eighths thickness, and shipped to the factories which make sounding boards for the piano trade. The thieves also take some choice hardwood butts, taking one log as usual and leaving the rest of the tree on the ground.

Another class of thieves take pine timber which they use in making shaved shingles. They select the largest and most valuable trees in the forest, and cut out the butt logs. I submit herewith some photographs illustrating the character of their work. This trespass was discovered by Forester Grant B. Bruce, who, in com- pany with Forester Bryant, measured the stumps and estimated the amount of timber taken— which, in this case, amounted to 26,934 feet. Not all of it was. removed, as the parties were discovered soon after they commenced operations.

The foresters have shown a commendable activity and efficiency in arresting many of these depredators, but as each forester has an entire county to look after it follows that as soon as he has gone the thieves resume work. This condition of affairs will necessarily go on until the Legislature makes provision for the continu- ous patrolling of each locality. I would therefore respectfully renew the recommen- dation which I made in my report of last year to the Commission, and urge the importance of amending the forestry law so that provision may be made for a force of at least thirty-five patrols or rangers, who should be required to live in the forest, and on the township or district assigned to them. If this is done there will be no more timber stealing nor violation of the game law on State lands. At present there are only three foresters or rangers connected with the forestry department of this State; and one of these is a surveyor, who is necessarily employed on other work. We are accordingly obliged to depend upon the services of the fish and game protectors. The latter are active, efficient men, but there are only six of them living within the Adirondack Park. They reside in some village, and much of their time is necessarily occupied in the prosecution of suits for violation of the game law.

The most important benefit to be derived from a well-organized force of patrols would be in the prevention of forest fires. True, we have firewardens in each town;

but their duties are confined to the extinguishing of fires. Their work does not

SHAVED SHINGLES

MADE

OUT

OF STATE TIMBER.

SHAVING BENCH OR SHAVE, SHINGLES,

3 5 WITH STUMPS

“HORSE {ON WHICH “hk DETTE VES

AND LOGS CLOSE BY.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 371

commence until after a fire has started; the work of the patrol is directed to the prevention of fires. The best way to fight fires is to have no fires. A patrol would know of each hunter, fisherman, tourist, or picnic party that came on his township. He would follow them, caution them about carelessness in this respect, and see that their camp or coffee fires were extinguished when they moved on. He would also be in a good position to obtain the necessary evidence for a prosecution, if these wandering parties violated the provisions of the law relating to the use of fire in the woods.

During the dry season of 1899 there were 327 fires in the Adirondacks; but none of these occurred on the private preserves, although these preserves include nearly one-third of our northern forests. Their exemption was due to the fact that their lands were constantly patrolled. The preserves employed ninety-eight patrols in all; the State did not employ one.

In addition to the forestry and police work carried on by the Department there are numerous Suits involving the litigation of titles to lands in the preserve. It isa matter of congratulation that the Commission has been uniformly successful in these cases. In one important suit growing out of the cutting of timber on the pre- serve, the defendant set up a claim of title which was based upon a certificate from a county treasurer's sale. On the first trial of this case a verdict was given against the prosecution, the court holding that the defendant’s title, which was obtained from the county treasurer’s sale, was a valid one, although the State held title from a tax sale subsequently made by the State Comptroller. As this decision would affect unfavorably the State’s ownership to a large amount of land in the Forest Preserve, an appeal was taken, and I have the pleasure of announcing that recently we received notice that the appellate court had reversed the decision of the lower court.

I would also mention the important decision made by the United States Supreme Court in the suit of Benton Turner v. The State of New York, in which it affirmed the constitutionality of the law of 1885. This law makes legal and regular all the tax sales under which the State holds title to lands in the Forest Preserve.

I take pleasure also in mentioning that we have received a communication from the office of the Paris Exposition conveying the information that the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of this State received a gold medal for the forestry exhibit sent there one year ago. This exhibit consists of six large frames, each containing thirty specimens — or 180 in all—of the commercial woods of this State. There were eighty-four species represented, two or more specimens being exhibited of each,

showing different kinds of finish. This collection is a valuable one. It is not only

38 REPORT OF THE

instructive, but it possesses interest for all manufacturers who handle our native woods in the course of their business. I would respectfully suggest that when the exhibit is returned to this country it be set up again and placed on permanent exhi- bition in some suitable spot in the corridors of the Capitol.

I would further report that in addition to the ordinary details of office work we are now engaged in the preparation of a new edition of the Land List, showing the location, lot number, and acreage of the various parcels of land — over 5,000 in number — forming the Forest Preserve. As this schedule forms the basis of all our forestry and real estate work, its value and necessity must be plainly evident. The preparation of this work has been entrusted to Mr. A. B. Strough of the office force, whose ability as a statistician, and experience in the preparation of similar statistics insures the accuracy of this extensive compilation.

Owing to the large accession of lands through the purchase of the Forest Pre- serve Board, and sale of bonded lands by the State Engineer and Surveyor, a new edition of our Adirondack map became necessary. Much time has accordingly been devoted to its preparation and the incorporation of the data derived from the recently issued sheets of the United States Geological Survey. Through informa- tion obtained from the latter source it is hoped in time to make this map substan- tially perfect. As no other one has been published showing the landed allotment of the Adirondack counties its great value has been conceded by everyone interested in that region— landholders, surveyors, lawyers, tax assessors, lumbermen, tourists and owners of private preserves. Owing to the large number of changes made necessary by the information received from the United States Geological Survey, extensive alterations in the stone had to be made by the engravers, which has delayed its publication. But Iam in receipt of a letter from Messrs. Bien & Co., of New.

York, who are doing this work, that the proof sheets will be ready within a few days.

Adirondack Deer.

Although the protection of game is not strictly within the province of my Depart- ment, I would say that for several years I have made the Adirondack deer a subject of observation and study. I have omitted no opportunity to gather reliable statistics bearing on the matter, and so I take pleasure in submitting here some facts and fig- ures for the information of your Board. Through an arrangement made with the American and National Express companies I am enabled to state the exact number of deer shipped out of the Adirondack region during the open season of 1900.

These shipments represent only a small proportion of the deer killed during that

TIMBER STEALING; TOWNSHIP 4o (RAQUETTE LAKE).

SECTION OF LARGE PINE TAKEN, LEAVING THE REST OF THE TREE TO DECAY ON THE GROUND.

PART OF A TREE STOLEN, AND ONE LARGE PINE ‘‘NOTCHED” BY DEE ELE VA SS OSS WALLER Ia WAS) “SSEVAK IY.

THE SLIDING CALIPERS USED BY THE FORESTER IN MEASURING UP THE TRESPASS APPEARS ON THE END OF THE LOG; ALSO AN AXE, LEFT BY THE THIEVES, STICKING IN THE BUTT.

ae — Cl a ee

eo

PENN Leh pee

Ne

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 39

period. What that proportion is, it would be difficult to say with any degree of accuracy, owing to the large number killed by residents and men in the logging camps. The sportsmen also consume some venison while in camp; and many of the hunters who live near the edge of the forest bring out their deer in wagons, some of them carting their game many miles. If I were to venture an estimate, I would say that for each deer reported here in the express companies’ returns, at least four others were killed. The record of shipments as taken from the way-bills of the

express companies is as follows:

Shipments of Deer from the Adirondack Region by the American Express Company tn 1900.

MOHAWK AND MALONE RAILROAD.

OFFICE. CARCASSES. SADDLES. HEADS, Beaver River, - - : = Z z Z E x a 84 B Big Moose, - - - - 2 : e 3 s 27 6 5 Brandreth Lake, - : 2 2 = seas i 3 . : Childwold, - - : - = fs 2 eB o 33 2 : 3 Clear Water, - - - : = = = . 2 E 58 Io Floodwood,_ - - - - : = S = 3 3 30 Forestport, - - = - = - c = E 29 4 D Fulton Chain, - - - - : 3 : B 39 7 Hinckley, - - - - = eae te : E a 4 I ake Clear, - - - : : 2 = Z 3 2 Lake Placid, 2 : 2 = “ 2 a 2 . 2 4 e es 7 Little Rapids, - - - - : 2 2 Es 2 :

Long Lake West, - - - - - - - - = 49

Loon Lake, - - - : A : = : 2 z 6

McKeever, - : 2 SMe Pe : é 5 Z ‘

Minnehaha, - - = - = = z u 2 Es F

Mountain View, - : - = : 3 2 ; = 5 t e 7 Nehasane, - = 6 S = 5 so 2 2 = y ¥ ih 9 Nelson Lake, - - - 2 2 - e - z 2

Otter Wakes = - - 7 c 3 : 5 B ‘ A

Owl’s Head, - 2 S 4 5 - z é é 2

Paul Smith’s, - - B : 2 : - 3 é z 9 t ; Piercefield, - - - . - - 2 < : = 29 p A Poland, - aetisie : : = 2 eS z 2 II 2 i I

Rainbow Lake, - - - - - - - - ° : I

40

OFFICE,

REPORT OF THE

CARCASSES. SADDLES. HEADS.

Saranac Inn, - - < - 3 é 2 z a : 4 p 6 Saranac Lake, - - - : - « : s 5 s I Tupper Lake Junction, - - - - - - - - 56 3 6 White Lake Corners, - - - - - 2 = : : 3 Wood’s Lake, - - - = : é 2 i 14 513 38 46 NEW YORK AND OTTAWA RAILROAD. Bay Pond, - - - - - - : 5 - - : = e . 5 Brandon, - - - - - S : = : S 4 Derrick, - - - - - - ; : : : 2 14 s 3 Kildare, - - - - - : : = 2 : 8 2 Madawaska, . - - - = : : : : = 8 I I Santa Clara, - - - - - - : : = 8 I Spring Cove, - - 3 2 = z : 2 : II St. Regis Falls, - - : : 2 = 2 = 2 6 i 2 6 Tupper Lake, - - - - : = - : 5 s I 60 4 15

OGDENSBURG

Knapp’s, - - - - Lawrence, - - - -

Malone, - - -

AND LAKE CHAMPLAIN RAILROAD.

FONDA, GLOVERSVILLE AND JOHNSTOWN RAILROAD

Gloversville, = - Johnstown,” - - - - Northville, - - -

i i i 3 ; z 4 ; i : z ; é 3 - = : = 5 ss 54 rr) Be) 61 13 10

LITTLE FALLS AND DOLGEVILLE RAILROAD.

Dolgeville. - - -

STATE PRESERVE:

S

ON

TRESPASS

ONLY HAS BEEN

eo

BUTT LOC

THE

AWAY.

TIMBER THIEVES.

FELLED BY

LARGE TREE

HAULED

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 4I

NEW YORK CENTRAL AND HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD.

OFFICE. i CARCASSES. SADDLES. HEADS.

Fonda, - - - - = = - - - 2 6 4 I

ROME, WATERTOWN AND OGDENSBURG RAILROAD.

Antwerp, - - - = = - - 5 = © = I Canton, - - = 5 - - 2 : A z 4 I DeKalb Junction, - - - - - - - = - 5 I I Edwards, - - - - 2 = = : é : 6 - I Potsdam, - - - - - - 5 is B é 24 Watertown, - - = = 2 2 : : H = I

41 2 2

UTICA AND BLACK RIVER RAILROAD.

Alder Creek, - = : : es 2 f s 2 5 Benson Mines, - - : - é 2 2 2 L 35 4 Boonville, - - - - - - 2 5 2 - Z 6 Carthage, - - - E : s 3 2 5 i 2 Castorland, = - - - 2 : S e 2 : 3 I Glenfield, - = - : 2 - = : Z z 28 Harrisville, - - = - = - : ‘ : 32 2 Jayville, - - - = : - a é D i r Lowyille, - - - = Sate : : 2 : 4 5 4 I Lyon Falls, - - : 2 - c 2 - : Z 3 Natural Bridge, - = = : - = é és 2 : 3 Newton Falls, - - - - - : 2 : : 25 3 3 Oswegatchie, - - = = : : é 3 : 26 Port Leyden, - - - - - 2 - 2 é aN IBrOSpect, - - - - - = © : a x 34 r Remsen, : - - - : - é é : - 2 Richville, - - - ° Sees = = 2 3 7

216 12 3

42 REPORT OF THE

Shipments of Deer from the Adirondack Region by the National Express Company in 1900.

DELAWARE AND HUDSON RAILROAD.

ONC: is CARCASSES. SADDLES. HEADS, Caldwell, - - : i a le z é Be . ; Crown Point, — - - - : - 3 z 5 Fe I 2 : The Glen, 5 - - - 2 5 ss 5 : i Loon Lake, : - : Z a : : a x - i North Creek, - - - “ : - = e B 8 17 Pont welenmny, - - = - 2 : x i 3 ce 3 5 Riverside, - - - 2 “ = E i 2 2 6 4 Saranac Wakes = 2 - z e a 2 ee Stony Creek, - - - - 2 - - 2 ts s 6 Ticonderoga, - - - = 2 = - - 2 . Poe 5 Westport, - = - - - - 2 - = 3 4

Ill 07 17 RECA PITULATION

RAILROAD. CARCASSES. SADDLES. HEADS. M.& M., - - 5 5 = Ss > . : - - neg 38 46 INE 2 cn) eee - - - - : - s : - 60 4 15 ©), we ILA - - ° - : : : - = “ 7 2 5 Jeg Io 2 Can 5 5 - 5 = - : . - 61 13 10 Ip, Ita sa ID) - 5 - > 2 “ . 2 “ a 7 IN WOIG, Weel IN - - - = - = : g A I Re Vcr ©), - - - = - = = 2 _ 41 2 e UW, We 1B IR - - - - - - 2 - - 216 12 D. & Hi, - : ; : Se - 3 ° = 2 - Tce 17 17

1,020 89 95

It may be that in some of these shipments a saddle and head belonged to the same animal, and that the total number should be decreased accordingly. As most of the saddles were from does—the hunters seldom shipping out a doe’s carcass — and all the heads were from bucks, the possible duplication referred to did not occur probably to any great extent. But if all the saddles are deducted, it follows that at least 1,109 deer were killed and shipped.

The number killed which were zo¢ shipped out by rail involves estimates or

guesswork which had better be left for each one to determine in accordance with

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 43

his own experience or observation in these matters. For the information of those who may wish to make such estimates I would say that in 1895 I arranged with a competent person in each locality to ascertain the number of deer killed that season in his immediate vicinity, specifying the district by definite boundaries to avoid any duplication in the returns. I received, in reply, reports from 247 correspondents, covering the entire northern forest, showing that 4,903 were killed during the open season. While these figures may not have included all, they showed conclusively that at least this many were killed, not including the ones illegally shot before the season opened.

The statement that 5,000 deer are killed each year in the Adirondack forests may occasion some surprise among sportsmen who have not looked closely into this matter. But in Maine last year 4,529 carcasses of deer —not including heads and saddles — were shipped out of the woods over the lines of the Bangor and Aroos- took and the Maine Central railroads, and it is estimated by competent authorities that over 18,000 deer are killed annually in the Maine forests.

The question arises here naturally as to how many deer there are in the Adiron- dack woods. This cannot be answered definitely or even approximately. But if there are 5,000 killed each season, it would indicate that there must be at least 30,000 in order to furnish this annual supply. As there are about 6,000 square miles of forest in that entire region, with its outlying woodlands, this estimate would require only five deer to the square mile, on an average, to make it good. True, there are some localities in the Adirondacks in which there is not one deer to the square mile; but, on the other hand, there are some in which there are many more than five to that area. Given this unit of measure each one is free to make his own estimate as to the number of deer in our northern forests.

Right here the question may arise whether, owing to the use of hounds and jack lights, more deer were killed under the old law than under the present one. This can be answered definitely so far as the shipments of the express companies are an indication. The number of deer brought out of the woods by rail in 1896—the last year in which hounds were allowed —as compared with the shipments this last

season give the following result :

CARCASSES. SADDLES. HEADS. TOTAL. 1896, - - - - - - - - 849 139 100 1,088 1900, - - - - - - - 1,020 89 95 1,204

This indicates that more deer are now killed by still-hunting than when hound- ing and jacking were permitted.

A large part of the venison slaughtered this season, as shown by the date of the shipment, was obtained on the tracking snow which fell during the last week of the

44 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

season. Prior to that the still-hunting was difficult work, owing to the dense foliage, which was late in falling this year, and the dryness and rustling of the leaves underfoot.

Prior to this season no albinos or white deer have been killed in the Adirondacks fora great many years. Occasionally, at long intervals, one has been reported as” seen, and as this happened each time during the close season it was allowed to go unharmed. But this year the hunters succeeded in killing two of this rare variety.

One of them, included in the shipment from Port Henry, was shot near North Hudson by Mr. John Greenough. The animal, a two-year-old buck, is described by those who saw it as being perfectly white, with pink ears. Another noticeable pecu- liarity was its very short legs.

The other one was shot near the Boreas Ponds by Mr. Clark Cox, a gamekeeper on Mr. George R. Finch’s preserve. It was a young buck with pink eyes and a spotless coat of white.

The weights of the various carcasses as given in the shipping bills indicate that our Adirondack deer are larger and heavier than the same species in Michigan and the Northwest, judging from the description of the latter as given by Judge Caton, a well-known authority on this subject.* It would appear, also, from other sources of information that our deer will compare favorably in weight and size with those in Maine and Canada. I noted thirty-two shipments in which the dressed weights ranged from 200 to 235 pounds. Under the rule for determining the live weight by adding one-fourth to the dressed weight, these deer when shot weighed from 250 to 294 pounds, without making allowance for what may have been lost by drying out

’

while they were hanging “on the pole” in camp. The rule referred to will always enable one to determine the live weight closely. It is based on records kept for - several years at Lewey Lake and at Meacham Lake. At each of these places there were scales at the boat landing where all the deer were brought in, which enabled the hunters to weigh the carcasses before and after dressing. I have seen the rule tested quite often, and always with a satisfactory result, the variations being very slight.

In conclusion I wish to acknowledge here the kindly consideration which the Board has accorded at all times to my various suggestions or requests ; also, the cordial support and co-operation which I have received from each official connected with the Commission.

All of which is respectfully submitted. WADE IL IDEM les KOS

Superintendent State Forests.

*The Antelope and Deer of America, by John Dean Caton, LL.D.: New York. Forest and Stream Publishing Company ; Second Edition, 1881.

AAIT WOU ACOLS V

hers as “fh

The St. Lawrence Reservation.

HE St. Lawrence Reservation was authorized pursuant to provisions of chap-

a ter 802, Laws of 1896. This act provides that all that part of the River St.

Lawrence lying and being within the State, with the islands therein, and

such lands along the shore thereof as are now owned by or shall be hereafter

acquired by the State, shall constitute an International Park, to be known as the St. Lawrence Reservation.

By the same act the reservation is placed in charge of the Commission.

Chapter 273, Laws of 1897, appropriated $30,000, and authorized the Commission to purchase lands, and carry out the objects of the law.

The following are the lands purchased, the approximate acreage of each, and price paid :

Burham’s Point, near Cape Vincent, about 4.37 acres; $500.

Cedar Point, between Cape Vincent and Clayton, about 13.0 acres; $1,400.

Canoe Point and Picnic Point, Eel Bay, 70 acres; $4,200.

Watterson’s Point, Canadian side of Wells’ Island, about 6.32 acres; $700.

Mary Island, opposite Alexandria Bay, about 12 1-2 acres; $5,000.

Kring’s Point, near entrance to Goose Bay, about 35.35 acres; $2,300.

One-half Cedar Island, near Chippewa Bay, about 10.11 acres; $3,000.

One-half Lotus Island, nine miles below Ogdensburg, about 20 acres; $4,500.

DeWolf Point, Lake of the Isles, about 10.12 acres; $500.

There were no docks at any of these places at the time of their purchase, except on Lotus Island, where there was an old dock and a small cottage. Substantial docks of a suitable size for steamboats to land at have since been constructed at Cedar Island, Kring’s Point, Mary Island, DeWolf Point, Watterson’s Point, Canoe Point, Picnic Point and at Cedar Point. Small docks for skiff landings have also been constructed at places in the reservation where deemed necessary.

The dock at Lotus Island has not been used during the past season on account of its dangerous condition. The State Engineer has prepared a plan for its rebuild- ing, but no action has yet been taken by the Commission.

The construction of nine open pavilions was contracted for and they were located by the Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission in 1899, at an expense of $4,500.

These pavilions were completed this year, were inspected and accepted by the State 45

46 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Architect, and have been paid for. They are located at Burnham’s Point, Cedar Point, Canoe Point and Picnic Point in Eel Bay, Watterson’s Point, Mary Island, Kring’s Point, Cedar Island and DeWolf Point.

It has been the custom of campers and excursionists visiting State lands to build fires to make coffee and cook their meals. They have not always used proper care in putting out their fire, and in several instances considerable damage has resulted from the fire spreading to the adjacent timber and buildings. The Forest, Fish and Game Commission has this year built fifteen small fire ovens, at an average cost of about twelve dollars ($12) each, on State lands most frequented. The experiment has proved a popular one; the ovens have been extensively used, and in consequence no fires have occurred the past season.

In the last few years the number of small craft running on the St. Lawrence River in the summer season has greatly increased. Many cottagers now own and manage their own naphtha or electric launches. These small boats run in shallow waters, and accidents are not infrequent. The Commissioners in June last purchased fifty small

buoys at an expense of $230, and placed them at the disposal of responsible cottage

owners, taking their receipt therefor, upon an agreement that the buoys shcould be

properly cared for, put into the water at the opening of each season to mark a hid- den rock or shoal in shallow waters, and taken up again at the close of the season. Many requests for buoys have been granted, and the policy adopted by the Commis- sion in this regard is highly commended.

The growing popularity of the Thousand Islands as a summer resort is unques- tioned, and the policy of the State to provide points of land and islands for use of the public is much appreciated by thousands of visitors.

The sum available in the St. Lawrence Reservation fund at the beginning of the present fiscal year, October 1, 1900, was $5,201.09,a sum more than sufficient to meet all requirements. For the coming fiscal year a small appropriation should be placed at the disposal of the Commission for properly superintending and maintaining the lands and buildings and making such repairs as are found necessary from time to

time.

2

Report of the State Fish Caltarist.

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

N submitting my report for the year ending September 30, Igoo, the fish dis- tribution is given in detail, each separate plant, the kind of fish and where the fish were planted. Until the 1st of May last, the application books, in

which the fish distribution is recorded, were kept at the Caledonia Hatchery by the Superintendent of Hatcheries, an office now abolished, and since that time they have been in the office of the Commission at the Capitol in Albany. When the books were received in Albany the distribution of whitefish and tomcod was com- pleted, and the total distribution for these two fishes was recorded as 40,175,000 whitefish fry, and 42,000,000 of tomcod. Thinking that there must be an error in the figures, I procured from each hatchery a statement, by the foreman, of the

number of whitefish eggs taken, as follows:

From the Adirondack Hatchery, - - - - - - 18,062,000 From Canandaigua Lake, - - - - - - 5,934,000 From Hemlock Lake, - ES - - - - - - 3,515,000 From the United States Fish Commission, - - - 10,000,000

Total, - - - - = - - - - - 37,511,000

The loss in hatching, as reported by the different foremen, amounted to 6,070,500, which left 31,440,000 of fry to be planted. That this statement was practically correct, 1 am convinced from the report of

the then Superintendent of Hatcheries, dated January 8th, which states:

The whitefish take of eggs was as follows:

Little Clear Lake (Adirondack Hatchery), - - - - 17,241,000 Canandaigua Lake, - - - - - - - - 6,720,000 Hemlock Lake, - - - - - - - - - 3,948,000 Received from the United States Fish Commission, - - 9,000,000

Total, - - - - - - - - - 36,909,000

If the United States eggs had been put down in the report of the Superintend-

ent of Hatcheries at 10,000,000, the two statements would have been practically 47

48 REPORT OF THE

the same, and would have made the number of fry about 31,000,000, as I reported to you in a monthly report.

As to the tomcod eggs, the foreman at Cold Spring Harbor reported that he had planted but 32,000,000 of fry, and he gives the plants in detail.

Another report of the then Superintendent of Hatcheries of the output of fish for the month of February, states:

“The distribution of tomcod fry for the year, from Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery, closed on February 17th; total plant, 42,000,000; gain over last year 4,000,000.” ‘Last year’ would be 1899, when the total plant was recorded as 38,000,000. The detailed distribution appended, taken from the application book, apparently records a distribution of 10,000,000 more tomcods than were hatched, and nearly 9,000,000 more whitefish than there were eggs.

During the last session of the Legislature there was an appropriation of $1,500 for building fishways in the Salmon River, near Pulaski. This matter was referred to me with power. My report to the Board, in September, in regard to the fishways, may very properly be quoted here:

“Upon visiting the dams in Salmon River at Pulaski, 1 made rough sketches and measurements, and submitted them to Mr. H. von Bayer, the engineer and architect of the United States Fish Commission. Mr. von Bayer is the engineer who improved the Cail system of fishways, recommended by the United States Fish Commission, and in use in several European countries. None of these fishways has been erected in this country, and as they are the cheapest fishway that can be con- structed, I was very anxious to have at least one of them built under the appropri- ation for fishways in the Salmon River. United States Fish Commissioner Bowers kindly granted a leave of absence to Mr. von Bayer, who visited the river with me, and is now preparing plans for the fish passes over the four dams. We had an inter- view with a builder residing at Pulaski, and I am satisfied that the four dams can have suitable passes built in them, the cost to come within the amount appropriated. The lowermost dam of the four will have a Cail fishway; the others will have fish chutes covered and protected from ice, the insides having arms to retard the flow of water. I expect there will be a sufficient amount of money left to pay Mr. von Bayer for his expenses, and possibly a small sum for his services. If not, however, the United States Fish Commissioner will donate his services.”

Mr. von Bayer prepared plans and specifications, the State Engineer’s Depart- ment prepared estimates of materials, and the contract was let for the fishway on the lowermost dam for $588.33 to G. W. White, of Pulaski. Mr. White’s bid for the

fish chutes in dams 2, 3 and 4 was above the estimate and was rejected. Material

THE LEAP OF THE SILVER KING—TARPON.

et nies Aes Pe

at

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 49

was brought to the ground, lumber, timber and iron, but high water came on and he was obliged to cease work. It is still believed that during low water, in the coming summer, the four fishways can be completed within the appropriation.

During the summer the Commission made an exhibit of fish at the State Fair, for which the sum of $150 was set aside, and it was so instructive and entertaining to the vast number of visitors that I believe it would be most desirable to enlarge the exhibit another year, provided space can be obtained for the purpose.

Early in the summer it was reported that acid factories in Sullivan county were running acids into the trout streams in quantities injurious to the fish. The fore- man at Beaver Kill Hatchery was sent to Spring Brook, the point complained of, and investigated. He dipped cut some of the water, placed in it a six-inch trout, and the fish died in four minutes. He found four men prepared to testify that they had found dead fish in Spring Brook every week for a month. A sample of the water was sent to this office. The proprietor of the acid works learned that an investigation was afoot and immediately removed the poisonous acids from the stream, by erecting vats sufficiently distant from the shore of the brook to prevent its contamination by seepage.

The foreman was directed to make an investigation of other factories of this kind and to make a report, which was submitted to the Commission in September, and which may be summed up as follows:

Nine acid or chemical works were visited. One of them was found to be running acids into a trout brook, and the refuse was very promptly removed. Another one wished a little time in order to arrange for running the acid into tanks on the shore, and in the meantime closed the works. The others were found not to be injuring the fish. One of them had been fined the previous year. There has been no further complaint, and from the foreman’s reports I believe that none of the acid factories visited have renewed the methods so destructive of fish life.

A number of applications have been received asking for permits to take fish with nets for scientific purposes. None of these requests has been granted. I would recommend that the Board urge upon the Legislature the necessity of enacting a law that would give the Commission power to grant such permits, when the request comes from a scientific body or from an individual endorsed by a scientific body.

In my monthly report of August, I said:

“A bill was introduced in the Legislature to give this Commission power to close streams for a term of years not exceeding five, when such streams were planted with

fish, for the purpose of stocking or re-stocking them. This is a provision in the laws 4

50 REPORT OF THE

of adjoining States, as the Fish Commission is supposed to be a body better informed as to the needs of closing streams to re-populate them with fish than any other body of men. The bill was passed in an amended form and is now a law, the amendment, however, killing the force of the bill, as it requires a request on the part of a majority of the town board of any town, before the Commission has the power to close any water. Until this law is amended, giving the Commission power to close streams without a petition from a town board, I would recommend that no more yearling fish be raised at the State hatcheries, and for this reason: yearling fish are, of necessity, planted just before or about the time of the opening of the fishing season in the spring. About that time they are twelve months old. Nearly all trout reared by ‘the State are more than six inches long at twelve months of age. If the Commis- sion had power to close streams in which yearling trout were planted in the spring, these trout would spawn in the fall following or at eighteen months of age, and do much to keep a fresh stock of fish in the stream by natural processes. Under the operation of the present law yearling trout are planted and almost at once they are taken out by fishermen, who can take them legally over six inches in length. One or two instances this past spring have come under my observation, and I am satisfied that three plantings of yearling fish, some of them nine inches in length, were all practically caught by fishermen within a few weeks after the yearlings were planted, and therefore, in my opinion, it would be economy on the part of the State to plant fish no older than fingerlings, that is, eight months old, as quite as many fingerlings would survive as now survive of yearlings, and the State would be spared the expense of carrying them through the winter and feeding them.”

The Commission adopted my recommendation and yearling fish are no longer reared. I believe it would add much to the future of fishing in the State if the Com- mission had power to close streams without resorting to a petition from a town board.

I desire to repeat, also, what I said in the same report in regard to the Fishway Law:

“The Fishway Law is in too many instances not complied with by those who erect dams on streams in this State. Section 208 of the Forest, Fish and Game Law provides: ‘Before the construction of a dam is commenced on any stream more than six miles long, inhabited by fish protected by this act, the plan thereof and a statement of the name, length and location of the stream shall be given to the Commission by the person, or if by public authority, by the official directing or permitting the work.’ * * * Unless an example is made of someone who erects a dam without complying with the law, I fear that the illegal dam building

will continue for some time to come.”

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 51

In August the Commission decided to rebuild the ponds at Cold Spring Harbor, used for rearing young fish. They were constructed of wood and were badly decayed, and eels had found their way through the supply pipe and grown to con- siderable size underneath the flooring. This was found when the ponds were torn out to rebuild. The ponds were well under way before the close of the fiscal year. They are built of stone and cement, and are believed to be the best fingerling ponds at any of the State hatcheries. They have been enlarged considerably so that double the number of fingerling fish can be reared now that could be reared in the old races.

At Bath the rearing ponds were increased, rather more than doubling the capacity for rearing fingerling fish, and all without adding to the water supply, except a small spring which was taken in at the upper end of the property. Reports on these rearing ponds and races have been made in detail to the Commission, and the expenditure in connection therewith will be found in the financial statement.

There was some loss of fish this year, as there was last, at the Adirondack Hatch- ery. This was owing, in part, to the high temperature of the water taken from Little Clear Pond. A portion of the water supply comes from the surface and a portion comes from the bottom of the lake. The water is mixed in a receiving tank just above the hatchery. The output of fish from this hatchery could be consider- ably increased if one of the pipes now taking the supply from the surface at the outlet could be continued up the lake parallel to the pipe now feeding from the depth of the lake near its middle.

The output of fish will probably, another year, show an increase at Caledonia, Cold Spring Harbor, Pleasant Valley and Saranac, in consequence of improvements now under way.

The Rockland Hatchery can be used only for hatching fish, as no stock fish can be carried there on account of the high temperature of the water, nor can rearing ponds be maintained, for the same reason. This hatchery can be moved, as I reported to this Commission in a monthly report, as follows:

“Since the last meeting I have examined a number of springs in Sullivan and Rockland counties, and find that eight miles from Rockland, on the line of the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad, and three-quarters of a mile from the railroad, there is an abundant supply of spring water of a temperature of about forty-six degrees, to which may be added the water from a stream with a surface temperature of fifty-seven degrees, that together will make as fine a water supply as there is

at any of the hatcheries now operated. The spring water will probably fill pipes to

52 REPORT OF THE

amount to fourteen inches in diameter. The brook will probably fill a pipe six or eight inches in diameter, and when I visited the springs they were at their worst. The Beaver Kill, into which these streams flow, was almost dry, and the brooks and streams in all that region lower than ever before.

‘“An estimate has been made of the cost of moving the hatchery, and Mr. Will- iam Thompson, a builder of considerable experience, will undertake to move the hatchery, putting in new lumber that may be needed, or that is broken or defaced, and putting the building on a new foundation, for $2,500. The site for the hatchery in its new location will control all the water supply, and can be purchased for not to exceed $500. The present hatchery site cost $650, as I recollect the amount, and probably could be disposed of for a portion of the purchase price.”

The Sacandaga Hatchery at Speculator is badly located and should be, in the near future, abandoned. For this reason no improvements are made more than to keep the property in repair. It is twenty-eight miles from a railroad and difficult to secure stock fish, and also difficult to secure eggs from wild fish. At some seasons the water is cold enough to carry a few stock trout ; at others, it is not.

The hatchery at Old Forge is going from bad to worse from year to year, and was a subject for special mention in one of my monthly reports. In brief, in 1895 nearly 600,000 trout eggs were taken, and this year only 35,000. Stock fish have decreased from 1,300 in 1895 to about 100 in 1900.

During the year I recommend that no small-mouth black bass should be dis- tributed, as the law does not cover their breeding season. It is a fish that is not cultivated artificially, in hike manner with the trout and shad, and there are but two methods of furnishing fish to applicants: one, to take the adult fish from one water to plant in another, and the other to confine the adult fish and permit them to spawn naturally, then. remove the parent bass, rear the fry to fingerlings and plant them. There is scarcely any black bass water but would recuperate of itself, pro- vided it was suitable for the fish, if the fish were protected during the actual spawn- ing season and while the parent bass are brooding the young. Black bass do not . spawn until the temperature of the water reaches about sixty-five degrees. There may be some few bodies of shallow water where it reaches this temperature before the first or middle of June, but the great majority of waters in the State do not reach a temperature to induce the black bass to spawn before some part of the month of June, and no bass should be taken before July 1st. The enactment of a close season for black bass, and its enforcement, to cover the month of June would do more to re-stock waters with black bass than any amount of fish at the command

of the Commission for distribution.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 53

Under the provisions of law for the erection of a hatchery in Delaware county, the Commission has selected a site on the Ulster and Delaware Railroad, near Hobart Station. This was surveyed by the State Engineer’s Department. The flow of water is sufficient to hatch 20,000,000 of trout eggs, summer temperature forty six. The Commission examined the stream formed by this spring at various times during the summer, and measurements were made when the water was lowest in the streams in Delaware, Sullivan and adjoining counties. The site is a most advanta- geous one for various reasons. The water is pure and there is no opportunity for freshets to flood the rearing ponds or affect the hatchery troughs. It is near a line of railway connecting the Delaware and Hudson system with the West Shore Railroad, and in the heart of a region celebrated for its trout streams, and is a resort for thousands from the cities.

The Commission also selected a site for rearing ponds near Lime Lake, in Cattaraugus county. Here, too, we found an abundance of pure spring water conveniently located near a line of railway.

The water was extremely low throughout the State during the past summer, some streams drying up that were never known to dry before. In consequence of the drought the newspapers contained alarming statements that millions of trout had been destroyed. This I do not believe to be well founded. Employees of the Commission, sent out to rescue fish that might be stranded in pools, did rescue a number, but upon questioning them I find that it is their opinion that the fish would not have suffered had they remained in the pools, as, in every instance, they had selected some place where springs came in from the bottom, and they would have survived, in all probability, had they not been rescued.

The hatchery to suffer most, perhaps, was Caledonia. Before the drought was at its worst, the Commission secured an option for $300 on a driven well which flowed eight inches of spring water, temperature forty-nine, into the stream above the hatchery, and I have no doubt that this saved many of the fish in the rearing ponds and boxes.

The United States Fish Commission has been very liberal in its allotments of fish fry and eggs to this Commission and to the waters of the State, as shown in the summary, and I desire to record here that from the creation of this Commission, down to the present year, the United States Fish Commission has furnished for the Hudson River alone the enormous number of 94,444,000 young shad. As the contributions from the National Commission exceed double the number of fry obtained from the river itself, the State is largely indebted to these contributions for the present supply of shad in the river, which yields annually shad to the value of about $180,000 at the nets. |

54 REPORT OF THE

In addition, the United States Fish Commission has promised a quantity of landlocked salmon eggs and some steel-head trout eggs, which will be delivered during the winter and spring. The steel-head trout is most highly recommended by Mr. Ravenel, the assistant in charge of the Division of Fish Culture, and a planting of nearly 100,000 fry has already been made in the waters of the State through the courtesy of the United States.

There are frequent demands for papers published in former reports of this Commission. The papers perhaps most in demand are the Forestry Tracts, the article upon fish food, and an article upon fishways. If these papers could be printed separately in cheap form, and distributed to those who desire them, it would be of service to a large number of people who are unable to obtain the reports containing them.

Subdivision 5 of section 220 of the Forest, Fish and Game Law; under “ powers of the Commission,” provides :

“That the Commission shall prepare and distribute tracts giving information on the care and renewal of private woodlands, and with the approval of the Superin- tendent of Public Instruction and the Regents of the University, supply to schools, academies and colleges, the means of instruction in forestry.” |

The law, however, does not provide for the printing and distribution of articles giving instruction in regard to fish propagation, nor does the law quoted provide for money to print the tracts devoted to forestry. The State Printer gives an estimate for printing the papers I have referred to as follows: Per 1,000: Forest Tracts, $115.00, 68 pp.; Fishway, $45.00, 28 pp.; Food for Fishes, $35.00, 22 pp.

Of the condition of pheasants at Pleasant Valley Hatchery, I will report

as follows:

Pheasants on hand :

Hens (old birds), —- - - - - - - - - - 48 Cocks (old birds), = = - - = : = < 2 18 66

It is believed to be best to turn out old birds in part and replace them with young

breeding birds, as follows:

Turn out old cocks, - - - - . - - 2 - - 8

Turn out old hens, - - - - - - - - - 26

Total, - - - - - - > - - - - 34

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 55

Leaving old hens, - - - - - - - - - 22 Leaving old cocks, - 7 2 c : 2 ES ie a oe 32

Add young hens, - = - - : : = z g 38 Add young cocks, - - - - - - - - 4 2 IO Total breeders, - - - - - - - 2 = 80

The ten young cocks will be secured in exchange, thus bringing in fresh blood.

There are of young birds hatched this season, - ; - - - 230 Reserved for breeding, - - - - - - - - - 48 For distribution, - - - - - - - - - 182 Old birds to be released, - = - - - - 5 - 34 Total for distribution, - - - - - - < - 216

Applications on file call for about eighty birds, and I would recommend that, so far as possible, the balance of the birds be distributed in different sections of the State considered most suitable, by sending them to people who will liberate them. The distribution will take place early in the coming spring.

Respectfully submitted, Ike ING CaS State Fish Culturist.

WHO ARE YOU?

Fish Distribation.

SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1000.

Brook trout fry,

Brook trout fingerlings, - Brook trout yearlings, -

Brook trout two and three years old,

Brown trout fry,

Brown trout fingerlings,

Brown trout yea

rlings, -

Rainbow trout fry, ;

Rainbow trout fi Rainbow trout y Lake trout fry,

ngerlings, - earlings,

Lake trout fingerlings, -

Lake trout yearlings, - Red throat trout fingerlings, - Red throat trout yearlings,

Whitefish fry, Tomcod fry, Frostfish fry, -

- Pike-perch fry, - - -

Lobster fry, -

Land-locked salmon yearlings,

Yellow perch, Shrimp, -

Black bass, small mouth,

Mascalonge, Shad, - - Smelts, =

Total, -

3,581,000 151,183 955205 400 1,078,000 106,253 53,848 130,000 98,109 42,023 8,862,500 201,900 135372 62,750 38,835 40,175,000 32,000,000 35495 ,000 51,000,006 2,400,000 2,400 4,900 25,000 3°9 1,200,000 13,715,200 3,000,000

Eggs, fish fry and yearlings, contributed by the United States Fish Com-

mission and planted in the waters of the State of New York during the

year ending September 30, 1890, and not included in above summary :

Bees oat Fish fry, - Yearlings, - Total, - Grand total,

56

420,000 50,428,800 23,498

161,533,201

50,872,298

212,405,499

Net Licenses.

During the year ending September 30, 1900, there were issued pursuant to the

various provisions of the Forest, Fish and Game Law, licenses to net fish as follows:

For the Hudson River, - = = = 2 j = S t 667 For Delaware River, - : es 5 x a a z 24 For Wappinger Creek, - = : - : = : 4 : aii For Rondout and Wallkill Creeks, - - - - 2 I5 For salt water, - > = = eS z 2 i iY a aa For Chaumont and Black River Bays, - : E 2 3 e 86 For Lake Ontario, - - 3 5 5 ‘ 3 E i s eS For Lake Erie, -- = - = 2 = Z e ie 2 166 For Perch Lake, - - : - 2 z 2 2 es 2 3 For Millsite Lake, - - - = 2 2 2 = z 7 For Otsego Lake, - - - - - - - 2 E : 47 For minnow nets, - - = = é 2 = : A noe

Total, = - = = = = : = = - = 1,191

The amount received for net license fees was $1,651.

A PROWLER.

Report of the Shetlfish Commissioner.

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

HAVE the honor to present the following report concerning the business of the Shellfish Department, which, under the general supervision of the Commission, has been assigned to my management as Shellfish Commissioner.

The report of Mr. Charles Wyeth, C. E., in charge of the Hydrographic Survey of the Department, shows that during the fiscal year ending October 1, 1900, fifty- nine applications for grants of land for shellfish cultivation have been received. Fifty of these applicants sought leases and nine sought franchises. The lands covered by these applications are located in Long Island Sound and in Jamaica and Raritan Bays.

Fifteen hundred and two acres were applied for under the lease system, and 810 acres under franchises, making a total of 2,312 acres to be added to the area hereto- fore cultivated for shellfish production. These grounds, after due advertisement and the sale of the privileges by auction, as required by law, have been surveyed, and leases and franchises respectively have been executed by the Commission. |

For the purpose of preserving the boundaries of the vast number of lots under water leased by the State, and that the maps of the Department laboriously made and accumulated during a series of years may have permanent value, the State has followed a policy of establishing coast signals along the shores of Long? Island Sound, Staten Island and Jamaica Bay. These lines of signals now cover 180 linear miles, and thousands of recorded references thereto are contained in the books of the Shellfish Department. It is recommended that a suitable sum be appropriated for the maintenance of these signals.

During the year the oyster planters have enjoyed comparative prosperity; the “set” of young oysters in Long Island Sound in the summer of 1899, which was so great as to be without precedent in those waters, has already been extensively handled, being sold to planters in other localities for seed.

Experiments have been made by some oystermen for the purpose of determining the utility of planting large spawning oysters for the purpose of annually securing a

“set” upon particular grounds; notably Captain H. M. Randall, of Port Jefferson, 58

: IN THE GULF STREAM—KING FISH.

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 59

has conducted such experiments, obtaining results which encourage him to under- take further work and outlay in that direction.

Perhaps the greatest problem with which oyster planters are called to deal is that of the destruction of the natural enemies of the oyster, among which the star- fish is without doubt most destructive. Improved methods of taking the stars are now in use, and by the constant exercise of vigilance and care their numbers are reduced to a degree which permits of profitable oystering. There is a community of interest among planters in the matter of destroying “stars.” Should one man keep his ground ever so clean, his work might be entirely neutralized should his neighbor allow the stars to grow and accumulate upon contiguous territory.

Upon this principle the Suwassett Oyster Company has furnished a steamer, without expense to the State, for the purpose of taking up the stars upon the “natural growth” or free grounds, so preventing their spreading over the adja- cent leased grounds.

Facilities for the collection of complete statistics of the shellfish industry have been lacking, but no doubt a few figures illustrative of the extent of the business will be of interest. At the West Tenth Street Oyster Market, in the city of New York, during the last year fourteen firms have handled 1,270,550 bushels of oysters and 188,550 bushels of clams. At Fulton Market, five firms have handled 303,000 bushels of oysters and 129,900 bushels of clams.

There is an extensive business carried on in seed oysters which is entirely without the province of the market oyster dealers.

The oysters produced in the waters of this State are reputed to be the best in the world; they are always in demand and bring prices as high, and generally higher, than any otherstock. Great quantities are shipped to the inland cities of the United States, and thousands of barrels are annually exported to foreign countries.

The present season, though opening late, on account of the continued mild weather during the fall, promises to be one of the best that the trade has known; the larger acreage, and improved methods of handling, with the abundant “set,” has enabled the planters to keep pace with the increased and ever increasing demand, while prices are such that the delicious bivalve, so long considered a luxury for the rich, can be commonly found upon the tables of the poor, thus furnishing the masses abundantly and at moderate rates, with one of the most wholesome and appetizing foods known to our markets.

Clams, until within a very few years, have been taken exclusively from the natural beds, which, in consequence, have been greatly depleted, until in many localities the supply has been practically exhausted, while the demand for these shellfish is ever

increasing.

60 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Planters are now giving attention to raising clams for market, and many acres of land under water are now being devoted to their cultivation.

For years past the markets have shown a growing scarcity of lobsters, and the State has endeavored to increase the supply by undertaking the propagation and distribution in waters adjacent to Long Island of this valued shellfish.

During eight years the hatchery at Cold Spring Harbor has been engaged in this work, and for the year now closed 2,400,000 young lobsters have been planted in Long Island Sound from eggs hatched at Cold Spring, being 375,000 more than were planted during the preceding year.

Perhaps the best lobster grounds in the State are those located southwest of Fisher’s Island, in what is known as “The Race.” During the recent season for taking lobsters it was discovered by Mr. John E. Overton, State Oyster Protector, that these lobster fisheries were being worked almost exclusively by fishermen from the adjoining State of Connecticut, notwithstanding that section 128 of the Forest, Fish and Game Law provides that “no person who has not been an actual resident of this State for six months shall take shellfish in the waters of this State, except in the capacity of employee of a person entitled to take the same.” These fishermen were, therefore, warned that should they continue to take lobsters in “ The Race,” it would become necessary to enforce the law controlling the matter. Upon finding that they still persisted in taking lobsters in those waters, several cases were prose- cuted and convictions obtained under the law above quoted. An appeal was, how- ever, taken in one of these cases, it being alleged on behalf of the defendant that the fishermen from the village in Connecticut where these defendants reside have from time immemorial fished in these waters as a means of making their livelihood, and have gained by prescription a right to fish therein.

This issue is now pending for judicial determination. It is claimed for the residents of the Connecticut village in question that their fishermen have been put to a loss of between twelve and fifteen thousand dollars by reason of the enforce- ment of the law above quoted. It may be added in this connection that the State of Connecticut has enacted similar laws, limiting the right to take shellfish in the open waters of Connecticut to residents of that State, and that these laws have been there enforced. It is possible that some legislation of a reciprocal character may be enacted by the Legislatures of the two States which, in its operation, may be beneficial to the citizens of both States.

Respectfully submitted, B. FRANK WOOD, Shellfish Commissioner.

A HOT TRACK,

ON

Report of the Chief Game Protector.

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

HAVE the honor to report that the work of the force under my super- vision during the fiscal year just closed has been very satisfactory as a whole.

The change in heads of departments many times does not tend to increase confidence and efficiency in the field force, as the thirty-seven Protectors can be termed. But the action taken by your Honorable Body at the commencement of your administration by calling together the Protectors and the inquiry by you of each individual member of the force as to the work in his respective locality, together with the statement that you expected good results, and would be ever ready to advise and assist them in their work certainly had a good effect, and beyond a doubt inspired all to a greater activity. It gives me pleasure to be able to say that with very few exceptions the Protectors are all that can be expected of them.

Moreover, the promotion of one of the Protectors to the position of Chief Firewarden inspires in the minds of the outside workers the hope that by attaining good results and making earnest efforts, promotion may some day come to one or all of them.

During the year the Protectors destroyed 1,537 illegal fish nets or nets being illegally used; they also destroyed 10 eel weirs, 10 spears, 1,052 set lines and tip-ups being illegally operated, 1 jack light, 1 electric battery and 100 pounds of dynamite, all found where the law prohibits. The sum total of these illegal devices for the taking of fish is 2,615 and the value of the same was $30,412.

In the matter of prosecutions for violation of the Forest, Fish and Game Law, I have the honor to say that the number of cases was 345, of which all but 21 were ‘successful. In the very few unsuccessful cases the defendants were either discharged by court or acquitted by jury. Thus, it will be observed that the percentage of errors of judgment in instituting proceedings by a force of men who are paid only $500 per year was gratifyingly small.

The amount of recoveries for fines and penalties was $10,565.61, of which

$8,183.48 has been collected and paid to the State Treasurer. The remaining 61

62 REPORT OF THE

2,382.13 was paid for services of attorneys, fees of justices and constables and small disbursements at trials. In addition to the recoveries above reported, the sum of $583 was imposed as fines or penalties on divers persons who failed to pay the same, and in lieu thereof served or are serving one day in jail for each dollar which they failed to pay.

There were thirty-five cases of timber cutting on State land in the Forest Pre- serve. The amount recovered for the trespasses was $2,042.21. In this connection I will say that there now is very little disposition to cut timber on State land. Most of the trespasses here noted were caused by people mistaking the boundary lines of State lands. The majority of these lines have become very dim, owing to the long lapse of time since the townships were subdivided and the lines run. It is usual when such cases are discovered for the offender to settle for the timber without a contest. Trespassers are invariably made to pay much more than the timber is worth, and, therefore, there is now a moral respect for the law where formerly State timber was considered proper prey for everyone. The trespassers were scattered over a wide expanse of territory and in many instances were remote from any habitation. Constant surveillance is, therefore, necessary, else the timber will be removed from the place of cutting before the local Protector discovers the wrongdoing. ;

In this connection I wish to say that an increasing sentiment in favor of the “Game Law,” so-called for the sake of brevity, is observable. There is also, 1 am pleased to report, less tendency to clear offenders by juries of the violators’ neigh bors than was formerly the case. It was only a short time ago when trespasses were openly committed and the offenders were of a boastful and defiant spirit, relying confidently on neighborhood feeling and brotherly spirit to stand together “agin the game law.” It was heretofore the case that cities were relied on to lend the material and moral support necessary in enacting and enforcing fish, game and forest legislation. Residents of rural districts, and many agricultural journals circulating principally among farmers were opposed to the establishment of closed seasons for fish and game. I am confident that there is an awakening among residents of the country to the fact that it is for their good as well as for the good of the city people that the supply of fish and game be protected, which, of course, can only be done by enacting and efficiently enforcing the law regarding the same.

I would respectfully call your attention to the fact that the number of Protectors authorized by law is inadequate to the work of efficiently enforcing the forest, fish and game laws of the State. The number provided for, in addition to myself, is

thirty-seven, of which three are of necessity confined to the protection of shellfish,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 63

and one is detailed as required by law to the supervision of the St. Lawrence Res- ervation or International Park. Thus, there are but thirty three landmen to cover sixty-one counties. Some of the counties are so large and the means of travel so inconvenient that several Protectors could work in the same without coming in contact with each other. This is the case in most of the Adirondack counties, as well as some of the Catskill counties, in which there are large tracts of State land.

There is no Protector in the tier of six counties east of the Hudson River, although this region is naturally prolific of fish and game. Formerly there were two Protectors in that tier of counties, but they were legislated out of office when the Fish and Game Commission was consolidated with the Forest Commission in 1895. In the Adirondack counties of Herkimer, Hamilton, Warren, Essex, Franklin and St. Lawrence, containing approximately 5,000,000 acres of land, there are only eight Protectors, one of whom is located on the St. Lawrence River. In these Adirondack counties there are 1,000,000 acres of State forest land to protect in addi- tion to the protection of fish and game. Under the circumstances I think the force should be increased to fifty or more men, with the understanding that two of them should be appointed in the counties east of the Hudson River, and seven at least in the Adirondack counties above mentioned, one in the Catskills (Sullivan county), one in Onondaga or Cortland county, and one at or near the head of Cayuga Lake. At present there is no Protector in New York city, although I am firmly of the opinion that one or more could work profitably in that great market for fish and game. The general public does not object to appropriations for the purchase of forest lands, nor to the maintenance of hatcheries, which they readily concede are very beneficial in restocking the numerous depleted waters of the State, and it is confidently asserted that more and better paid Protectors should be furnished to look after the State’s interest along these lines.

In this connection I desire to call your attention to the fact that the work required of the Protectors is of a character dangerous to health and life. They must enter alone on an almost trackless wilderness and on the large lakes and rivers, and maintain themselves there for days at a time ; thus they must have the skill and courage of experienced woodsmen and the ability of trained oarsmen. They must be on duty under cover of nightfall, for it is at that time that nearly all violations occur with fish pirates and pot-hunters. They must take their lives in their hands and make warfare on illegal operators of fish nets, who are a most desperate class of citizens, prone to the use of firearms in opposition to the law. They have to be transferred from their home counties, at much expense, to other and distant counties

to work 7 cognito where the local Protector is known to every citizen, and word is

64 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION:

sent of his coming in advance of his movements. For all of this hazardous and laborious work they are paid the small salary of $500 a year. It is thus expected that the Protector will devote his entire time and best efforts for the benefit of the people for the small sum of $41.66 per month. Paying them so meagerly, it would seem as though their necessary and proper traveling expenses should be paid with- out any limit as to the amount thereof. At present they are allowed by law the sum of $37.50 per month for necessary expenses. Even though they are compelled to live at hotels, when away from home, and may spend $100 per month for railroad, boat, livery, help and sustenance, they are reimbursed only to the amount allowed by law, namely, $37.50 per month. Iam aware that many criticise the State depart- ments as constantly increasing the expense of government, but where is there in this country work of this character so poorly rewarded? It seems to me that work that is worth doing at all is worth doing aright, and if Protectors are paid suitably for their services, better results will be accomplished. Therefore I recommend that the salary of the Protectors be fixed at $75 per month and that they be allowed neces- sary expenses to the amount of $50 per month. In fixing their salary at the amount stated, I think it wise and proper to provide that they must not have any other busi- ness that will in any manner interfere with their work as Protectors, and that they must give their entire time and attention to the work of the Department. I would also recommend that the provisions of the law that give Protectors one-half of recoveries be abolished in case their salaries are made $75 per month, for the reason that invariably when a case is reached for trial defendant alleges selfish and financial interests of the prosecuting official, with a cry that the only object is blood money, which in many instances has a tendency to lessen the fine or the judgment, thereby defeating the ends of justice.

Each year of the legal work of this branch of the Department, weak spots are found in the law under which prosecutions must be made. Such instances have been found during the last year, and I trust amendments will be proposed that will perfect the law wherever found defective.

In conclusion I desire to tender my thanks to your Honorable Body for the support always cordially given me in conducting the work under my supervision.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

J. WARREN POND, Chief Game Protector.

A DRUMMER.

Financial Statement

For Fiscal Uear Ending September 30, 1900.

DISBURSEMENTS.

Maintenance of hatcheries and hatching stations and collection and distri-

bution of fry, = - - 5 - 2 = f E Salary and expenses of State fish culturist, - -

Salary and expenses superintendent hatcheries, - =

Salaries and expenses 35 fish and game protectors, special agent and clerk,

Moieties paid complainants, - - . - : = Justice, constable, witness fees, etc., - = : =

Attorney fees and expenses, - - - - -

Salary and expenses oyster protectors, cashier and clerk shellfish department,

Expenses of naphtha launch, erection of signals, rent and office

shellfish office, - - - 5 : - - Superintendent forests, salary and expenses, - = - Rebates to towns account fighting forest fires, - - Chief firewarden and foresters, salary and expenses, - U. S. forestry experts, expenses, - - - ¢ Commissioners’ salaries and expenses, - - - Assistant secretary, - - - - - : - Clerical force, - - < = - - - - Official salaries and expenses, - - 5 = 5 State Reservation, St. Lawrence River, - - - - Cayuga Lake weirs and traps, - ; = - - Office expenses, - - - 2 - - - = Game bird propagation, - - = - : -

State Fair exhibit, - 2 - - = = - 5

Printing extra copies, Game Law, - = = 2 Salmon River fishways, - = = = = = Total, - - - - - - 2 s 2

expenses

6

$159,003

66 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION,

Sammary of Various Accounts, Exclasive of Regalar

Accounts with the Comptrotter.

RECEIPTS. Fines and penalties account, —- ‘ = = : Sale of logs seized, - - - : z Net license fees, - = : E ‘ i e Rental of State lands, - - 2 2 “ u Shellfish franchises and leases, - = - z : Jas. Annin, Jr., sale of timber, - = = = Jas. Annin, Jr., sale of fish, . = 2 ? -

M. C. Finley, sale of fish, - - - - - J. H. Marshall, rebate on claims, - : E Jas. Annin, Jr., balance of rebate on fish eggs, - Jas. Annin, Jr., Superintendent, refund of advance, - * W. P. Titcomb, rebate on transportation fish car, - Balance trespass account, State Bank, - - -

Balance fines and penalties accourt, State Bank, -

PAYMENTS.

Nov. 2. . By cash to State Treasurer, - - -

Dec. 2. By cash to State Treasurer, - - - Jian. ~3: gBy cash toState (reasurer,) 9 >= -

Feb. 5. By cash to State Treasurer, - - - March 6. By cash to State Treasurer, - - =

April 6. By cash to State Treasurer, - - - 27. By cash to State Treasurer, - = ;

By cash to State Treasurer, - - - 30. By cash to State Treasurer, - - 3

May By cash to State Treasurer, - - -

8 June ~5:, By cash'‘to State Treasurer, <= - - 6. By cash to State Treasurer, - - -

Aug. to. By cash to State Treasurer, - - -

og)

ig) 52)

oo ~I

By cash to State Treasurer,

O©ct-5.. By. cash to State Dreasurer,.)- - -

13 go 48 78 60 75 32 59 00 55 72 68 79

97 84

$19,107 10

Methods of Estimating and Measaring Standing Timber.

IB VeeAt KON Cla Ds. BY Sake bas

Methods of Estimating.

GENERAL METHOD.

TANDING timber was formerly estimated in this country by men who trav- S eled through the woods and from the general impression thus received formed a judgment as to the quantity of merchantable material. Frequently their course was no more definite than that of a cruiser at sea, and perhaps this is the reason why in Michigan and Wisconsin they received the designation of “timber cruisers.’ The general impression obtained by this method was often a very vague idea upon which to base an estimate. But generally the cruiser was a man of large experience with timber. He had been through the mill: he had been lumber piler, jack logger, tail sawyer and head sawyer, and could judge pretty closely of the quantity of lumber in logs of a given diameter. He had been in the woods, had felled the trees, had cut them into logs, had skidded and scaled and hauled the logs to the mill, and he knew how many average logs it took to make a thousand feet of lumber. He had taken contracts for the mill, and had compared his estimate of the lumber on certain tracts with the scale bills and with the actual cut in the mill. He had learned to judge the timber on given areas by the cut from other areas of similar timber with which he had had experience. Thus he had gained proficiency in kis work and had become recognized as a man whose judg- ment of timber could be relied upon. His was a wholesale method suitable for his time, when timber was very abundant and sold at alow price. To be sure the disadvantages under which he

worked were great. There was the density of timber, never the same on different

* Forester in the employ of the New York Forest, Fish and Game Commission. Some of the para- graphs in this article appeared in similar form ina contribution furnished by the author to Rod and

Gun in Canada, the official organ of the Canadian Forestry Association.

68 REPORT OF THE

tracts. The average volume of individual trees troubled him as the trees were taller on some tracts than on others. In the matter of estimating defective material he had to largely “go it blind,” while his judgment of area was likely to be greatly at fault.

This method has fortunately been superseded by better ones, though it is still frequently used by woodsmen and timber merchants; foresters also sometimes resort to it to ascertain the volume upon an area unit —the acre for example —

while from such estimates the quantity of timber in the whole forest is determined.

Tans, CNC, MOEA),

The circle method consists in estimating the timber on numerous quarter-acre areas in the forest. A quarter-acre circle has a radius of 58.86 feet. To ascertain, then, the quantity of timber on a quarter of an acre it is necessary only for the esti- mator to stand in the woods and count the trees within a radius of twenty yards, a distance which he can with a little practice easily estimate. These sample areas ray be chosen in straight lines through the forest, and placed at equal distances by pacing; or they may be chesen irregularly, in which case the estimator should guard against the temptation to follow the best timber. The areas should be chosen so as to give a good general average as to quantity, quality, species, etc. From these sample areas is figured, then, the average quantity of timber per acre, which when multiplied by the number of acres gives the estimate for the whole forest.

This method was employed on the work of the Forest, Fish and Game Com- mission in 1900 in estimating the timber on townships 12 in Essex County, and 21 and 27 in Franklin County. The accompanying map showing the location of the circles will give an idea of the manner in which this work was done.

The method is very useful when a large tract of timber is to be estimated in a short time, as is frequently necessary on time options. It is applicable also where the value of the timber will not warrant the time required for actual measurement. Otherwise measurement should be employed.

It should be stated, however, that in a suit against the State concerning certain timber on township 21, the plaintiff, not satisfied with the estimate by this method, had all the trees measured, with a result giving the quantity of timber practically

the same as that estimated by the circle method.

THE SPR SM EA EOD:

This method was first employed by Zanthier, a German forester, about the year

1760. It consists in going through the forest at regular intervals, taking a narrow

Limberger

SPRUCE PULP HEMLOCK

Mrs. Wealthy H. Moody :

FOREST SURVEY, MAP NO. 9. PART OF TOWNSHIP 21, FRANKLIN COUNTY, NEW YORK.

J. Y. McClintock, C. E. 1900.

DENUDED

STANDING BURNT TREO Ka)

b) oo

West Bay

Colby Pond

W. J. Ehrich.

NUMBERED CIRCLES REFER TO ATTACHED NOTES SHOWING THE COMPOSITION OF THE FOREST, AND ARE STATIONS AT WHICH ESTIMATES WERE MADE.

WOODED SWAMP) G=—q

Z

eee

fers

= eye

vie noe iy Meh say Aen

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 69

strip, for example two rods wide, a rod on each side of the estimator. The sound trees of each species are counted and a tally is kept.

The area of these strips is then calculated. For example, a strip two rods wide and a mile long contains four acres; or a strip two rods wide across a square forty- acre lot contains one acre. Knowing then, a, the total area of the strips; 4, the area of the whole forest; 7, the number of trees on the strips; the number of trees in the whole forest can be obtained by the formula

GS Take PRMD INE

An estimate is then made of the average number of logs per tree of each species, the number of logs required for 1,000 feet of lumber, the number of trees for a cord of pulpwood or firewood, the number of ties, telegraph poles, etc. From these estimates the total product of the forest is obtained.

The following notes obtained from woodsmen in the Adirondack mountains will give an idea of such estimates. It should be explained that in the Adiron- dacks two rules are in use for measuring logs in board feet, the Doyle and the Old Scribner rule. For logs 28 inches and less in diameter the Old Scribner gives more than the Doyle rule, and for logs over 28 inches it gives less.

Two standard measures are also in use, the Glens Falls and the Saranac standard, the latter of which is in use only along the Saranac river. The Glens Falls standard is a log nineteen inches in diameter, inside the bark, and thirteen feet long; and the Saranac standard, a log twenty-two inches in diameter and thirteen feet long. A log smaller than this, or the surplus of a log larger, is reckoned as the decimal part of a standard. The use of the Doyle rule is presumed in the following

estimates: WHITE PINE.

3 medium trees — 10 logs — 1000 feet, B. M. Pabieess it excellent — lOOOmeet ea. mie ApUneeS Mi N.Ck\” POO — 1000) feet maa Vr

Very large scattered trees should be estimated separately.

SPRUCE. 5 trees, if good = 15 logs — 1000 feet, B. M. 6 trees, if poor — 18 logs — 1000 feet, B. M. Spruce logs are now cut down to eight inches at the upper end, and the remain-

der of the tree is used down to four inches for pulpwood.

Pulpwood. 1000 feet B. M.—1% cords of pulpwood.

7O REE ORG aOR aE nes

BALSAM. Balsam is used chiefly for pulp, being cut only in small quantities for saw timber on account of its inferiority and small size. Cutting to four inches at the upper end,

8 trees = 1 cord of pulpwood.

HEMLOCK.

Hemlock is cut mostly into lumber. It is used to some extent for railroad ties and a small amount is now cut for pulpwood. It is difficult to estimate the lumber in standing trees on account of the shake to which the timber is subject. Hemlock trees are very variable.

In New York, 5 trees = 1000 feet, B. M.

In Pennsylvania, 2% to 3 trees — 1000 feet, B. M.

Ini Wisconsin, (3) to 7 trees, — 100 meet bane

Pulpwood. Am tom ontiees!——leconde

I tall tree, 18 inches inside the bark — 1 cord.

CEDAR. The thickest cedars are used for shingle bolts, the longest for telegraph poles. The smallest stuff is used as fence posts. For railroad ties cedar is objecticnable

as it does not hold the spikes well.

Shingle Bolts. Osthees:— Icond: Telegraph Poles.

Diameter at top, 4 to 8 inches, and sound. Length — 25 to 4o feet.

Fence Posts. enciehe— Omtect BIRCH.

In a general way birch will run about as follows: — Cutting only trees 12 inches and over at the base,

6 trees — 1000 feet, B. M.

8 trees, cutting to 10 inches at. the base — 1000) feet, B: M.:

I tree —- 1% logs, 16 feet long. MAPLE.

Maple is very much subject to defects and is, therefore, difficult to estimate. Cutting to a 12-inch diameter limit, CMuneces) —=lOOOmleet abn Me :

I tree— 1% logs, 16 feet long.

‘Joyowlosdxy e YyIM JYSIoY Ss} BuIye} st jYSII ay} 3e Jojsas10jy ay} ‘siodipeo YA 991} & jo JojaWeIP VY} Buryez st sinqord ayy jo yo] ay} ye IOysos0J ay’

UMHAWNIL ONIGNVLS DNIYOSVANWN

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Fel

BEECH.

Beech will give little more than 1 log, 16 feet long to each tree. Cutting toa 12- inch diameter limit,

12ethees!——s O00) feet= 5 Me

Ash, elm, basswood, and black cherry are found in the Adirondacks, but in such small numbers that little attention is given to them in estimating.

The degree of accuracy reached with the strip method will depend upon the distance between the parallel strips; the less the distance, the greater the degree of accuracy. Where only a small degree of inaccuracy is allowable, the strips may be run adjacent to each other, in which case all the trees of the stand would be counted. Each strip may then be from 10 to 20 rods wide.

Many estimators, instead of counting the trees and then estimating the number of logs, and finally the volume, estimate the volume of the individual trees at once.

According to trials which [hrig has made in Germany in estimating the volume of trees in adjacent strips, the maximum errors of individual estimators were + I1.5 and — 3.8 per cent, the arithmetical mean of which being + 3.8 per cent. IThrig believes that under favorable circumstances (much practice, uniformity of stock, familiarity with the respective species and local growth conditions) very satisfactory results may be reached.

These requirements, however, can seldom be satisfied, and since it takes nearly as much time to make a thorough estimate as it does to actually measure the trees,

measurement will be preferred, as it is much more accurate.

DEBS OU MEM EOD:

By this method the estimating is done in squares, containing generally 2¥% acres. Thus a 4o-acre lot would be

divided into 16 squares.

40-ACRE LOT.

The estimator begins, for example, at the southwest corner of the 40-acre lot. He paces 10 rods east, then 10 rods north, which brings him to the center of the square. He stands here and locates, as well-as he can, by means

of trees, logs, etc., the boundary lines

of the square, and estimates the timber

72 REPORT OF irs

upon it either by general estimate, or by counting the trees, or by estimating the volumes of the individual trees. In dense stands where the trees cannot readily be counted a flag may be placed at the center. The estimator then paces south 5 rods and west 5 rods, which brings him to the center of the southwest quarter of the square. He estimates this part, then paces Io rods north, where he estimates — the northwest quarter, then 10 rods east for the northeast quarter, and finally to rods south, where he completes the estimate of the 2%-acre square. He then goes to the flag and carries it 20 rods north, to the center of the second square, which he estimates as he did the first. Thus, he goes through the stand estimating 2% acres at each station.

In stands that are not dense, where the trees are all to be counted, this method will be found quite satisfactory. In dense timber the estimator feels the difficulty of estimating different distances for the corners of the square’ and the centers of the sides. When there is necessity of pacing a square within the 2%-acre square, as described, the method has no advantage over the strip method and is more cumbersome.

If numerous small separated areas are to be estimated, the circle method has the advantage in that the distance of the boundary line from the center is constant,

and hence less perplexing.

TA PeMitert GAINES VEE de ELOD:

In this method it is customary to estimate strips 40 rods wide. The estimator is assisted by a lineman, who runs a compass line along one side of the strip and measures the length of it by pacing. The estimator passes back and forth across the strip and counts the trees. He measures the distance from one side to the other by pacing whenever his direction is away from the compass man. By means of a police whistle he signals to the lineman to move forward or halt as necessity requires. Whenever the strip reaches the length of half a mile a record is made of the fact that 40 acres have been estimated. As the method is intended to be somewhat thorough, the strips are run adjacent to each other, the estimator run- ning his lines 40 rods apart. It is difficult, however, to reach with the method a satisfactory degree of accuracy. With a method that endeavors to count all the trees, some trees are counted twice, while others are overlooked, the latter of which is likely to occur more frequently than the former. In several comparisons of the method with that of actual measurement which have come under the author's observation, in each case the estimate fell much below the measurement.

There are two or three other methods of estimating in common use in Germany,

THOD.

) 4

ME

STRIP

STANDING TIMBER

MEASURING

=

a

a.

a

r~—

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 73

but as they are not at present applicable to our woods, a description of them is scarcely necessary. Those who wish to read a description are referred to Adam

Schwappach's excellent little book entitled “‘ Leitfaden der Holzmesskunde.”

Methods of Measuring.

If all the trees of a forest had the same diameter, height, and form, the deter- mination of the quantity of timber would present no difficulty. One would need only to count the trees, ascertain the volume of one tree, and multiply its contents by the total number of trees. Such stands, to be sure, one does not find in nature, but the trees of a timber forest are, after all, not so different from each other that a very exact measurement of each tree is necessary.

In very irregularly grown stands, the conditions are, of course, somewhat unfa- vorable, but even here special ascertainment of volume can be limited to only a few trees. In the greater number of cases it may be taken for granted that, in the saine stand, trees of similar basal size do not differ very much in height and form, and, therefore, also in their volume. It is necessary then in such stands only to form classes of the same or nearly the same diameter in order to obtain trees of similar height and form. For every such class, representative trees can then be chosen and the cubic contents found, and from their contents the volume of the whole class can be calculated. In stands in which height and form cannot be considered a function of the basal size, it may be necessary to divide each diameter

class into height classes.

Pye kV UNING We NUM BE R-OF TREES AN Dit ETREBASAL AREAS.

All methods of ascertaining the volume of a stand by measuring depend upon a knowledge of the basal area. The determination of this is, therefore, the first and most important part of a volume survey. The basal area of a stand is the sum of the basal areas of the trees. To determine this, the diameters are measured by means of calipers applied to the trees.

The trees are measured at breast height, generally four feet three inches. Measurement at the ground could only be made with difficulty, and, besides, the cross area there is very irregular on account of the manner in which the roots spread.

In measuring the trees, diameter classes are made, and sometimes height classes, “especially where the trees of the same diameter differ much in height. In mixed

stands, the species are recorded separately.

74 REPORT OF THE

One or two men take the diameters and call them out, giving the species where several are present. A tallyman keeps record of the measurements upon blanks suitably prepared for the purpose. A note-keeper can generally keep two men busy measuring, but in densely stocked young stands, only one. In order to avoid measuring trees twice, or overlooking any trees, they may be marked by the caliper men after the measurement has been taken. This can be done with an iron instru- ment or with a piece of chalk.

The work should proceed in strips, and on mountain slopes in a horizontal direction, in order that the breast-high measurement may be the mean between the heights on the mountain side and on the valley side. The strips should not be too wide. Thirty to forty feet for each caliper man is usually a convenient width. The tallyman goes ahead of the measurers, and, if there are two, he may mark the line between their strips by means of a strong cord fastened to his clothing. A cord, or chalk line, as it is called, such as is used for laying shingles, would be found quite suitable. While running ahead the length of the string, one hundred feet, for instance, he follows a direction as indicated by a compass which he carries. While noting down the dimensions called out, he may give heed to the manner in which the calipers are placed upon the trees, and to the correction of any gross errors that may be made in reading off the diameters. This is advisable, however, only toa very limited extent, for the tallyman, diverted from his own work, easily forgets to note down the dimensions.

The United States Bureau of Forestry, in measuring last year for the New York State Forest, Fish and Game Commission the timber on townships 5, 6 and 41, Hamilton County, New York, employed parties of four men each —a tallyman, two caliper men, and a man who ran the compass line and made a general descrip- tion of the territory gone over. Instead of the cord a chain was used, and each ? caliper man measured a strip half a chain wide. The strips were run in the same general direction, a quarter of a mile apart, giving thus a measurement of one-twen- tieth of the whole forest. A separate tally was kept for each acre measured. That is, whenever the strips reached the length of ten chains a new tally was begun.

Large forests may, in order to facilitate measurement, be divided into smaller parts by lakes, rivers, roads, ditches, etc., that may be present. Each part can then be measured by itself.

In the measuring itself, due regard should be given to the following:

1. Before the work begins, and while it continues, one should see to it that the movable arm of the calipers is not too loose.

2. The calipers should be placed on the tree at right angles.

‘XN ‘AMNVT ALLAAOVA —9 dIHSNMOL

NMAGWNIL ONIMOSVANW MYNYOM S.AVG V YALAV

"AMONMOIA “S 'V 'HOMd ASHLMNOO

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

a | Isat

3. If, at the place of measurement, there is an extraordinary thickening or other irregularity, the measurement should be taken higher or lower.

4. The dimensions should be read off while the arms of the calipers lie close against the tree, and at this moment the caliper ‘man should step close up to the caliper bar.

5. The height at which it is decided that the measurements are to be taken must be held to strictly. It should be marked in some way on the clothing of the caliper man, by a button, for example. According to the investigations of Grundner, a German, a deviation of six inches higher or lower makes on the average a difference in the basal area of 1.05 per cent. When measurements are to be taken repeatedly, as, for example, in a standing experiment, a mark should be put upon the tree with a scratch-awl.

6. Ordinarily only one diameter measurement need be taken on each stem, but on stems which are very eccentric two measurements may be taken crosswise, and a tally kept of the mean diameter.

According to Hesz, one tallyman and two caliper men can measure 600 trees per hour (maximum 971, minimum 422); according to Baur 765 trees, and in one day of ten hours about 7,000 trees. In the measuring done in New York by the United States Bureau of Forestry, twenty-five acres have been considered a fair day’s work fora party of fourmen. In average woods a party can measure at the most about five acres per hour for four or five hours, or forty acres per day of ten hours.

For scientific work, diameter classes of whole centimeters are allowed by the German Forestry Association. When the fraction amounts to .5 cm., an addition is made to the preceding class.

The United States Bureau of Forestry makes inch classes; the New York State College of Forestry, 2-inch classes. In our forests, 2-inch classes are allowable, especially for trees over nine inches in diameter. This will at least keep within a 2 per cent limit of error, as the author has demonstrated in Rod and Gun in Canada, January number, 1902. Lack of space excludes demonstration here.

The reckoning of the sum of the cross section areas from the diameter measure- ments can be accomplished by the use of a table of areas of circles, which may be found in Bulletin 20 of the United States Bureau of Forestry, Washington, D. C. Such tables have also been prepared by the Germans— Kunze, Ganghofer, Pressler and Eberts. Grundner has shown that reckoning the square feet to more than three places of decimals, even for scientific purposes, does not obtain a degree of accuracy which warrants the extra labor, and that for most practical purposes two

decimai places are quite sufficient.

76 REPORT OF THE

HEIGHT MEASUREMENT:

In order to calculate the quantity of timber in a forest it is necessary not only to determine the number of trees of each diameter class of each species, but the average height of the trees of each diameter class should also be determined.

There are various instruments for measuring the height of a standing tree, all based upon the principle of similar triangles, a principle familiar to all mathema- ticians. The most convenient of these is Faustman’s hypsometer, a small instru- ment which can be carried in the pocket. In using this instrument, the observer selects a convenient spot where he can distinctly see the top of the tree. Then measuring his distance from the base of the tree, and arranging the instrument accordingly, he looks at the top of the tree through an eye-piece on the instrument and reads off the height of the tree as indicated by the thread of a plumb line rest- ing against a scale.

A “height party” consists of two men. One uses the hypsometer, while the other takes the diameter with the calipers and measures the distance between the trees and the observer. A party can measure from 200 to 400 trees per day.

From 1,000 to 2,000 trees of each commercial species should be measured on a township of, for instance, 30,000 acres of our forest. The greater the number, the value, and the average diameter of the trees of a species, the greater should be the number of heights taken.

In taking heights, it has been found most convenient to measure one species at a time. It is not necessary to go regularly through the forest, but care should be

taken to measure trees growing under all conditions of soil, elevation, exposure, etc.

METHODS OF WORKING UP THE RESULDTS OF MEASURE Vieng

FORM FACTORS.

A few words in regard to form factors are necessary for a clear understanding

of the methods of measurement described in this paper. The term ‘form factor” means the ratio between the volume of a tree and that of a cylinder having the same base and height as the tree. Let @ be the cross area

of the base of the tree, % its height, f the form factor, and wv the volume; then,

volume of cylinder =a xh

volume of tree —=axhxf

VU

form factor == axh

a a ae

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. i

The volume of the stem of a tree without the branches is less than that of the corresponding cylinder, hence the form factor for the stem alone is less than 1. If the branches are added, the form factor is sometimes greater than 1, especially when the tree is young.

Form factors may be,

I. Stem form factors, which refer only to the volume of the stem above ground.

2. bree form factors, which refer to the volume of the stem and branches, excluding the root wood.

3. Timber form factors, which exclude all material except those parts that make timber, whether stem or branches.

The diameter is measured at breast height of an ordinary man, about 4 ft. 3 in. iiiesheiontor the ideal cylinder is) equalito the height of the tree: Since the measurements are taken at a constant height, the form factors of two trees of the same shape but differing in height cannot be the same. Therefove, in using form factors for calculating the volume of trees, the height of the trees must be taken into consideration.

European tables, based upon the measurements of numerous felled trees, have been prepared, which give the form factors for different species, heights and ages.

The following table shows the form factors for four species:

MOR | TIMBER ONLY, DOWN TO 3 IN. DIAMETER. | WHOLE TREE EXCLUSIVE OF ROOT WOOD. LENGTH. BEBE GocG | SPRUCE: | STEER Sig BBECH qi goo e CH SPRUCE yh See eER Al BEECH,

20 0.14 0.18 0.27 0.13 0.83 0.88 0.83 0.63 30 0.32 0.31 0.38 0.21 0.68 O77) Os 77 0.62 40 0.45 0.41 O.51 2.30 0.62 0.69 0.68 0.62 50 0.48 0.47 o..53) ©.40 0.57 0.64 0.65 0.59 60 0.47 0.48 0.53 0.45 0.53 0.61 0.63 Oni 70 0.46 0.49 0.52 0.47 0.51 0.59 0.60 0.56 80 0.46 0.49 0.52 0.48 0.50 OsBG 0.59 0.56 go 0.45 0.48 | 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.55 0.56 0-57 100 0.45 0.47 O.51 0.51 0-49 O53 0.55 0.58 uke) 0.44 0.46 0.52 Ons? 0.49 O.51 0.52 0.59 120 © 43 0.44 ONG? 0.52 0.48 0.49 0.51 | o.60

—

78 REPORT OF THE

How to Find the Volame of a Forest by Felling Sample Trees.

MEAN SAMPLE TREE METHOD.

The trees of the forest are measured as already described. The basal areas of the cross sections, breast height, are calculated from the diameters. Then, by adding these basal areas the total basal area is obtained, and by dividing the total basal area of any species by the number of trees of that species the basal area

of the average sample tree of the species is obtained.

Let V = volume of the stand. “vy =volume of the average sample tree. Al = (cOwall logge aiceel. ““ @ = basal area of sample tree. zm, —= number of trees with cross area a. “‘ 7, == number of trees with cross area a.

3 — number of trees with cross area ay.

“<n” — total number of trees. GQ + My + O32, +-—- A Then a = te Ri AP fy 52 3. 4P SSS 2

From this basal area of the average sample tree is then calculated the corre- sponding diameter, and from the height measurements is ascertained the average

height corresponding to this diameter. A thrifty tree of the species having this diameter and height is selected in the

forest. It is felled and its volume measured. In order to obtain a volume inde-

pendent of the individual irregularities, several of such specimens are felled and measured. The average cubic contents of these represents the volume of the mean sample tree. This volume, when multiplied by the number of trees, gives the

volume of the stand. V=vXn Since it has been shown that

A A a = —; then, z = — 2 a

Substituting this value for 7 in the formula above, and, A

a

The following table shows a convenient form for keeping the record:

Vio

a

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 79 MEAN SAMPLE TREE METHOD. THE CALIPERED TREES. THE STAND. THE SAMPLE TREE. eZ CROSS =e SPECIES. SUN OF : AREA, |DIAMETER.| Ja DiaM- | Drees. | CROSS | Trees. | AREA, Be aa | MEASURED AT BREAST aes HEIGHT. ee Inches. ‘Sis js SAE Sg. ft. Inches. ff 8 22 7.68 | 9 77 | 34.02 | 10 97 52.90 II 162 106.92 12 40 31.42 | 13 100 92.18 14 II5 122.94 15 88 | 107.99 | | White Pine, d 16 160 | 223.41 | 1.560 | 2,358.58 151 16.7 6 17 182 286.89 | 18 45 | 79:52 | | | 1g | 67 | 131.92 | | 20 88 191.99 | | 21 IIO 264.58 | | 22 86 227.02 | | | 23 22 63.47 | | | 24 14 43.98 | | U2 85 | 289.75 | 1,560 | 2,358.58 |

2,358.58 sq. ft. + 1,560 — 1.51 sq. ft. cross area of sample tree.

The diameter corresponding to a cross area of 1.56 sq. ft. is 16.7 in.

Diameters are calculated from cross areas and cross areas from diameters with i

the help of a table of areas of circles referred to on page 75.

The table informs us

that the diameter corresponding to a cross area of 1.51 square feet is 16.7 inches and

from the height measurements it is found that white pine trees 16.7 inches in

diameter have an average height of about 100 feet.

80 REPORT OF THE

Six sound, straight trees, then, of about those dimensions, are selected in the forest, felled, measured, and the volumes fapulered as shown below. There will be a difference in the form of the trees though their diameters and heights may be the same, and, hence, their volumes will differ. The total area of the sample trees, divided by their number, will give the average volume, and this, multiplied by the

number of trees of the stand, will give the volume of the stand:

SAMPLE TREES. CUBIC FEET. B. M. INO- a = - - - - = - - - Aco 251 Nox. 2, - - - - - = - - 75-8 257 IN@>. 3 = - - - - - - - - 68.6 237 No. 4, - - - - - - - - 70.9 245 No. 5, - : - - - - - - - 74.1 256 No. 6, = - - - - - ory ee 72.0 248

Volume of the six trees, = = ~ - 433.6 1,494 Average volume, - - - « - - Ao 272 Volume of 1,560 trees, - - : - - 112,788 424,320

4 A When the basal-area a of the sample tree is exactly -) > the simple formula, V —v X nis always used for reckoning the volume. But if the basal area is not 1

= it is evident that multiplying the volume of the sample tree by the number of

Sate = A trees multiplies also the error. The formula V — v may then be used.

This very simple and convenient method was introduced into Germany by Huber in the year 1824 and was recommended later by Carl Heyer. Still it is not sufficiently accurate. By other methods discussed in this paper much _ better results can be obtained with but very little more work.

The method depends upon the principle that the sample tree presents not only the mean cross area but also the mean height and form factor of the stand. That

these conditions may be satisfied the following equalities must exist :

A HF = 1 a hy fy + me dy he fo + 13 tg 13 fg + = — = = But since A = 7, a, + iy A + zy a3 + -- -—

Then H F=h, fi the fot ls fs+----

This is seldom true for a whole stand but only for sizes that lie close together ; and, therefore, the measurement of a stand by means of one arithmetical mean

sample tree cannot give accurate results.

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85 REPORT OF THE

THE GROUP METHOD.

By this method the trees of a stand are divided into several groups, and sample trees are felled for each group. From these sample trees the volumes of the separate groups are calculated. These volumes added together give the volume of the whole stand.

The number of groups is dependent upon the accuracy desired. As for the whole stand in the preceding method, so for the group in this method, the sample tree should represent the mean cross area and the mean height and form factor of the group. The larger the number of groups, the more nearly will this condition be satisfied, but the more laborious will be the calculation, since each group must be treated by itself.

If in measuring a stand great intervals have been made between the diameter classes, in accurate work each diameter class may be considered a group. The calculation of the diameter of the sample tree is then saved, since this possesses the mean diameter of the class into which it falls.

If 7, v, V3, etc., be the volumes of the individual groups, then the volume of the stand, V= 7, + v.+ uv, +----

As has been shown, the volume of each group may be found by multiplying the

volume of the sample tree of the group by the number of trees.

Y= SS BP, or by the formula r A Vp a

As has been pointed out, the volume of a stand may be obtained by the formula

5 aides Aen eA es U ae + 2%, 7a Ts ane Now, if a ay G Qy a a3

Then V = C (u,+7+75).

That is, if this condition were satisfied it would not be necessary to calculate the volume of each sample tree and group separately, but the sample trees could all be worked up together. This would simplify the calculation very much. The volume of a stand would then be obtained by multiplying the total volume of the sample wood by the common factor C.

This condition is not satisfied, however, by the Group Method but is well reachea,

as will be seen, by the Draudt and Urich methods.

SO ee)

Zz ©) D 2 = = e) ©) ea = < 1) A 7, < a0) a er

FOREST,

‘OUT OFTY AA

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84. REPORT OF THE

THE DRAUDT METHOD.

By this method the sample trees when placed together present an exact model of the stand and show the relationship of size classes as to number of trees. In the sample trees all diameter classes of the stand are represented and the same relation- ship exists between the sample trees of the different diameter classes as exists between the diameter classes themselves.

It is first decided what proportion the whole number of sample trees shall bear to the whole number of trees of the stand. The percentage may either be chosen directly, that is, we may say that there shall be felled as sample trees 1, or 2, or 3, etc., per cent of the whole number of trees. Or the total number of sample trees to be felled may be decided upon and then from a consideration of these and the total number the percentage can be reckoned.

Suppose for example the number of trees of the stand to be 1,780 and that 25 sample trees are to be felled. Then,

LOO 2 5 hOOR D: p= 1.4%

The number of sample trees for each diameter class is then found by multiplying the number of trees of each class by fg. Fractions of .5 or over, resulting from the muitiplication are reckoned as a full inch, and those under .5 are discarded. Should several neighboring classes furnish no sample tree each, or rather only a fraction under .5, several classes may be grouped together according to the size of the frac- tions. Finally the sample trees should be added together to see if these agree with the whole number decided upon at first. Differences which are caused by rounding off the fractions are then balanced. In order to avoid too many fractions of sample trees, the diameter classes need not be made too small.

Sample trees are then according to sizes and number selected in the forest. After being felled, they can either be cut into sections, say, 4 feet long, and their volume accurately measured; or they can be worked up in the usual way for sale.

According to the principle of the method, the sample wood likewise presents the chosen per cent of the volume of the stand. The volume of the stand, then, is to be reckoned by the formula,

(7 eS P

On account of the rounding of the fractions, due to fixing upon the number of

, : é 6 100 sample trees, this relation does not exactly hold, and instead of the CUE ras

according to Draudt’s proposition that of

a

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 85

The sum of the cross areas of the stand

The sum of the cross areas of the sample trees

is substituted, and by multiplying this quotient by the volume of the sample wood, the volume of the stand is found.

If the sample trees are worked up, keeping the sorts of wood separate, each sort will present the chosen per cent of that sort in the whole stand, and the volume can be determined as explained above.

The disadvantages of the method are that in rounding off the fractions of sample trees in each class inaccuracies occur, and that frequently no sample tree at all is taken from classes which contain only a small number of trees. The larger the stand the larger will be the number of trees in each class and hence the more accurate

will be this method when applied to the stand.

THE URICH METHOD.

This is the same in principle as the Draudt Method, but takes a sample tree for the same number of trees and thus endeavors to avoid the small errors occasioned by rounding off the fractions resulting from multiplying by the rate per cent.

By this method the trees of the stand are arranged in groups so that each group contains the same number of trees. For each group a mean sample tree is then reckoned.

As inthe Draudt Method the sample wood is all worked up together, and the volume of the stand, as well as the division of the same into sorts, is reckoned by multiplying the volume of the total sample wood, or, for the latter requirement, that

of the particular sort by the quotient:

Sum of the cross areas of the stand

Sum of the cross areas of the sample trees

The method does not insist upon any fixed number of groups, still they should not be too few, at least not fewer than three, lest the trees with mean cross areas may not possess the mean contents of the group. Too large a number of groups is inconvenient as it involves repeated separation of the diameter classes, and since for each group a sample tree must be reckoned.

The Association of German Forestry Experiment Stations, which in 1889 adopted the method, prescribes the number of five groups. This number meets the demands in both directions, and need be increased only in stands with great differences between the diameter classes. —

Here, as in the method of the mean sample tree, several sample trees should be

86 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

felled for each group. Experience has shown that correctness of result with an insufficient number of sample trees cannot be expected. Less than two for each group is sufficient only exceptionally. It is better to take from three to five, and in poor stands even more.

Deviations can be made here also from the reckoned diameter in choosing the sample trees. They may even be chosen freely from the groups, if only the sum of the basal areas approximates closely that of the calculated sum.

The objection is raised against. the Draudt and Urich methods, that as the sam- ple trees are chosen in proportion to the number of trees and not in proportion to volume, the groups containing the smaller trees have more than their proper share. Moreover, in those groups a deviation in choice of sample tree is more noticeable. These objections can be overcome by choosing so many trees that in any case, even

in the strongest groups, the required accuracy is reached.

THE HAaRTIG METHOD.

Hartig presents another way. He forms groups of the same basal area, and for each of these groups the same number of sample trees is chosen.

By dividing the sum of the cross areas of the stand by the number of groups to be formed the cross area of each group is obtained. The trees are then grouped to give this area, which, when divided by the number of trees in the group, gives the cross area of the sample tree.

By this method the sample wood cannot be worked up in one lot, but the volumes of the individual groups must be reckoned. For this reason, and on account of the somewhat complicated calculation in forming the groups the method has been but little used in practice, although it is more accurate than the Draudt or the Urich method. It is especially useful in scientific investigations and in stands with only a few trees.

Tabular demonstrations of the Urich and the Hartig methods have been

omitted for lack of space.

A Stady in Practical Reforesting.

Bye yoy. Mic GrINTOC Ky Cy Es

S the New York State Forestry Department is about undertaking the work A of reforesting its denuded lands, it was deemed advisable that some definite information should be obtained regarding the forest plantations at various places in the adjoining States, the silvicultural methods there employed, and the facts relating to the success or failure of such efforts. With this end in view I visited different places where forest tree planting had been undertaken, especial attention being given to the plantation on the Stephen Girard estate, situated on the watershed of Lost Creek, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The work carried on there has been pronounced by experts as one of the most interesting and instructive experiments of the kind undertaken in this country; and so this paper is devoted to the observations made during a personal inspection of that tract.

I found that a series of plantations, beginning with the year 1881, had been made by Mr. Heber S. Thompson, engineer of the Girard estate. They are located on top of Locust Mountain, at an elevation of 1,600 feet above sea level, and around the artificial reservoirs of the Girardville Water Company, near the village of Lost Creek. In constructing the reservoirs large areas were stripped of material to a depth of several feet, leaving only clayey gravel upon which the small trees have been planted, as well as upon the natural surface.

The conditions of soil, climate and elevation are similar to those in the Catskill region. The country has been burned over so many times, and is so easily fired, that it will require a strong effort to restrain the large number of people who pick berries over it from keeping it burned down.

The natural or volunteer growth is good in places, but very irregular. Large areas seem to be permanently occupied by worthless scrub oaks to the exclusion of any other species. Whole mountain sides have been seized and occupied by mountain laurel, under which it appears impossible for anything else to germinate.

A section of mountain land containing 1,200 acres was set apart as a forest preserve. On this land the natural growth of young oaks, chestnuts, and pines

was protected, and trees were planted. A fire lane, one hundred feet wide, was cut

* Assistant Superintendent State Forests. 87

88 REPORT OF THE

out and burned clear of brush. This lane runs around the preserve and connects with the township roads, making with them a barrier against the entrance of fire. Cross fire lanes were also made through the preserve to assist in confining any fire to a limited area. A forest patrol of three men is employed on Sundays and on all holidays to prevent the starting of fires, to extinguish them when discovered, and to protect the young growing timber from injury by lawless persons. The following

is a statement of the different plantations:

MC CLINTOCK, PHOTO.

J. Y.

AND CATALPA— PLANTING OF 1881.

LARCH

PHOTOGRAPHED IN Igol.

‘TOOT NI GaHdVNDOLONA “LUVdV LAA BHO ATOWVdS

5 (

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FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

FOREST,

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- - - - oof ‘Si : - oor'e 1 - - - - - - - 6691

000 ‘or - 000 ‘ol - - - - - 2 - - g6gI

000‘T = 000‘ x és E - - - - - 000‘ - - L6gr

000'T c - : 000'g 2 = - ° 000°I oo00‘olr - S6¢1

ooS‘z 00S ‘z - = | Goh c - 00 §‘z 000‘g - - F6g1

000 ‘oz - £6g1

000‘ - - < - o000‘o! 000 ‘of = - z6gr

00001 000‘0z - 1681

000‘0z ° - 0681

000‘I - - - - - o000‘I 000‘oz - 6991

000 ‘or - Q8gI

000‘I - - - - - 000‘T = 4&ger

000‘T = - Seer

000‘z ool 002 - - 3 - - ZQQI

‘GHLNVId SHIOUdS HOVA AO VALNAN

gO REPORT OF THE

The Pennsylvania legislature, at its session of 1887, passed “An act for the encouragement of forest culture, and providing penalties for the destruction of forests,’ requiring county commissioners to pay a bounty of forty-five cents per acre, not exceeding ninety per cent of the taxes, for planting forest trees not less in number than 1,200 to the acre, for a period of ten years, with a similar bounty at a reduced rate for a second and third period. In 1892 the Girard estate under the above law collected from the county commissioners $38.15. No other claim had been presented before under this act. The following records have been made

of the various plantings :

Planting of 1441.

The seedlings were three inches in height. Most of the plants took root and grew, and in 1894 ninety per cent were living, the larch having an average height of 31 feet 3 inches, and average diameter at the ground of 6% inches. The season of 1881 was one of extreme drought. Among the larch were planted some Catalpa speciosa, about 85 per cent of which thrived, and showed in 1894 an average height of 26 feet 1 inch, with an average thickness of 634 inches at the ground. In 1891 the larch averaged 28 feet in height.

In 1901 my examination showed that there are about fifty per cent of the larch standing, from 28 feet to 48 feet high, averaging 37% feet, with diameters measured breast high from 3% inches to 9 inches, and averaging 6 inches. About fifty per cent of the catalpa are standing, from 28 to 33 feet high, averaging 30 feet, and from four to five inches in diameter, breast high.

There are now on this plantation 1,263 trees per acre, which could be cut and sold at the prices obtained by the Girard estate so as to yield $80 per acre for stumpage.

The soil here is good, and this is well illustrated by a fine volunteer growth adjacent. It is mostly white oak, pin oak and chestnut, and has been carefully pruned and cleaned out. It is coppice growth of about the same age as the plan- tation. The heights are from 31 to 38 feet, with diameters from 4% to 6 inches. The white oaks are 31 feet by 5% inches; pin oaks, 36 feet by 5 inches; and chestnuts, 37 feet by 434 inches. There are 730 trees per acre, and they stand mostly in clumps.

In making the reservoir dams large areas were stripped of all soil, exposing a clean, clayey gravel, in which many of the trees were planted. Here the Scotch pine grows slowly; also the white pine, but not so well as the former; the larch does poorly; and the catalpas, oaks and cherries do not thrive at all. At some

places in these old gravel pits volunteer pitch pine is doing well. In clearing, pre-

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. gI

paratory to planting, the larger volunteer oaks, pitch pine and chestnut were spared, with the result that many of the planted trees have been smothered.

Many of the seedlings died, although they were planted on ground where the conditions appear as favorable as in the places where they thrive best. An expla- nation may be found in the following statement: Mr. Hechler, who had charge of the planting for 1887, and of all the plantings made since, says that the seedlings arrived well packed and in good condition, except in the year 1891, when more than three-fourths were lost by bad packing in sawdust. The trees were heeled in as soon as they arrived, although they were usually at least twelve days upon the road from the nursery. Most of them came from the Waukegan Nursery in Illinois. When ready to plant the bundles were heeled in at each end of the lines, which were usually not more than a few hundred feet long. Several men worked on the same line. Each man would take a handful of seedlings from the bundles and carry them in his hand.

The detailed reports made at the time show that in some cases the weather became very dry and hot before the planting was finished, from which I infer that sometimes the rootlets got dry, a condition fatal to most of the species. In some of the plantings “‘dibbles” were used. These were made from three-quarter inch round iron, pointed at one end, with the other end bent at right angles, forming a handle six inches long. The dibble was pushed into the ground, making a hole in which a seedling was placed; then the tool was pushed into the ground alongside of the first hole so as to shove over the earth about the roots. The securing of a close contact between the earth and small roots is one of the most important desiderata in tree planting; but the round form and small size of these dibbles made them illy adapted to the purpose, especially when haste was made. In one case nearly six thousand trees were planted in one day. If the dibbles had been shaped like those in common use abroad, which are conical in form, with a diameter of several inches at the large end, and with one flat side, the ioss of trees would have been much less; and, if the seedlings had been carried in pails with moist mud about the roots the number lost would have been still smaller.

In 1889 one thousand Russian mulberries were set out in a rather wet place. They made a good start; but seventy-five per. cent were killed during the first

winter, and the balance during the second winter.

Planting of 1432.

Two hundred Austrian pines were planted, of which eighty-five per cent grew.

In 1894 these had attained an average height of 16 feet 7 inches. Average height

92 REPORT OF TEE

in IQ01 was 29 feet 5 inches, with a diameter, breast high, from 6 inches to g inches. One hundred Norway spruces were set out, of which eighty per cent grew, showing an average height of 20 feet 1 inch in 1894, and 33% feet in 1891, with diameter from 4% inches to 8 inches, breast high. One thousand Scotch pines planted in an old borrow-pit, where ground is wet and many trees have been thrown out by frost, show a variation in height from 3 feet to 21 feet, and in diameter from one inch to 6%

inches. The trees are mostly crooked and poor.

Planting of 1445.

One thousand European larch, of which seventy-five per cent grew, showing an average height of 15 feet 3 inches in 1894, and 30 feet 2 inches in 1901, with diam- eter, breast high, from 3% to 8 inches. These are on filled land, and are very thrifty.

Planting of 1387.

European larches on filled land show average height of 24 feet 8 inches, and diameter, breast high, 4% inches to 7 inches in 1901. European larches in old gravel pit, where most of the trees died, show an average height of g feet, with diameter from 1% inches to 2% inches. European larches on filled land show an average height of 19 feet 8 inches, with diameter from one inch to four inches.

The Scoth pines on filled land attained a height from 15 to 26 feet, and diameter from 1% to 7 inches, breast high. In old gravel pit, on very poor, rocky soil, it shows a height from 5 to 11 feet, with diameters from 1% to 2 inches. On filled land, shows a height from 12 feet to 24 feet, and diameter from 134 inches to 3%

inches.

Planting of 1434.

In making this plantation the brush was all cut away, leaving volunteer oaks and pitch pines from 3 inches to 4 inches in diameter. Most of the larches planted have been killed, apparently smothered by volunteer oak, chestnut, pitch pine, maple and ferns. In tgo1 the European larches were from 6 to 20 feet high, and

from I inch to 3% inches in diameter.

Planting of 1339.

The catalpas were a failure. Only a few are left, many of which have been killed down to the roots. The Russian mulberries all died within two years. This plantation is on white gravel, rather wet, and there is much volunteer growth of pitch pine, oak, mountain laurel and brush. The European larches are now from

3% feet to 22 feet high, and from 34 inch to 4 inches in diameter.

‘1061 ‘GHHdVUDOLOHd ‘ZRgI MALAWNVIG SHHONI 8 ‘HDIH Laas OLOHd ‘NDOLNIION OW ‘A 'f

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J. ¥. MC CLINTOCK, PHOTO, EUROPEAN LARCH AND SCOTCH PINE— PLANTING OF 1887.

PHOTOGRAPHED IN Igot.

J. Y. MC CLINTOCK, PHOTO,

SCOTCH PINE AND EUROPEAN LARCH—PLANTED, 1887.

SPACES OF FOUR FEET, PHOTOGRAPHED IN IgOlI.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 93

Planting of 1390.

The European larches show heights from 6% to 17 feet, and diameters from 34 inch to 2% inches. Many have been crowded out by a thick natural growth of pitch pine.

Planting of 1491.

Many of the larches were killed by bad packing, and all of the catalpas died.

The European larches show heights from 3% feet to 8 feet.

Planting of 1492.

The catalpas were a failure. The Scotch pines are from g feet 8 inches to 12 feet in height. Planting of 1394. The Scotch pines show heights from 3 feet 8 inches to 10% feet; and the European larches from 1% feet to5% feet. Many of the larches are gone; but most of the Scotch pines show heights from 5% feet to 7% feet, and, in some cases,

an increase in height of 22 inches in one year.

Planting of 1397. The Scotch pines look thrifty, and are from 2 to 4 feet high. The white pines

show heights from 1 foot 2 inches to 3% feet.

Planting of 1496.

The Scotch pines are in thrifty condition, varying in height from 18 to 30 inches. The white pines show heights from 11 to 20 inches.

A study of these sixteen plantations leads to the conclusion that a regular spacing of six feet apart between the trees is close enough, and that new seedlings should be planted in place of those that die within a few years. This is especially true in this locality, where the volunteer growth is sure to spring up between the trees and form crowded conditions. This is an important consideration in relation to the financial results of planting.

In 1899 there were planted 15,400 white pine, 13,100 Scotch pine, and 3,000 Douglas pine. The white pine cost four dollars per thousand for trees, and two dollars per thousand for planting. These were spaced four feet apart, requiring Zyeempem Jere.) and. Costing plo.ei) vin they. had) been spaced) six feet apart the number of trees required per acre would have been 1,210, and the cost would have been $7.26. Then, assuming that it would be necessary to replant 30 per cent,

the cost will be raised in round numbers to ten dollars per acre.

94

REPORT OF THE

Basing an estimate upon the growth shown by these plantations it may be

expected that, at the expiration of thirty years, props, lagging and poles, to the value

of $40, may be taken from each acre; and, at the expiration of fifty years, there

would be, at a low estimate, 50,000 feet, board measure, of timber per acre, worth

on the stump at present prices $250. It is necessary that fire be kept out, a difficult

matter in this district; but it will cost as much per acre to protect a poor growth

as a valuable one.

The prices of timber

DIAMETER OF STICK INSIDE OF BARK.

on the stump, in 1901, collected by the Girard estate were:

PRICES PER LINEAL FOOT.

24 inch, - - - - - - - - - - =i) TANGenits: 66 (73 23 ee ee ere ie kee ire. St 13 om & 2 2 2 2 i x ¥ bi 3 = vs 72 “ 2I OO z 3 = e; it 3 = = =) dy e II 66 Donets a Zt ss 2 A e fs # a i fe 10 «“ oe “ ra ZA ss 66 1g = - - - - - C 9 Sar Stee = if bs pi = i ¥ M3 a a i 8 6 17 6 5 £ a 2} 2 x a a a = = 7 66 16 “cc at a if = ie in mi pe a Ma Rs 6 (13 15 66 ie ies = a ia me e 3 i 2d mn 5 6 Tee et an in eC ae hae ay he) ats & 13 oe a - cs 2 i us ‘s a rs MA & 4 5 12 6c é a ie = SS a = y 5 8 3% os aes i 2 & iy ¥ b: = ¥ 8 = 3 3 1K), ae - - - - - - - - - = - 2% “ 9 Ob - ee rs = = el = Ad 2 = if 2 66 8 ce y kA e om B ie = a be = uf 1% “ 7 GC x we z as - L ~ A vA a; = ry “ 6 66 2 fe = - a Mi? ek 2 rh 3 is I 66 5 ae Hs <I = & = = Pp ze x ia & 34 “cc 4 6 a z a ms = = an hs Z a yy 19 Oak lumber sawed, - - - - - ats per MesBa Me Pine oe oe a a? $0 e) i be 5 (a “c Hemlock lumber sawed, - - - - - is Chestnut: rs - - - - S fe Split lagging 6 ft. or less, - - - - - Yy cent each. s © over 6 ft. - - - - - $1 per 1,000 lineal feet.

Lagging poles,

Sills 6 ft. or under,

Over On fits,

2 : : - - - 21% cents per 100 lineal feet. : < : - 4 cents each. : - - = - - 1 cent per lineal foot.

SCOTCH PINES— PLANTING OF 1892.

PHOTOGRAPHED IN IgOt.

J. Y. MC CLINTOCK, PHOTO.

LOST (CREEK, PA:

(The slope shown in background is overrun with mountain laurel.)

J- Y. MC CLINTOCK, PHOTO.

ed

o

Sian ieee ets

oe ate Pike,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 95

It is evident that the native trees will return in time if the fires are kept out; but the thick growth of scrub oak and mountain laurel seems to be able to hold its place to the exclusion of valuable trees for a very long time; and, in some places, permanently, unless removed artificially. The objects to be obtained in planting are, a regular, dense cover, of depth sufficient to retain moisture in the soil; a better quality and larger quantity of timber; and quicker returns.

The financial results may be indicated as follows: Assume the land worth $3 per acre, annual taxes 5 cents per acre, protection from fire 10 cents per acre per year, time of harvesting the planted crop 50 years, rate of interest 4 per cent,

compounded each year:

Cost of planting per acre, = = idle : - - - - $10 00 Value of land 4 - - - - - - - - 3 0c

$13 00 Value of acre in fifty years at 4 per cent compound interest, = - $92 39

Taxes per acre at 5 cents per annum, with compound interest at 4

DEDICEHU Ns - : - - - - = - 2 2 35 Fire protection at ro cents per acre per year, compounded at 4 Det Cente = 5 - - - - - = 5 = = I5 10

BII5 04

As shown before, the following income may be expected from the planted land:

At thirty years $40, which compounded at 4 per cent for 20 years

becomes, = - - - - - - - - 2 $87 64 At 50 years, timber cutting, - - - S - - - - 250 00 Value of land, - - - - - - - - - - 3 00

Toll, = - - - - - - - - - $340 64 Less cost, - - - - - - - - - - - II5 04 $225 60

which can be spent on an acre during the term of 50 years, and still leave the investment a good four per cent. This is equivalent to an annual additional expenditure of $1.49% per acre.

If the land should be left untouched it would require, under good conditions, from ten to fifteen years for it to become stocked; and on account of a crowded growth would require a longer time to mature—say fifteen years. Then we can

assume a crop in 80 years, with a partial crop in 50 years. It is evident that the

96 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION,

natural crop would not exceed in quantity more than one-fourth of the planted

crop, and, hence, a comparative statement may be made as follows:

Land at $3 per acre, compounded at 4 per cent for 80 years, 5 $69 15 Taxes and interest for 80 years, - - - - - = 27-31 Fire protection at ro cents per year, compounded at 4 per cent, - 54 62

$151 08

The following income may be expected:

At 50 years $10, which compounded at 4 per cent for 30 years

becomes, - - - = - : x g S § x $32 43 At 80 years, timber cutting, - - - ; : - - 62 50 Value of land, - c Z 5 x v5 Altes Ps i 4 3 00

Seo ee emote Cal ame rabies sunset hte." OUecr ys $97 93

This indicates that the land, if left to natural conditions, would not earn enough to pay four per cent on a small valuation, together with taxes and fire protection.

That the possibilities of increasing the value of forest land are very great is shown by the experience of the German States. Dr. Fernow shows that the several governments expended on an average $1.66 per acre per year on their forest property; and that they obtain thereby a gross income of $3.47 per acre, with a net revenue of $1.81 per acre per year.

Considering the $1.81 as the interest on the value of the forest lands, and using three per cent as the customary rate for large investments, these figures show that by proper management the German States maintain their poorest lands at a capital

value of over $60 per acre. In other words, the forests pay $19,000,000 for labor

and taxes; and, in addition, pay three per cent interest on a valuation of $60 per ~

acre. A large part of this land if deforested would not support a farmer, and would rapidly degenerate into mountain pasture or heath which at best could not be sold for over $5 per acre.

Applying these figures to the State of New York, we find that there are in round numbers 1,400,000 acres now owned by the State in the Forest Preserve which do not pay anything, even towards the cost of protecting these woodlands. The facts set forth here in relation to the work done on the Girard estate will give some idea of the immense revenues which the State of New York may derive in time from its forests by the cultivation of wild lands, and by working the entire acreage up to

the maximum of production.

Annaal Report of the Saperintendent OY IPOrRGSIU:.

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

WOULD respectfully submit for your information the usual annual report relating to the production of the

Adirondack and Catskill forests, the num- ber and extent of the woodland fires, and other matters pertaining to the forestry interests of the State.

The yearly output of the Adirondack forests shows no diminution, the product for 1900 being largely in excess of the pre- vious year, although not quite equal to that of 1898. Aside from the State hold- ings there are now about 750,000 acres of forest land in the Adirondack Park that

have not been lumbered, or from which a

second cutting of spruce can now be obtained. Each year, recently, the softwood timber on 80,000 acres or more is cut and removed by the lumbermen or pulpwood operators. This would indicate that if the present rate of cutting continues these industries will exhaust their supply of raw material in ten or twelve years, and have to depend on the State forests for a further continuance of their business. At present the Empire State leads all others by far in the number of its pulp mills and amount of product; but if it expects to hold its supremacy in this industry it must make some prompt and intelligent provision for a future timber supply.

From the written reports received at this office, furnished by each sawmill and 7 97

98 REPORT OF THE

pulpmill in the State, the logs and timber obtained from the forests of Northern

New York amounted in the aggregate as follows:

FEET, B. M.

Spruce — sawmills, - - - - - - - - - 166,614,856 i pulpmills, — - - - : - - - - - 230,649,292 Hemlock, - = = = - = = 2 ° = 5 48,377,575 1c) a nee Mr ra i eM Oto a bai ue eB 54,948,590 Hardwood, - - - - - - - - - - 32,748,759 533,339,072

Shingles, - - - - - - - - - - - 32,734,000 Wath (pes)) - - - - - - : - - 56,840,550

With few exceptions the pulpmills, in making their returns, sent in their figures expressed in cords, as their purchases of timber are made that way, most of their logs being cut in lengths of four feet. In contracting for their stock some of the pulpmills bought by the standard or market log, which is thirteen feet long and nineteen inches in diameter at the small end. The buyers generally estimate three markets as equivalent to a cord, and pay the same price for either. As three stand- ard logs contain 549 ft. by Doyle’s rule (3 x 183=549), the 420,108 cords reported by the pulpmills were converted into feet accordingly.

The returns from the pulpmills, though correct, do not always indicate the capacity of a mill or amount of its product, for some of them are stocked in part, or wholly, from Canada, while the tabulations given here include the Adirondack cut only. In 1900 the pulpmills of this State received from the Canadian provinces 151,157 cords — equivalent to 82,985,193 ft., B. M.

It is interesting to note that the amount of spruce used in making paper ‘has increased annually, until it now exceeds greatly the amount cut for lumber. In 1890 the spruce used by the pulpmills was reported at 51,966,262 ft. Last year the amount reached 230,649,292 ft.

Prodact of the Catskill Forests.

Hitherto, the output of the Catskill sawmills has not been included in my annual reports, as it was supposed that, owing to their small size and limited product, the information would have no especial value. In the annual report of the

Forest Commission, for 1885, I submitted some statistics showing the number of

te

_

‘ f

VOHd

‘auvado.s

a's

“HOON dS

LO

ONISSVd HHL

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 99

mills in each of the Forest Preserve Counties,* from which it appeared that there were 90 sawmills in Ulster and Sullivan counties, of which 72 used water power and 18 used steam. But the water mills, which were all small affairs, were shut down most of the year, and so their product attracted little attention.

As more definite information regarding the forest products of that region seemed desirable, Mr. A. B. Strough, a special agent of this Commission, was instructed to make an exhaustive examination of the entire district embraced in the four Catskill counties, and collect all the statistics possible relating to the industries in that region which are dependent on the forest for their supply of raw material. From the written statements furnished by the various mill owners I find that the

products of the Catskill forests for the year 1900 attain the following aggregate:

FEET, B. M, Spruce, - ; - - - - - - - - - - 2,730,780 Hemlock, - - - pi - - - - - - 18,659,026 ECR gs. ah ar GoM ore yuan De high ceinipr) fake aes) TO! B40 448 Hardwood, - - - - - - - - - - - 25,876,089

56,606,343 Shingles, - - - - - - - - - - - 4,871,500

Lath (pes.), - - - - - - - - - - - 5,158,700

Of the sawed hardwood, a good proportion is composed of chestnut and oak, species which do not enter at all into the Adirondack product, but which are abundant in the Catskills, where they are sawed largely into railroad ties.

The chemical mills, which manufacture wood alcohol and acetate of lime, con- sumed during the year 103,449 cords of 4 ft. wood, equivalent to 56,793,501 ft. All kinds of hardwood or broad-leaved trees are available in this industry.

In the manufacture of excelsior, the mills used 4,175 cords, equivalent to 2,292,075 ft., mostly basswood and poplar. The mills engaged in this industry manufacture excelsior and nothing else.

The furniture factories reported 1,330 cords, as used last year, equivalent to 730,170 ft. Most of it was hard maple used in the chair factories at Chichester and Shandaken.

The two pulpmills in the Catskill district consumed 2,503 cords, or 1,374,147 ft.,

* At that time Delaware County had not been included in the law defining the location of the

Forest Preserve.

100 REPORT OF THE

mostly poplar mixed with second-growth pine and basswood; not much spruce. The pulp from these mills is not used for making paper; it is dried and pulverized for use as a carbon and absorbent in the manufacture of dynamite; and, also, as a substitute for cork in making linoleum.

The combined product of the Adirondack and Catskill forests amounted in 1900 to 651,135,308 ft., or more than the entire Canadian lumber import of that year to the United States.* As the figures may convey little or no meaning to persons who are not familiar with the lumber business, it may be well to explain, as done in a previous report, that this product would load 65,000 cars, making a train over 400 miles long.

There are no statistics showing the number of tanneries, for there are none left in the Catskills. The hemlock included here in the sawmill returns stands for logs that were cut for lumber, and not for bark. At one time the tanneries were numerous in these counties, owing to the vast amount of hemlock standing there; but this industry is now extinct in that region, the tanneries having been abandoned here and there, as the supply of bark became exhausted. Some little hemlock was left standing in places, but it was so remote and inaccessible that it could not be cut with any profit. Influenced by the present high price for this kind of lumber, the sawmill men are picking up what few lots are left, and hence the quantity — 18,659,026 ft.—shown in the returns. In a few years the small amount of hemlock remaining in the Catskill region will be gone, and the species become extinct there with the exception of what may be found in the forests of the State Preserve.

There is another industry connected with the Catskill woodlands which may be mentioned here, although it is one that is not regarded favorably from the forester’s standpoint; and that is the annual cropping of the small evergreens for Christmas trees. The market demand for this young growth is enormous, although there is little profit in the business for those who are engaged in furnishing the material. Its bad effect on the future timber supply of these merchantable species is readily apparent, as the continued destruction of the little trees must result eventually in the extinction of these desirable kinds. If these woodlands were under a proper,

conservative management no harm would be done; for the yearly thinnings from

* The total Canadian import for 1899 was:

Logs and round timber, 2 : - - - - - - 198,135,000 feet. Hewn or squared timber, - = - - - - - - - 1,593,504 “ Sawed lumber, boards, plank, etc., - - - - - = 423,705,000 “*

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. IOI

the entire forest would satisfy the market demand for Christmas trees. But under the present methods entire areas are completely stripped of the young spruces and balsams, thereby changing the future composition of the forest and converting it into a hardwood stand of less valuable timber.

I submit here in the following pages the tabulations in which may be found the name and location of each mill that is stocked from the Adirondack and Catskill forests, together with the output of each sawmill, and amount of timber consumed by each pulpmill. I am aware that the figures may be dull and uninteresting to many; at the same time they furnish in detail the more important facts relating to an industry which is second to none in maintaining the industrial and commercial

supremacy of our State.

102 REPORT OF THE

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.

LOCATION OF MILLS. NAME OF MANUFACTURER. / SPRUCE, Altona, - - - - Joseph Lagoy, Jr., - - - - 50,000 Altona, - - - - F. E. Purdy, - - - - - | 300,000 Ausable Forks, - - S| eal peWoperse@or - - - - - = Bakers Mills, - - - bee Bakerin- - - - - 55,000 Benson Mines, - - - Post & Henderson, - - - - 1,529,218 Benson Mines, - - J. L. Johnson, - - - - 10,000 Benson Mines, - - - Bench Lumber Co., - - - - 509,000 Bleecker, - - - John M. Peters’ Sons, - - - 125,000 Bleecker, - - - - John M. Peters, Jr., - - - - 150,000 Bleecker, - - - George Schamberger, - - - 130,000 Bleecker, - - - - Robert E. Bowler, - - - - 75,000 Bloomingdale, - - E. M. White, - - - - - 285,000 Blue Mountain Lake, - - J. G. Thompson, z - - - 510,000 Blue Mountain Lake, - Tyler M. Merwin, - - - - 100,000 Blue Ridge, - - =e tlenry ONeill, o- - - - - 50,000 Bolton Landing, - - Ward & Roberts, - - - - 75,000 Brantingham, = - Sealy Ds Beals, - - - - 15,997 Broadalbin, = - - Denton Smith, - - : - - - - Burke, = S 3) 9 Everett Brothers, - = = - 110,000 Caldwell, - 2 - George R. Russell, - - - 75,000 Canton, - - 2 - Canton Lumber Co., - - - - 10,500,000 Canton, - - - - Buck’s Bridge Lumber Co.,_ - - 6,000,000 Canton, - - - - A. Negas, - - - - - - 50,000 Carthage, - - = Carthage Lumber Co., - - - 2,283,186 Carthage, - - - - | Balcom & Spicer, - - - - 25,000 Carthage, - - - | A. E. Maxwell, - - - - 30,000 Castorland, - = - Beaver River Lumber Co., - - 7,045,000 Chasevake, -- - - Le Roy Crawford, - = - = - . S Champlain, - - - R. W. McCrea, - - - - - 10,000 Cold Brook, - - - Thomas T. Rhodes, - - - - ¢ = Conklinville, = - - = AS A. Sumner. a- - - - - - 2 Corinth, - - - - | C. E. Getman, - - - - 15,000

i

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900.

HEMLOCK.

190,000 300,000 10,000 1,965,877 60,000 35,000 150,000 135,000 25,000 60,000 65,000 40,000 5,000 75,000 30,000 114,162 100,000 40,000 275,000 600,000 4,000,000 150,000 553,444 50,000 250,000 480,000 180,000 93,000

200,000

PINE.

234,031 211,808 10,000 15,000 15,000 30,000 7,000 25,000 300,000 23,712 50,000 800,000 300,000 500,000 199,685 25,000 50,000 619,000 350,000 540,000

300,000

HARDWOOD.

15,000

35,000 219,560 600,000 200,000 450,000 135,000

100,000

1,000 30,000 50,000 16,587

4,000 75,000 15,000

700,000

100,000

400,000 100,000 360,000 300,000 T, 300,000

30,000

TOTAL.

255,000 600,000 234,031 100,000 3,926,463 680,000 750,000 725,000 435,000 255,000 135,000 400,000 550,000 113,000 180,000 455,000 170,458 150,000 154,000 1,225,000 11,415,000 II,200,000 300,000 3,036,315 500,000 430,000 8,744,000 350,000 1,090,000 SIE 1,300,000

545,000

104 RE ROR Os We EEe

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK

LOCATION OF MILLIS. | NAME OF MANUFACTURER. SPRUCE. Corinth - - =P eSoppy Williams, - - - - - 5,000 Cranberry Creek, - - L. G. Gifford, - - - - | 27,000 Crary’s Mills, - - - Oscar Runions, - - = - | 50,000 Crown Point, - - - J. E. Pond :& Son, - - : 20,000 Crown Point, - - - Norman Bly, - e : = Oey ae = - Day, - - - - Van R. Rhodes,’ - - - 100,000 Degrasse, - - - - Chester Van Ornum, - - - 100,000 Derrick, - - - - Cee Wunner - - - : | 7,200,000 Diana. «2/2 A= A William Robentse se) 2 er Dickinson Center, - - Bel OreuttreSonsa. = - - | 300,000 Dolgeville, - - - - Wheeler Knapp,* - : : = | 400,000 Duane, - - - - Charles Selkirk, - - . - | 500,000 Edinburgh, - - - Imwin Perry, = - - = at 25,000 — Edwards, - - - Woodcock Brothers, — - - = 30,000 Edwards, - - - - Bartlett, Maybee & Grant, : - 22,000 Ellenburgh, - - - |ichnwl: Carter, — - - - - 150,000 Ellenburgh Center, - - Bigelow & Goodspeed, - - - 300,000 Elizabethtown, - oi Livingston Woodruff, - = : 5,000 Emmonsburgh, - - - | Brownell Brothers, - - - - 75,000 Fine, - - - - Cardiff Brothers, - - - - - : = Forestport, - - - Forestport Lumber Co., - - - 53933473 Forestport, — - - - Denton & Waterbury, - - - 4,500,000 Forestport, - - - | James Gallagher, Jr., - - - 1,200,000 Forestport, - - - Syphert & Harrig, - - - 700,000 Forestport, - - - Edward Curran, - - - - 300,000 Forestport, - - - William F. Ano, - - - - 40,000 Fort Ann, - - - - White & Vogel, - - - - 65,000 Fort Ann, - - - ©) Ws Sheldon, - - - © 104,500 Fort Ann, - - - - Frank L. Crandall, - - - st lhe Si - = Fowler, - - - - J. O. Davis,-< - - - | 20,000

* Mills are at Dolgeville and Stratford.

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900— ConrTINUED.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

HEMLOCK.

70,000 115,000 200,000

60,000 100,000 600,000 600,000

1,441,000

200,000 400,000

40,000 150,000

400,000

200,000

100,000 |

753099 20,000 150,000

40,000 200,000 100,000 130,000 350,000 150,000

50,000

150,000

PINE.

75,090 55,000 40,000 150,000 100,000 200,000 100,000

6,300,000

150,000

68,000

10,000 730,000 275,000 100,000

15,000

*Includes 37,000 ft. of basswood.

+ Includes 100,000 ft. of basswood.

HARDWOOD. | TOTAL.

- - 150,000 60,000 257,000 200,000 490,000 15,000 245,000 10,000 210,000 200,000 1,100,000 - - 800,000 2 - 14,941,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 1,100,000 500,000 1,335,000 = z 540,000 150,000 | 325,000 720,000 | 1,300,000 * 79,000 | 169,000 + 120,000 470,000 50,000 | 450,000 2,000 | 192,000 50,000 145,000 95,000 | 251,000 F = ; 559335473 - - | 4,500,000 100,000 | 1,350,000

| 200,000 I, 100,000 300,000 | 700,000 150,000 330,000 162,000 | 1,307,000 48,000 | 577,500 100,000 | 250,000

| 50,000 | 235,000

106 REPORT OF THE

“GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.

LOCATION OF MILLS. NAME OF MANUFACTURER. SPRUCE. Fulton Chain, - - - The Pullman Lumber Co., - - 1,893,732 Garnet, - Eley - John Grogan, Jr., - = - - 110,000 Glens Falls, - siti Finch, Pruyn & Co., 2 - - - 13,800,000 Glens Falls, - - - Morgan Lumber Co.,_ - - - 4,729,320 Glens Falls, = - - George H. Freeman, - - - - 3,514,659 Glens Falls, - - - Anderson & Thomas,* - - - 40,000 Glens Falls, - - - E. H. Dunham,* = - - : - : Gloversville, - - - R. E. Holmes, - - - - 20,000 Gloversville, - - - A. I, JPSCls, - ath ee - - 175,000 Gloversville, - - - W. De Golyer, - - - 140,000 Grant, - ee - F. W. Caruthers, - - - : 150,000 Grays “= - - - De Strobeletageet- ee - I,200,000 Gray, - - - - - G.I. Bennett, - - - - - 200,000 (Giryy,° - - - Douglas L. Comstock, - - - 300,000 Gray, - - - - - C. B. Gray, - - - - - 200,000 Grove, - - - - William Wilson, - - - - 212,408 Gurn Spring, - - - F. S. Van Wagner, - 2 - = - > - Hadley, - - - - W. Stone & Son, - - - - 5,000 Harrisville, - - - D. F. Sprague, - - See - 200,000 Harrisville, - - - International Paper Co., - - - - - Harkness, - - - - Sherman & Allen, - - - - 25,000 Herkimer, - - - GIR. Smelly = - - - - - - - Herkimer, - - - - Standard Furniture Co., - - = 200,000 Herman, - - - R. J. Fairbanks, - - - - 100,000 Hope Falls, - - - W. Brownell & Co., - - - - 80,000 Indian Lake, - - - Jacob W. Kerst,_ - - - - 225,000 Indian Lake, - - - RP. P. Ovitt, - - - - = 80,000 Imlet;i - - - - Fulton Chain Lumber Co., - - 350,000 Jay, - - - = - Nye Brothers, - - - - - 525,000 Keene Center, - - Ca Ny.er - - - - 225,000

* Portable mill.

+ Two mills — one at Gray and one at Minnehaha.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 107

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900.— CONTINUED.

HEMLOCK. PINE. | HARDWOOD. TOTAL. | 205,516 379,774 | 7,045 2,486,067 215,000 20,000 - - 345,000 2,000,000 840,000 60,000 16,700,000 2,057,190 4,242,696 “76,183 II,105,389 539,495 98,704 | 16,563 4,160,421 200,000 300,000 175,000 715,000 165,000 426,000 | 50,000 641,000 60,000 16,000 10,000 106,000 75,000 10,000 7,500 267,500 120,000 100,000 | 30,000 390,000 75,000 - - - 10,000 235,000 ° 2 = - - I,100,000 2,300,000 30,000 - - - 75,000 305,000 25,000 - - 75,000 400,000 50,000 - - - - - 250,000 76,962 15,625 7,000 311,995 45,000 150,000 50,000 245,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 605,000 100,000 50,000 700,000 1,050,000 | 100,000 50,000 | 20,000 170,000 10,000 145,000 15,000 195,000 400,000 100,000 * 900,000 1,400,000 = = 2 - = - 600,000 800,000 400,000 100,000 300,000 900,000 20,000 20,000 10,000 130,000 24,000 - - - | 18,000 267,000 20,000 2,000 | 15,000 117,000 125,000 15,000 | 8,000 498,000 - - = 165,000 | 15,000 705,000 25,000 25,000 15,000 290,000

* Includes 100,000 ft. of basswood.

108

REPORT OF THE

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.

LOCATION OF MILLS.

ieene Center, + - : Keene Valley, - a Lake Pleasant, - - Lake Pleasant, - : Lewis, : = : Long Lake, - = u Long Lake, 2 E Loon Lake, - = 2 uzernew) = : : Luzerne, - : Lyonsdale, : Z McKeever, - ° 3 Malone, - - 2 Malone, - : = Mayfield, - = ? Middle Grove, 2 = Middle Sprite, - - Middle Sprite, “ : Mooer’s Forks, - : Morehouseville,_ - c Morrisonville, - c Mountain View, - - Natural-Bridge, - - Natural Bridge, - : Natural Bridge, - p Natural Dam, - : Naumburgh, = f

Newcomb, - - :

Newman, - - -

Newton Falls, - .

NAME OF MANUFACTURER.

Wallace Murray,

F.S. Beede, - Asa Aird, -

M. B. Hosley, J. P. Downs,

R. Shaw & Son,

W.C. Robinson & Bro., - -

M. E. Walker, EaCe Hall

J. C. Shaver,

Cal alerecer

Moose River Lumber Co., — - SaAG Childe& Co nee= o 2 Ladd & Smallman,*~— - 2

Cailpbetens,

Charles H. Killmer, ee =

George Shull,

George Van Allen, - -

H. H. Howard, Herman Brand, F. M. Purdy, Ce hunners

Charles E. Makepeace, - -

John M. Moore

Calvin V. Graves,

5)

Aldrich, Dean & Aldrich, -

C. S. Squires,

John Anderson, Jr. = - - George T. Challis, - - :

B. R. Drewster,

Newton Falls Paper Co., - z

SPRUCE.

100,000 400,000 200,000

65,000 5,000 160,000 150,000 1,500,000 50,000 20,000 50,000

11,725,000 600,000 200,000 350,000

25,000 81,472 68,200 75,000

1,500,000

25,000 TAT 9,002 10,000 300,000 950,000 600,000

248,936

* Two mills— one at Malone and one at Clinton Mills.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. TOQ

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900 — ConTINUED.

7 |

HEMLOCK. PINE. | HARDWOOD. TOTAL. 200,000 : 50,000 - - - 350,000 300,000 - - - 25,000 725,000 100,000 20,000 10,000 330,000 20,000 5,000 10,000 100,000 10,000 100,000 225,000 340,000 80,000 10,000 10,000 260,000 54,500 17,000 4,500 226,000 500,000 150,000 500,000 2,650,000 600,000 100,000 50,000 800,000 200,000 50,000 30,000 300,000 250,000 50,000 25,000 375,000 I, 300,000 1,700,000 30,000 14,755,000 150,000 - 2 : 200,000 950,000 125,000 - - 250,000 575,000 700,000 RECO - - - 1,085,000 25,000 150,000 - - 200,000 20,000 10,000 81,472 192,944 27,072 - - - 13,552 108,824 30,000 120,000 40,000 190,000 40,000 . - - 20,000 135,000 500,000 150,000 25,000 2,175,000 é Z 2 hie eat = - 500,000 500,000 400,000 100,000 500,000 1,000,000 é 2 2 = - = 600,000 600,000 50,000 20,000 100,000 195,000 4,100,000 830,000 35,000 12,440,000 30,C00 15,000 75,000 130,c00 100,000 10,000 - - - 410,000 100,000 125,000 50,000 1,225,000 - - - - - - - - - 6¢0,000 867,289 85,463 622,505 1,824,193

REPORT OF THE

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN

NEW YORK.

LOCATION OF MILLS.

NAME OF MANUFACTURER.

SPRUCE.

New Russia,

Northville, -

Northville, Norwood, - Old Forge, Onchiota, - Oswegatchie, Oswegatchie, Oswe gatchie, Otter Lake, Owls Head, Parishville, Parishville, Paul Smiths, Peru, - Pine Lake, - Pine Lake, Pitcairn,

Pitcairn, -

Porter’s Corners,

Port Leyden, Potsdam, -

Potsdam,

Putnam Station,

Queensbury,

Reynoldston,

Rockwood, Rockwood,

Newton Falls,

North Broadalbin,

North Woods Lumber Co., -

Julius Burres,

James B. Spencer, -

John A. Willard,

Sherman Tenant, - Norwood Manufacturing Co.,

S. F. Garmon,

*

Baker Brothers Lumber Co.,

J. R. Lafave & Co,,

John Irwin,

Andrew Collins,

J. H. Wilcox, S. G. Boyce, - S. L. Clark & Son, Parishville Lumber Co., Paul Smith & Sons, A. Mason & Sons,

Frank A. Hill, -

William Baker, Nev Cartter,

John Geer,

JESs Jiones:

Geo. K. Seymour, -_

The A. Sherman Lumber Co.,

Milton H. Brown, - William Dedrick & Sons, G. Jenkins & Sons,

Reynolds Bros. & Co.,

Everett Young,f -

L. Stahl & Sons,

* Two mills —one at

t+ Two mills — one at

Norwood and one at Tupper Lake. Rockwood and one at Caroga.

200,000 500,000 9,812,741 150,000

1,637,537

50,000 150,000 1,985,000 2,500,000 2,500,000 1,000,000 50,000 150,000 700,000 12,000 10,000 Seco 8,000,000

1,000,000

825,199 300,000

75,000

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, Diet

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900— CONTINUED.

HEMLOCK. PINE. HARDWOOD. TOTAL. '

150,000 - - 500,000 650,000 64,000 42,000 5,000 IT1I,O0O 50,000 250,000 35,000 335,000 200,000 300,000 200,000 900,000 100,000 40,000 300,000 940,000

- - - 12,124,241 2,000 21,938,982 20,000 50,000 6,000 226,000 191,086 10,500 60,774 1,899,897

- - - 50,000 800,000 850,000 40,000 - - 150,000 240,000 150,000 125,000 200,000 475,000 100,000 10,000 600,000 860,000 75,000 25,000 1,890,000 3,975,000 600,000 325,000 60,000 3,485,000 500,000 100,000 - - - 3,160,000 100,000 400,000 - - 1,500,000 50,000 800,000 100,000 1,000,000 147,000 25,000 2,000 324,000

= S : - 2 10,000 710,000 45,000 35,000 400,000 492,000 75,000 5,000 175,000 265,000 200,000 75,000 60,000 370,000 75,000 - - 200,000 275,000 50,000 750,000 75,000 8,875,000 200,000 - - - - - 1,200,000 60,000 40,000 15,000 115,000 60,000 175,000 65,000 300,000 100,000 - - 162,590 1,087,789 125,000 70,000 150,000 645,000 150,000 100,000 80,000 405,000

REPORT OF THE

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN

NEW YORK.

LOCATION OF MILLS

NAME OF MANUFACTURER

SPRUCE

St. Regis Falls, - Salisbury, - Salisbury Center, Sandy Hill, -

Saranac Inn,

Saranac Lake,

Saratoga Springs,

Schroon Lake,

Severance, -

Skerry, - -

Skerry, - South Colton, Seuth Corinth,

Star Lake, -

Stony Creek,

Stony Creek, -

Stratford, -

Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga, Tupper Lake, Vail Mills, -

Wadhams Mills, Wadhams Mills, Wadhams Mulls,

Watson Page Lumber Co., James Fuller, - 2 s J. F. McDougal, : 2 Kenyon Lumber Co.,_ - : Upper Saranac Association, Branch & Callanan, = - Edward H. Hoyt, - = 1B, INT, Wyyietelll, - 2 2 W.L. Bentley, - ek hoes G. B. Walker, > s ‘ N.C. Bowen, - “ a Lindsey Lumber Co., — - E D. D. Eggleston, - - F. J. Redway, = 2 E Geeneaerallll: = 2 ALD) Scribner. = : Z J.C. Livingston, - Pe Eveltenliness 5 E TD: MeClures - = c E. J. Davison, - = 2 C. P. Goodwin, - - : L. J. Hopkins, - é Wo J- smith) 9 E 2 S. B. Moore,* = : 2 R. P. Mead, - : 2 The A. Sherman Lumber Co., William Vail & Son, - : Orlando Beede & Son, - - Di Pay ne ae - - Scott E. Phinney, - - -

* Two mills —one at Ticonderoga and one at Chilson.

120,009 200,000 SIDI) 7O2 476,259 500,000 150,000 30,C00 850,795 225,000 1G0,C0O 5.000 40,000 50,000 1,800,000 650,000 300,000 300,000 150,000 75,000 2,000 200,000 40,000 14,074,054 20,000 75,000

60,000

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900—CONTINUED.

HEMLOCK PINE 100,000 é 2 30,000 - - 50,000 50,000 2,574,430 3,760,241 306,000 18,000 500,000 500,000 145,000 370,000 75,000 90,000 150,000 250,000 60,580 100,416 150,000 = = 100,000 - - 300,000 240,000 20,000 - - 100,000 e : 60,000 5,000 75,000 = th 25,000 - - 50,000 - - 25,000 1,000 120,000 1,600,000 1,007,000 280,000 200,000 500,000 3 of i 3) 101,894 100,000 480,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 75,000 600,000 70,000 100,000

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

113

HARDWOOD

4,000,000 170,000 100,000

V7 2B

20,000 15,000 20,000 22,833 25,000 150,000 65,000 500,000 235,000 400,000 100,000 400,000 25,000 20,000 7,000 40,000 50,000

75,000

TOTAL

4,100,000 320,000 400,000

10,345,103 800,259

1,500,000 Hsoiooe 330,000 450,000

1,034,594 400,000 200,000 695,000 125,000 600,000 350,000

2,200,000 825,000 700,000 350,000 220,000 108,000

1,762,000

1,537,000 815,000

17,175,948 600,000

2,125,000 730,000

235,000

Ii4 REPORT OF THE

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.

LOCATION OF MILLS NAME OF MANUFACTURER | SPRUCE |

Warrensburgh, - - - A. C. Emerson & Co., - - - 260,000 West Milton, - - - William W. Sirceven 2 = - - - = West Stockholm, Se oe Geo. N. Gibson & Son, - - - 912,000 Whippleville, - - - i Poet Lyman, - - - . : 75,000 White Lake, - - - Jerry App, fae - - - - 200,000 Wilmurt, - - - Richard Brothers, - - - 30,000 Entire district, - - - Small mills, - - - - - 500,000

Totals, - - - - - 166,614,856

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900— CONCLUDED.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

1G

HEMLOCK PINE HARDWOOD TOTAL

940,000 700,000 18,000 1,918,000 300,000 150,000 200,000 650,000 650,000 117,000 164,000 1,843,000 50,000 - - 200,000 325,000 200,000 - - 200,000 ‘600,000 36,972 » 800 . 151,863 249,635 500,000 500,090 500,000 2,000,000

48,3775575 | 54,948,590 32,748,759 _ 302,689,780

116 REPORT OF THE

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.

CONSUMPTION OF PULPWOOD FOR YEAR 1900.

LOCATION OF MILL. NAME OF MANUFACTURER. , CORDS. Ausable Chasm, - - - Alice Falls Company, - - - 5,000 Ausable Forks, - - J. & J. Rogers Co., - - - 32,970 Ballston, - - 5 - Union Bag & Paper Co.,* - - - 6,000 Beaver Falls, - - - The J. P. Lewis Company, - - 1,200 Beaver Falls, - - - Lewis, Slocum & Le Fevre, > - 2,200 Black River, - - : | Black River Wood Pulp Co., - - 500 Black River, - - - H. Remington & Son Pulp & Paper Co., 200 Black River, - - - Empire Wood Pulp Co., — - - 40 Brownville, - - - - Brownville Paper Co., - - - Piety Brownville, - - - William J. Semper, - - - 50 Cadyville, - : - - International Paper Co., - - - 35,000 Carthage, - : - Carthage Sulphite Pulp Co., - = 15,000 Carthage, - - - - The Island Paper Co., - - 2,500 Carthage, 2 - - «| West End Pulp & Casket Co., - 1,500 Chasm Falls, - - - Malone Paper Co, - - : - 1,200 Chateaugay, - - - Chateaugay Pulp Co., - - - 3,000 Chateaugay, - - - High Falls Pulp Co., - = - - 2,732 Colton, - - - - Raquette River Pulpi€or aa; - 4,600 Dexter, - - - : Dexter Sulphite Pulp & Paper Co., — 15,000 Dexter, = - - - Hunter & Osborn, - - - 500 Ellenville, - - - - F. W. Sherlock,t = > - - 1,500 Emeryville, - - - The Gouverneur Wood PulpCo., - 5935 Felt Mills, - - - e Taggarts Paper Co., - - - - 4,230 Fine, - - - - Standard Pulp Co., - - - 2,064 Fort Edward, - - - International Paper Co., - - - 5,500 Fort Miller, - - - Fort Miller Pulp & Paper Co., - 500 Fullerville, - - - - Union Talc Company, - - - 1,500 Fulton, - - - - Fulton Paper Company, - - 3,843

* Two mills —one at Ballston and one at Sandy Hill. + Wood shipped out of the State.

YWOAUANOD

YMAALY AHL AO LNO SOOT ONINVL WO

‘QLOHd ‘LNVS NVA ‘V “4

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.

CONSUMPTION OF PULPWOOD FOR YEAR I19g0Oo.

(Continued.)

LOCATION OF MILL. NAME OF MANUFACTURER. CORDS. Fulton, - - - - Oswego Falls Pulp & Paper Co., - 5,000 Glens Falls, - - - International Paper Co., - - 13,400 Great Bend, - - - Taggarts Paper Co., - - - - 7166 Greig, - : - - George Alexander, - - - 495 Hadley, - - - - Sacandaga Pulp Mills, - - - 600 Herring, - - - The Jefferson Power Co.,_ - - 6,500 Hinckley, - - - = Hinckley Fiber Co., - - - - 25,128 Lockport, - - - Lockport Pulp Co., - - - 4,000 Lockport, - 2 - - Traders Paper Co. - sbeie, ee - 1,800 Lyonsdale,_ - - - Moyer & Pratt, - - - - 3,000 Lyons Falls, . - - - International Paper Co., - - - 8,100 Lyons Falls, - - - Gould Paper Co., - - - - 27,383 Mechanicville, - : ° The Duncan Company, - - - 12,857 Middle Falls, - - - Washington Pulp & Paper Mills, - 450 Middle Falls, - c - Mohican Pulp & Paper Co., = - 942 Middle Falls, - - - Bennington Falls Pulp Co., - - 700 Newton Falls, - - - Newton Falls Paper Co., - - - 8,602 Niagara Falls, - - International Paper Co., - - 4,500 Norwood, - - - : O. E. Martin, - - - - - 1,300 Palmer, - - - - International Paper Co., - - 7,300 Piercefield, - - - - International Paper Co., - - : 24,400 Plattsburgh, - - - Freydenburgh Falls Pulp Co., - 10,000 Plattsburgh, - - - James H. Allen, - - - - 558 Port Leyden, - - - Johnston & Gebbie, - - - 1,200 Potsdam, - - - - The Raquette River Paper Co., - - 9,000 Pyrites, - - - - Pyrites Paper Co., - Se - 4,500 Rochester, - - - = Genesee Paper Co., - - - - 4,000 Schuylerville, - - Blandy Paper Co., - 5 - 975 Schuylerville, = - - = American Wood Board Co., - - meae7/2 South Edwards, - - Carthage Tissue Paper Wills °c 2,000 Ticonderoga, - - - Ticonderoga Pulp & Paper Co., - 8,000

1i8 INE RORDS OF} ane

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.

CONSUMPTiON OF PULPWOOD FOR YEAR I9goo.

(Concluded.)

LOCATION OF MILL. NAME OF MANUFACTURER. | CORDS. Ticonderoga, - - - International Paper Co., - - 12,000 Ticonderoga, - - - E. Richards & Son, - = : = 2,200 Warrensburgh, - : Schroon River Pulp Co., - - 4,333 Watertown, - - - - Knowlton Brothers, - - = - 1,082 Watertown, - - - International Paper Co.,* - - 32,310 Willsboro, - =) ieee - New York & Pennsylvania Co.,+ - 11,538

Total, - - - - - {420,108

* Three mills —Remington, Watertown and Ontario. + Wood reported is all poplar and basswood. t Equivalent to 230,649,292 ft. b. m.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK.

MANUFACTURE OF SHINGLES AND LATH FOR YEAR 1900.

119

LOCATION OF MILL.

NAME OF MANUFACTURER.

Altona, - - - Benson Mines, - Bleecker, - = = Bleecker, = - Blue Mountain Lake, Blue Ridge, - : Canton. - ae a Canton, = - Carthage, - - Chase Lake, - Champlain, - : Corinth, : - Day, - - = Degrasse, - - Derrick, = - = Dickinson Center, - Dolgeville, - = Duane, - > Edinburgh, - - Ellenburgh, : Ellenburgh Center, - Forestport, - - Forestport, - ; Forestport, - ; Forestport, - - Hort Ann, - - Fort Ann, - 2 Fowler, - - Glens Falls, - - Glens Falls, - - Glens Falls, - -

Joseph Lagoy, Jr., Post & Henderson, - John M. Peters, Jr., Geo. Schamberger, - J. G. Thompson, - Henry O’Neil, - -

Canton Lumber Co.,

Buck’s Bridge Lumber Co.,

Carthage Lumber Co., Le Roy Crawford, - R. McCrea, - - Cabs Getmante- - Van R. Rhodes, - Chester Van Ornum, C. H. Turner, 2

B. L. Orcutt & Sons, - Wheeler Knapp, - Charles Selkirk, - Irwin Perry, - - John L. Carter, . Bigelow & Goodspeed,

Forestport Lumber Co.,

Denton & Waterbury, James Gallagher, Jr., William F. Ano, - White & Vogel, - z O. W. Sheldon, -

J. O. Davis, - - Finch, Pruyn & Co., Morgan Lumber Co.,

Geo. H. Freeman, -

SHINGLES.

LATH.

300,000

536,500

1,700,000

100,000

75,000 800,000 400,000

3,300,000 1,500,000 400,000

50,000 225,000 100,000 150,000 330,000 100,000 150,000 250,000

509,000 75,000 50,000 71,500

1,500,000

516,100 100,000 200,000 30,000 50,000 100,000 2,760,000 125,000

206,000

359°7,500 3,000,000 500,000 200,000 340,000

100,000

5,000,000

789,900

1,582,000

120 REPORT OF THE

GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN

MANUFACTURE OF SHINGLES AND LATH

(Continued.)

NEW YORK.

FOR YEAR Ig00.

LOCATION OF MILL. NAME OF MANUFACTURER. SHINGLES, LATH. Gloversville, - oiligaecke - - : - - = 100,000 Granty) 3 - - F. W. Carruthers, - - - - 75,000 50,000 Gray, - - - Gare Bennetts. - - - - 100,000 32,000 Groves > - - William Wilson, - = - - 235,000 60,000 Hadley, - - W. Stone & Son, - : - - 50,000 Harkness, - - Sherman & Allen, - - - - 100,000 - - Harrisville, - 3 D. F. Sprague, - - - a) 500,000 - - Hermon, - : - R. J. Fairbanks, - - - - 300,000 50,000 Indian Lake, - 12, 2, Oats, - - - - 40,000 100,000 Keene Valley, - - Its S ISeGle, = - - - - 400,000 350,000 ake: Pleasant, | - Asa Aird, - - - - = - - 100,000 Long Lake, - . R. Shaw & Son, - - 5 - - - 200,000 Long Lake, - - ©), 13 ier tell, = - - - 250,000 - - Loon Lake, = - M. E. Walker, - - - < 1,000,000 500,000 uzerne; - - i Cy ral: - - - - 150,000 - - Malone, - - - Ladd & Smallman, - - - 500,000 120,000 McKeever, - - Moose River Lumber Co., - 200,000 6,950,000 Morrisonville, - - F. M. Purdy, - - - - - 350,000 3,000,000 Mountain View, - ©, Isls winner, = - - - 1,500,000 - i Natural Bridge, - John M. Moore, - - - - 200,000 - - Natural Bridge, - Calvin V. Graves, - - - 75,000 - - Natural Dam, - - Aldrich, Dean & Aldrich, - - 303,000 4,237,000 Newman, - - George T. Challis, - - - 200,000 250,000 Newman, - - - B. R. Brewster, - - - - - - - 100,000 . Newton Falls, —- Newton Falls Paper Co., - - 90,000 - - New Russia, - - Julius Burres, - - - - 120,000 - - Northville, - - John A. Willard, - - - - - - 300,000 Northville, - - Sherman Tenant, - - - - - - 200,000 Norwood, - - Norwood Manufacturing Co., - 1,540,000 3,068,600 Onchiota, = - Baker Bros. Lumber Co., - - - - = 345,500

‘ACN ‘ALNONOO NAYAVM ‘STIVA SNUTO LV

‘NOOd STTVA SNHIO AHL

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. WAU GREAT FOREST OF NORTHERN NEW YORK. MANUFACTURE OF SHINGLES AND LATH FOR YEAR 1900. (Concluded.)

LOCATION OF MILL. NAME OF MANUFACTURER. SHINGLES. LATH. Owls Head, - - S. G. Boyce, - - - 750,000 - - Parishville, - - F. L. Clark & Son, - - 250,000 - - Parishville, - - Parishville Lumber Co.,_ - 2,000,000 - - Paul Smiths, - - Paul Smith & Sons, - - I,000,000 500,000 Reni - - A. Mason & Sons, - - - : 50,000 Pine Lake, - - Frank A. Hill, - - - - - 300,000 Pine Lake, - - William Baker, - - - - = 300,000 Porter Corners, - J. S. Jones, - - - - 150,000 - - Potsdam, - - The A. Sherman Lumber Co., 2,300,000 2,500,000 Reynoldston, - - Reynolds Bros. & Co., - - 2,317,500 255,050 Rockwood, - - Everett Young, - - 30,000 300,000 Rockwood, - - L. Stahl & Sons, - - - 50,000 500,000 Sandy Hill, - - Kenyon Lumber Co., - - - 2,594,800 Saranac Inn, - - Upper Saranac Assn., - - 327,000 - - Schroon Lake, - Ni iymrelle se oo. - 500,000 Bes Severance, - - W. L. Bentley, - - - 700,000 100,000 Skerry, - - G. B. Walker, - - - 150,000 - - Skerry, - - - N. C. Bowen, - - - 200,000 - - Stony Creek, Lee L. Hall, - - - 200,000 - - Stratford, - - ¥. J. Helterline, - - - 30,000 50,000 Ticonderoga, - S. B. Moore, - - - - - 100,000 Tupper Lake, - - The A. Sherman Lumber Co., 1,770,000 6,375,000 Wadhams Mills, - Orlando Beede & Son, - 300,000 250,000 Warrensburgh, - A. C. Emerson & Co., - - 215,000 390,000 West Stockholm, - G. N. Gibson & Son, = 800,000 400,000

Total, - - - - 32,734,000 56,840,550

122 REPORT OF THE

PRODUCTION OF LUMBER BY DISTRICTS — 1g00.

FEET.

Glens Falls District, - - - : - an ies é - 61,440,197 Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties, - - : - - 76,333,729 St. Lawrence County, - - - - - < - - 90,919,638 Jefferson, Iewis and Oneida Counties, - - 2 = - 33,499,246 Herkimer and Fulton Counties, - - - - - - 40,496,970

Total, - - - - - - - - 302,689,780

SUMMARY.

Spruce, - - - - - - - - = - - 166,614,856 Henilochs saree caved Ge ain Gort Rrr eke yaar a aang 48,377,575 ie, = Z = : ; 5 i E eel eer ; - 54,948,590 Hardwood, - - - - - - - - - - 32,748,759

Total Lumber, - - - - - - 302,689,780 Pulpwood, 420,108 cords, equivalent B. M.,_ - - - - 230,649,292

Total Lumber and Pulpwood, - - - = 25335330 ;072m Shingles, - - - : = z : - 5 5 32,7 34,000

Death yf! o. ee ge tge renin 0 he ieee Name ee GO.840, 550

YEARLY PRODUCTION OF LUMBER AND PULPWOOD FROM 1890 To 1g00.

FEET. FEET. 1890 — Lumber, - = = a - = - - - 325,690,634 Pulpwood, 94,638 cords, equivalent B. M., - - - 51,966,262 = eh) SOS Orso 1891 — Lumber, - - - E zZ - - - - 286,710,593 Pulpwood, 126,183 cords, equivalent B. M., - - 69,274,283 Tp ae? S59 SA Sie 1892 — Lumber, - - - =: 2 z = - - - 406,954,200 Pulpwood, 147,392 cords, equivalent B. M., - - 80,918,537 earmmenrurmmmamn) 00 0011/2011 51 1893 — Lumber, - - - = = a - - - - 355,050,528 Pulpwood, 167,825 cords, equivalent B. M., - - 92,135,707

447,186,235

‘dTNd GOOM WOW AAVWN Sl WadVd AL aI INNOWVY FHL LIVH LOAOdV Ss. SUMdAM HdVUOOLOHd SIHL NI UWadVd WH

‘AVG HOVA WAdVdSMAN SIHL OL GAA

‘ATIVG NVLITOGONLAN V VOA WAdVd HLIM GAAVO'L ‘OO WodVd TVNOILVNUALNI FAL FO SMONML

bw

rn > eat

Se SS a ee

eee)

Dac LAS

Lite BES ty |

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

1894 — Lumber, - = = : - 2 E = Pulpwood, 204,182 cords, equivalent B. M.,

1895 — Lumber, - - < 2 : : = és Pulpwood, 291,246 cords, equivalent B. M.,

1896 — Lumber, - - : : E 2 - 2 Pulpwood, 291,246 cords, equivalent B. M.,

1897 — Lumber, - - = < - - - - Pulpwood, 302,526 cords, equivalent B. M.,

1898 — Lumber, - : = 2 : : Pulpwood, 418,182 cords, equivalent B. M.,

1899 — Lumber, - - - - - - - Pulpwood, 356,227 cords, equivalent B. M.,

1900 — Lumber, - - é = 2 A

Pulpwood, 420,108 cords, equivalent B. M.,

YEARLY PRODUCTION OF SHINGLES AND

YEAR.

MS OME aa Coc ne | Gehy it nN iti eegeag 1895, = = = - 5 E = is 1896, - - = - = 3 - L = 1897, - = = = 3 & e B 1898, - - - - - = c 2 ‘ 1899, - - - - = S y s

Igoo, - o - - - - - - =

FEET.

288,700,269

112,095,918

297,010,161

151,891,281

.270,215,372

159,894,054

284,907,544 © 166,087,872

314,052,289

229,581,918 So Se San)

252,178,624

195,568,623 Se an a AA AM ZAM,

302,689,780 230,649,292

400,796,187

123

FEET.

449,501,442 430,109,426

459,995,416

533,339,072

LATH FROM 1894 TO 1goo.

SHINGLES, 18,683,000 18,267,000 16,256,000 35,623,750 27,273,000 33,619,000 32,734,000

LATH.

32,45 3,000 34,295,000 21,050,000 47,061,150 43,933,799 49,329,099 56,840,550

124 REPORT OF THE

CATSKILL FOREST.

LOCATION OF MILLS. NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. SPRUCE. Acra, - - - - - H. C. Crapser, - - - - - 50,000 Andes, - = - - M. L. Miner, - - Y : E z . zs Apex, - = - - - Ages! biersons iy - = z ks . 5 cf Arena, = : = - John McLean, - = = : s : . Arkville, - - - - R. H. Molyneaux, - - - - - : Ashland, - - - H. E. Tompkins, - - - - - - - Atwood, - abel - A. A. & C.M. Van Demark,~ - - - - Beaver Brook, - - - John R. Ness, - - - - - - - Belleayre, - - - - Edgar A. Marks, =e - - - - Big Hollow, - - - John H. Phelps, - - - - 125,000 Bloomville, - - - Stephen Ceas, - - - - - - - Bovina, - - - : Johnson Brothers, - - - - - Branch, - - - - Jerome Lorant, - - - - - - - - Branch, - - - - E. R. Alverson, - - - - - - Brown Station, - - - Nathan H. Gordon, - - - - - - - Brown Station, - - Winn & Van Steenburgh,~ - - - - Bull Run, - - - - S. M. Aldrich, - - - - - 10,000 Callicoon Depot, - - Martin Herman, - - - - - - - Cannonsville, — - - - E: W.Gillett, - - - - - - - Catskill, - - = - (Ave EREOSty a= - - - - - - - Catskill. - - - - O. D. Beers, - - - - - - - Catskill, - - - - J. H. Posson, - - - - - - - - Catskilled- - - - John W. Robb, - - - - - 450,000 Chichester, - - - L. A. Schwarzwaelder, - - = 25,000 Claryville, - - - - W. A. Briggs, - : = - - 1,000 Clary ville, - : - Brundage & George, - - - : - - Cochecton, - - - James Cornwell, - i - - = - Cochecton, - - - Earl D. Tyler, - - ; - - i - Cook’s Fall, - - > Arthur Leighton Co., - - - - -

Coxsackie, - - - M. Dolan, - : : . - 25,000

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900.

125

HEMLOCK. PINE. HARDWOOD. TOTAL. 15,000 10,000 30,000 105,000 30,136 - - 20,120 50,256

I,500,000 65,000 500,000 2,065,000 150,000 - - - - 150,000 100,000 - - 100,000 200,000

50,000 - - 10,000 60,000 10,000 200,000 162,500 372,500

- - - 75,000 25,000 100,000 100,000 - - 40,000 140,000 75,000 - - 20,000 220,000 30,000 40,000 100,000 170,000

- - - - - 100,000 100,000

S 2 = - 100,000 100,000 150,000 85,000 150,000 385,000

20,000 30,000 100,000 150,000

= = - - 75,000 75,000 25,000 - - 50,000 85,000 600,000 400,000 50,000 I ,050,000 201,742 Fl oie 104,693 306,435 3,000 30,000 25,000 58,000 10,000 128,891 49,000 187,891 5,000 35,000 15,000 55,000 150,000 10,000 50,000 *660,000 35,000 15,000 350,000 425,000 20,000 20,000 63,725 $104,725 20,000 15,000 15,000 50,000 20,000 170,000 10,000 200,000 15,000 75,000 10,000 100,000 500,000 - - 1,000,000 1,500,000 10,000 25,000 10,000 70,000

* This includes the cut of two mills, one at Acra and one at East Jewett, N. Y. +Includes lumber cut at mills of W. A. Briggs at Denning and Claryville, N. Y.

126

REPORT OF THE

CATSKILL FOREST.

LOCATIONS OF MILLS.

NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. SPRUCE. Davenport, - - Fred Cook, - - - - 100,000 Davenport, - - - | Julius T. Yerdon, - - 80,000 Davenport Center, 2 R. Simmons, - - = - - - Delhi, - - - - G. W. & H. D. Crawford Co., 5,000 Delhi, - - - John T. McDonald, - - - - - Delhiamen= > - - Nelson O. Robinson, - - - - Denver. - - M. H. Tompkins, - - q = 2 Deposit, - - - - E. H. Manterstock, - - © - Downsville, - - W. E. Holmes, - sian ar - - - Dunraven, - = wis Olney Smith, - - - - - Dwaarkill, - = - Wilson Bruyn, - - - - - - Dwaarkill, - - = Wilham Low, - - - 2 - East Branch, - - Monroe Williams, — - - - - - East Branch, - - = C. Mulkins, - - - - - - East Jewett, - - Monroe Truesdell, - - - 25,000 East Jewett, - - - M. L. Holdridge, - 5 - 347,000 East Meredith, - - Hanford Brothers, - - - - - Eldred, - - - - A.S. Myers, - - - - - - Eldred, - - - Charles W. Wilson, - - - - - Bikar Parka a - - G. W. Dibbell, = - - 90,000 Ellenville, - - - Cox Brothers, - - - - 20,000 Emmonsville, - - Koons Brothers, - - - - - Fallsburgh, - - Rosentraus Bros., - - = = - Fallsburgh, — - - - John F. Simpson, - - - - - Fish s Eddy - - DP Wie stearns, J rc 2 2 2 - - Fish’s Eddy, - - E. E. Risley, - - - - - E Fish’s Eddy, - - N. D. La Valley, - - - - - Fish’s Eddy, - - - Bartlett Bros. & Palmatier, - - - Franklin, - - - W.H. Miller, - - ; - - - Freehold, - - - Slater Bros.,* - - - 5,000

* This firm operates two portable mills.

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900— CONTINUED.

FOREST,

FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

HEMLOCK. PINE. HARDWOOD. TOTAL. 300,000 50,000 50,000 *5.00,000 40,000 10,000 6,000 136,000 100,000 50,000 50,000 200,000 40,000 5,000 30,000 80,000 - - - 15,000 50,000 65,000 17,000 15,000 18,000 50,000 50,000 - = 25,000 75,000 63,864 20,213 3,800 87,877 100,000 - - - - 100,000 200,000 10,000 100,000 310,000 - 5 - - 300,000 300,000 35,000 8,000 43,000 86,000 500,000 - - 250,000 750,000 - - - - - 50,000 50,000 150,000 - - 2,000 177,000 160,000 - - 48,000 555,000 75,000 - - 75,000 150,000 - - - T00,000 18,000 118,000 - - 90,000 10,000 100,000 10,000 - - 5,000 105,000 50,000 125,000 175,000 370,000 25,000 - - 550,000 575,000 251,000 60,000 450,000 761,000 35,000 - - 30,000 65,000 300,000 - - 400,000 700,000 300,000 20,000 1,400,000 +1,720,000 25,000 - - 150,000 175,000 700,000 - - 300,000 1,000,000 10,000 90,000 120,000 220,000 95,000 625,000 375,000 I, 100,000

* Includes lumber cut at Davenport and Kortright, N. Y.

+ Mills at Fish’s Eddy and Readburn, N. Y.

128 REPORT OF THE ~

CATSKILIE FOREST

LOCATION OF MILLS. NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. SPRUCE. Frost Valley, - - - O. J. Molyneaux, - = - - 2 Frost Valley, - : - W.G. Satterlee, - - : - = : = Frost Valley, - = - John H. Whipple, - - - - - - Gardiner, - - - Henry Hasa, - - - - - - - = Gardiner, - - - - J. S. Rosekrans, - - ; - - - - Glenford, - - - Byron J. Baker, - - - - - : - Granite, - - - - James S. Van Etten, - - - - - - Granton, - - - Emmet Washburn, - - - - - - Granton, - - - - David Duncan, - - - - - - - Grand Gorge, - - - S. I. Moore, - - - - - - - é Grahamsville, - - - Geo. B. Reynolds, - - - - - - Grahamsville, - - Lewis Du Bois, - - - - - - - Greenville, - - - - L. & W. Smith, - - - - - - - Griffin’s Corners, - - Crosby Kelly, - - - - - - . Halcott Center, - - - Alex. Van Valkenburgh, - - : - - Hambletville, - - Axtell & Huyck, - - - - 2 - - Hamden, - - ; : Frank L. Mallory, - - - - - - Hancock, - - - Delaware Lumber Co., - : - - 2 Hancock, - - - - John Thomas, 2 : - - = - Hardenburgh, - - J. M. De Silva, - - - - : 2 - Harpersfield, - - - G. E. Wickham, - - 2 - - - Hartwood,- - - - Hzra Reed )- 2 : - - - - : Harvard, - - - - AYC, Rott, - - - - - - - Hensonville, - - - Hitchcock & Haney, - - - 100,000 Highland, - - - - J. E. Westcott, -- 3 - - - - - - Hobart, - - - G. A. Young, - - - 5 - - Horton, - = - - Henry Johnston, - - - - - - - Horton, = = - W. H. Leek, = = - - - - Hunter, - - - - Sheridan Becker, - - - = 130,000 Hurleyville, - - - James Monron, - - - 2 300,000 Hurleyville, - - - Smith & Lamont, - - - > - - -

VAN SANT,

A.

MOUNTAIN.

ACE

F

vy}

q

WHITE

FROM WILMINGTON,

On

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 129

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900— CONTINUED.

HARDWOOD. TOTAL.

HEMLOCK. PINE.

8,000 - - - 120,000 128,000 - - - : - 100,000 100,000 : : = - Z ILE 1 IN - - - - : 100,000 100,000 = = 10,000 60,000 70,000 20,000 | 50,000 10,000 80,000 30,000 50,000 82,500 162,500 200,000 - - - 85,000 285,000 75,000 - - 100,000 175,000 40,000 80,000 10,000 130,000 100,000 60,000 80,000 240,000 100,000 230,000 306,000. 636,000 50,000 25,000 5,000 80,000

| 197,220 2 oman 36,153 233,373 100,000 - - 100,000 200,000 - - - 50,000 10,000 60,000 80,000 118,000 800,000 998,000 600,000 45,000 25,000 670,000

5) 2) ) ) |

= = = = = | 75,000 75,000 30,000 | - - 20,000 50,000 - - - 2228 28,141 50,264

| 25,000 100,000 10,000 135,000

| 61,339 - - = 18,790 80,129 125,000 - - 25,000 * 250,000 - - - - - | 50,000 50,000

| - - - 80,000 | 20,000 100,000 200,000 - - 300,000 500,000 10,000 - - - 250,000 260,000 165,000 - - 16,000 311,000 700,000 200,000 - - 1,200,000 300,000 125,000 180,000 605,000

* Includes lumber cut at two mills, one at Hensonville and one at East Jewett, N. Y.

9

130 REPORT OF THE

CATSKILE FOREST:

LOCATION OF MILLS. NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. SPRUCE. Jewett Center, - s N. W. Ploos, - - - - 280 Kelly Corners, - - - Howard D. Searle, - ree - - - © Kelly Corners, - - A. F. Sweet, = 2 - : x - - Kelly Corners, - - - Hubbell Brothers, — - - - - - - Kiamesha, — - - - D. B. Bailey, - = - - £60,0Cc0 Kiskatom, = - - Oe Smiths = : - - : 2 - = Kripple Bush, - - Jacob H. Burly, - - - - - - Lackawack, - - - Charles N. Morse, - - - . 3,000 anesvilles - - - Lane Brothers, - - - - 100,000 Lanesville, - - - - John Jansen, - wine See - - 40,000 Leibhardt, - - - L. W. Lawrence, - > : - 5,000 Leibhardt, - - - - W. H. Brown, - > - = : = = = Lexington, - - - Wesley Travis, - - - - 20,000 Lexington, - - - - Edwin Van Valkenburgh, - - - - - =, Lewbeach,- - - - Womsley & Davidson, - - - - - Lewbeach, - = - = Austin Bussey, - E 2 2 a aalyeys : 2 Liberty, - - - - Walter S. Cutler, . - - - - - Liberty, - - - - Thomas Drennon,- - S - - - ee he Livingston Manor, - - Livingston Manor Mfg. Co., - - - - Livingston Manor, - - P. H. Woolsey & Co., - - = et - - Livingston Manor, - - David H. Benton, -_ . - - - - - Long Eddy © 24. oh 2s ltGeorge\Gould,* ¢an 20) ae en Long Eddy, - - - L. H. Hinaman, - - - - - - Margaretville, - - - Saealviess:— - - : - - - Masonville, - - - A. Gardner, - - - - - - - Masonville, - - | F. W. Halbert, - - - - - - - - Meridale, - - - A. O. Bouton, - - - - - - Mileses, - - - - George W. Sipple,_- - - - = - - Monticello, - - - William Nelson, - 2 - = 200,000 Montela,_ - - - - Gre ix One 5 = - : - - - Mt. Pleasant, - - - M. T. Sherwood,t - - - - - -

* Mr. Gould operates two steam mills. + Mr. Sherwood has two mills, one at Mt. Pleasant and one at Middleburg, N. Y.

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900— CONTINUED.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

HEMLOCK.

95,000 150,000 125,000

70,000

200,000

20,000 75,090 30,000

30,000

150,000 20,000

100,000

300,000

100,000

75,000

20,000

50,000 100,000 125,000

50,000

30,000 100,000

50,000

200,000

PINE.

20,000 100,000 50,000 30,000

20,000

500,000

125,000 25,000

10,000

300,000 50,000

50,000

HARDWOOD.

6,912 25,000 10,000

3,000

80,000

50,000 225,000 20,000 50,000 30,000 1,000,000 620,000 20,000 65,000 50,000

100,000

50,000 1,000,000 35,000 50,000 500,000 400,000 90,000 85,000 68,000 70,000 250,000

400,000

TOTAL.

102,413 175,000 135,000 73,000 460,000 150,000 275,000 73,000 245,000 100,000 I ,535,000 620,000 200,000 85,000 150,000 100,000 300,000 150,000 1,000,000 130,000 70,000 500,000 400,000 50,000 315,000 235,000 128,000 100,000 600,005 350,000

650,000

132 REPORT OF THE

CATSKILL FOREST.

LOCATION OF MILLS. NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. SPRUCE. Mt. Pleasant, - Wilson C. Riseley, 2 = Neversink, - - Albie E. Hall, : 1,000 New Baltimore, - Wilham H. Baldwin, zs Z North Harpersfield, N. P. Van Buren, - 10,000 North Harpersfield, We AG Rice: - 50,000 North Harpersfield, Isaac P. Nichols, - 500 North Franklin, - Edward Corrington, - : Norton Hill, - - Seymour Etheredge, - : Oak Hill, - - Silas Dean, - = 2 Oliverea, - - W. H. Deyoe, - - - Oneonta, - - Briggs & Miller, z es Palenville, - - A. A. Pelham, : = : Parkston, - - Isaac Van Aken, 12,000 Peabrook, - - Henry Peak, - - : » Peakville, - - Walter Peaks ~ Pepacton, - - Charles E. Conkhn, = = Pineville, - - Orland C. Foote, - - Plattekill, - - John B. Gerow, - - = Pond Eddy, - George W. Maney, - - Purling, - - Lysander Lennon, 1,000 Quarryville, 2 Abram Freligh, - - - Red Falls, - - Ernest Tompkins, - - - Rifton Glen, - | O. W. Mosher, - - e Roscoe, - - - Roscoe Mfg. Co., - - - Roscoe, 5 - sales Watson - - Roscoe, - = - ACw eee ene tts - Rutsonville, - C. R. Mack, - 5 - Samsonville, - - Heman Shurter, - - - Seager, - - Granam Brothers, - Seager, - - . J. F. Fairbairn, - - = Shady, - - C. A. Vosburgh, - -

Shady, - - 5

Lincoln Mac Daniel,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900.

HEMLOCK. PINE. HARDWOOD. TOTAL. 50,000 50,000 100,000 200,000 41,000 3,000 5,000 50,000

6,000 150,000 150,000 306,000 100,000 10,000 8,000 128,000 100,000 10,000 35,000 195,000

75,000 - - - 5,000 80,500 15,000 25,000 10,000 50,000 60,000 60,000 80,000 200,000 80,000 20,000 10,000 110,000 231,725 - - - 290,255 521,980

- = & 225,000 100,000 325,000 10,000 75,000 15,000 100,000 95,000 - - - 50,000 157,000 50,000 - - 200,000 250,000 150,000 - - 2 50,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 200,000 900,000 50,000 20,000 40,000 L10,000

- = - 3,000 70,000 73,000 = = £ E - 136,000 136,000 10,000 74,000 15,000 100,000 15,000 125,000 50,000 190,000 100,000 75,000 50,000 225,000 50,000 30,000 20,000 100,000 300,000 - - - 200,000 500,000 100,000 300,000 100,000 500,000 50,000 - - - - - - 50,000 19,000 2,000 35,000 56,000

6 = 2 = - - 90,000 g0,000 25,000 - - 25,000 50,000 30,000 - - - 20,000 50,000

- - - - 124,000 124,000 30,000 - - - 150,000 180,000

134 REPORT OF THE

CATSKILL FOREST.

LOCATION OF MILLS. NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. SPRUCE. Shandaken, - - - Hiram Whitney, - = - - | - - = Shavertown, - - che Junius Shaver, - - - - | - - Sidney, - - - - | Sidney Novelty Co., - - - otek - - Sidney Center, - - - | G. Bowman, - - - - - | - - Slide Mountain, - - | W. S. Brown & Sons, - - er ae Soe os Spring Glen, - - oly els Dedhia. 2's - - - - | - : Stamford, - - - C. L. Murdock, = - ° Bt vo - = Stamford, - - - He Geo, Hi Hager - 2 - - - Summitville, - - - Samuel A. Adams, - |. - 2 - - - - Surprise, - - ° - Lewis J. Smith, - - - - - - The Corner, - - - Frank Ecker, - - - - ee | hs - - Treadwell, - : z eh iEeSasBellewne : 7 a L | 2 : Trout Greekar- - - | A. Frank Hazen, = - - - : - = Ulsterville, - - >) | George sBruyn) aa 3 - - Rergoen Ben Union Grove, - - | Anson Jenkins, - 5 - - - - - -

Walton, - - - - | Walton Novelty & Mfg. Co., - - - - Walton, <0) 32). 24 290°) JOR Wilburdcce’ ee 0c a Walton, - - - = | George E. Wakeman, - - - | - - Walton, - - - - A. A. Haverly, - - - - el bie - Walton, z - - - Van Akin & Nichols, - - - | e - Westbrookville, - - J. E. Ashworth & Sons, - . = ae 2 - West Davenport, - - Charles D. Morell, - - - - - West Kortright, - - | Joseph H. Rowland, - - - - 75,000 West Saugerties, - = |) J: Carn & Sons; ) = - - - - - West Shokan, - - - ZB Boece, ; - - - - : - - White Lake, - - - Willard Wells, - - - - = Biooo Whitfield, - - - Josephus Barley, - - - ele - - Willowemoc, - - - James M. Decker, - - : - | 10,000 Windham, - - - HeNeiClank, - - 2 - =| | 10,000 Windham, - - - Sele Nile les SONNEI: = - - - - 10,000 Wittenberg, - - - William Short, - ; - ; - 5 - : Wittenberg, - - . William C. Shullis, - = - - =

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900 —ConvINUED.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

135

HEMLOCK. PINE. 125,000 5,000 100,000 100,000 750,000 - -

- - - 60,000 - - 500,000 16,000 18,000 75,000 200,000 20,000 20,000 10,000 5,000 - - 55,000 15,000 15,000 100,000 - - 1,200,000 50,000 75,000 m B 45,000 - - 200,000 75,000 20,000 250,000 13,000 28,000 50,000 70,000 3,000 30,000 25,000 150,000 12,000 227,000 5,000 40,000 100,000 - = 100,000 2 S 20,000 E E 14,000 10,000

HARDWOUD. TOTAL. 500,000 500,000 25,000 155,000 1,500,000 1,500,000 50,000 | 250,000 437,500 | 1,187,500 - - = 60,000 200,000 700,000 47,000 81,000 25,000 300,000 10,000 50,000 40,000 55,000 100,000 100,000 110,000 165,000 70,000 | 100,000 20,000 | 120,000 75,000 75,000 700,000 1,950,000 150,000 225,000 50,000 95,000 200,000 475,000 25,000 295,000 30,000 71,000 50,000 245,000 17,000 50,000 890,000 1,065,000 8,000 250,000 40,000 85,000 300,000 410,000 15,000 125,000 50,000 80,000 905090 90,000 117,000 141,000

136 REPORT OF THE

CATSKILL FOREST.

LOCATION OF MILLS. | NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. SPRUCE. Wittenberg, - - Frederick Happy, - - - = - © Woodstock, - - - U. G. Boice, : = - - - - Youngs, - - z - W. Tapliff, 5 - - - 5 12,000 Youngsville, - - - F. L. Manny, = = - - 20,000 Yulan, - - - - John Weber, - - - - - | - - Yulan, - - - - H. E. Twitchell, - - - - eas - C Entire district, - - Small mills, - - - - baa 100,000

Totals, - - = - | 2,730,780

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 137

LUMBER MANUFACTURED IN YEAR 1900— CONCLUDED.

HEMLOCK. PINE. HARDWOOD. | TOTAL. 10,000 8,000 39,000 57,000 10,000 100,000 100,000 | 210,000 35,000 50,000 37,000 134,000 80,000 30,000 21,000 151,000 20,000 75,000 30,000 125,000 10,000 35,000 5,000 50,000

300,000 200,000 400,000 1,000,000 | 18,659,026 9,349,448 25,876,089 56,606,343

138 REPORT OF THE

CATSKILL FOREST:

AMOUNT OF WOOD USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHEMICALS FOR YEAR 1900.

LOCATION OF FACTORIES. NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. | CORDS. ANCIGIAUINE Yo e - - | Sullivan Chemical Co., ~ - - - 5,036 Beerston, - - - The Colchester Chemical Co., - 3,216 Beerston, - - - - The Walton Acetate Co., - - - 3,991 Burnwood, - - - Buckley Chemical Co., - - - 2,500 Cadosia, - - - - | Cadosia Chemical Co., = - - 5,500 Cook’s Falls, - = : Arthur Leighton Co.,* - - = 20,000 East Branch, - - - | Corbett & Stewart,f - - - - mgm Fish’s Eddy, - - - Fish’s Eddy Chemical Co., - - 2,500 Hancock, - - - =e Als Keery Chemical Co., - - - 2,500 Horton, - - 2 - Treyz Bros. Chemical Co., - = 4,500 Horton, - - - - Horton’s Brook Chemical Co., - - 3,000 Livingston Manor, - - D. V. Mandeville, - : - - 3,500: Long Eddy, - - - | Treyz & Hartz Chemical Co., - - 2,000 Peakville, - - = Walter Peak, - - - - = 4,500 Readburn,, - - - - | The Tyler-Hall Chemical Co., - Soy 5,000 Rock Rift, - - - Inderlied Chemical Co., - - 3,600 Roscoe, - . - - James F. Wood & Son, - - =| 5,000 Roscoe, - - - - Finch Chemical Co., —- = - 3,200 Shinhopple, - - - | John A. Kemp, - - : - - 3,000 Shinhopple, - - - Finch-Ross Chemical Co., - - | 2,335 Willowemoc, - - - S. Hammond & Co., - = - a 5,439

SDObal ye ayer oy eu cee [103,449

* This company has four factories, one at Elk Brook, one at Methol, one at Horton and one at Cook’s Falls. The amount reported is for all four factories. + This firm has two factories, one at Trout Brook and one at East Branch, N. Y.

¢{ Equivalent B. M. 56,793,501 feet.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

CATSKILL FOREST.

MANUFACTURE OF SHINGLES AND LATH FOR YEAR 1900.

139

LOCATION OF MILLS.

Apex, = =

Arena,

Atwood, - - Big Hollow, - Bloomville, - Bovina, = Branch, - > Callicoon, - Callicoon Depot, Cannonsville, Catskill, - - Davenport, - Davenport, - Dunraven, - East Branch, - East Jewett, - East Jewett, - Elka Park, - Emmonsville, - Fallsburgh, - Freehold, - Granite, - Grahamsville, - Grand Gorge, Halcott Center, Hardenburgh, Harvard, - - Kelly Corners, Kiamesha, - Kripple Bush,

Lackawack, -

Rosentraus Brothers

NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS.

SHINGLES.

LATH.

A. S. Pierson, - - John McLean, - -

A. A. & C. M. Van Demark,

John H. Phelps, = Stephen Ceas, - - Johnson Brothers, - E. R. Alverson, - = Peter Will, é : Martin Herman, - 2 E. W. Gillett, - 2 John W. Robb, = a Julius DP) Yerdon, = Fred Cook, - 2 Olney Smith, - 2 Monroe Williams, - = Monroe Truesdell, - M. L. Holdridge, -

[Ga Dubie, = =

| Koons Brothers, - -

?

Slater Brothers, - uf

| James S. Van Etten, -

George B. Reynolds, - S. I. Moore, - a Alex. Van Valkenburgh, J. M. De Silva, - 2 A. C. Roff, - s si A. F. Sweet, - : D. B. Bailey, - : s Jacob H. Burly, 2 Charles N. Morse, - -

50,000 121,000 100,000 150,000

48,000

500,000 100,000

122,750

1,000,000 180,00¢c 30,000 3,000 50,000 40,000 500,000 30,000 100,000 23,000 700,000 25,000 150,000 29,000 37,799 100,000 30,000

50,000

30,000 50,000 500,000 20,000 25,000 250,000

250,000

140

REPORT OF THE

CATSKILL FOREST.

MANUFACTURE OF SHINGLES AND LATH FOR YEAR 1900.

(Concluded.)

LOCATION OF MILLS. NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. SHINGLES. LATH. Leibhardt, - - W. H. Brown, - - - - 50,000 - - Leibhardt, - L. W. Lawrence, - - - 200,000 100,000 Lewbeach, - = Womsley & Davidson, - . - - - 100,000 Lexington, - Wesley “airaviss 2: - - 300,000 - - Liberty, - - Walter S. Cutler, - - - 50,000 50,000 Margaretville, - Sa akaeivesse m= - - - - - - 25,000 Neversink, - - Albien. Hall, - = Stine ah 75,000 5,000 New Kingston, A. W. Thomson, - - - 58,000 - - North Harpersfield, W. A. Rice, - - - - 25,000 31,000 Oakland Valley, Clarence Case, - - - - - - 100,000 Parkston, : - Isaac Van Aken, - - - - - 50,000 Pepacton, - Charles E. Conklin, - - 75,000 : - Pineville, - - Orland C. Foote, - - - 75,000 - = Roxbury, - - L. M. Robinson, - - - 225,750 - - Shavertown, - Junius Shaver, - - - - 150,000 - - Sidney Center, G. Bowman, - - - - 100,000 - - Slide Mountain, - W.S. Brown & Sons, - - - 200,000 250,000 Union Grove, - Anson Jenkins, - - - 150,000 20,000 Walton, - Van Akin & Nichols, - - - - - 40,000 West Kortright, Joseph H. Rowland, — - - 100,000 - West Saugerties, - J. Carn & Sons, - - - : 5 55,000 West Shokan, - Wy, 52, IONE, - - : 100,000 - - Whitfield, - - | Josephus Barley, - - 70,000 - - Windham, - F. N. Clark, - - - - 200,000 20,000 Windham, - - W. J. Soper, - - - - 50,000 20,000 Wittenberg, - William C. Shullis, - - 75,000 - - Woodstock, - - Us Ge Bolcemeum= - - ei 150,000 : : Youngsville, - | F. L. Manny, - - - 50,000 60,000 Yulan, - - John Weber, - - - - 211,000 30,000

Totals, - - - - 4,871,500 5,158,700

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. I4!

CATSKILL FOREST.

AMOUNT OF WOOD USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXCELSIOR FOR YEAR I9goo.

LOCATION OF FACTORIES. _ |: NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. | CORDS. ‘East Branch, — - - - | Decker & Sulger, - = - | 800 Hancock, - - - JE Ke rornibeck is - - - 500 Lackawack, - - - Charles N. Morse, - - - - 800 Mt. Pleasant, . - - - Frank Ecker, - - - - 93 Pheenicia, - - - 2 Frances G. De Motte, - 5 = 600 Swamp Mills, - - - Swamp Mills Excelsior Co., - - 300 Wawarsing, - - =), olin Cr Elonmbecks isa - G ail *1,082

otal mie Wig (ose 14,175

* Includes work of factory at Boiceville.

+ Equivalent B. M. 2,292,075 feet.

CATSKILL FOREST.

AMOUNT OF WOOD USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FURNITURE FOR YEAR Igoo.

LOCATION OF FACTORIES. | NAMES OF MANUFACTURERS. CORDS. Chichester, - - - - | L. A. Schwarzwaelder, : - - 750 Highland, - : - George W. Pratt & Son, - - 80 Shandaken, - - - - | Hiram Whitney, oe - - 500

ota ar re aioe anes *1,330

* Equivalent B. M. 730,170 feet.

142 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION,

CATSKILL FOREST.

AMOUNT OF WOOD USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR YEAR Igoo.

LOCATION OF MILLS.

NAMES OF MAUFACTURERS. CORDS. Brown Station, - - The Hudson River Wood Pulp Mfg. Co., 2,003 Napanoch,~ - - John C. Hornbeck, - - - 500

Total, - - - = = *2,503 * Equivalent B. M. 1,374,147 feet. PRODUCTION OF LUMBER BY COUNTIES. FEET. Delaware, - - - = ; = - - - - 23,862,834 Greene, - - 2 > - - = c 6,872,804 Sullivan, - - : - - - - - - = 1e;s287125 Ulster, - - : - - = - - - 12,041,980 Total, - - - - - - - - 56,606,343 SUMMARY. FEET. Lumber, - - - - - - - - - - 56,606,343. Wood for chemicals, 103,449 cords, equivalent B. M., - - 56,793,501 oe excelsionja) 94,0775 aun a papas : - 2,292,075, —)) furniture, 1433 0 nine a . - - 730,170 “pulp, 2,503” ‘ oh int eel Gy ay Total, “ - - - Stee : 117,796,236 Shingles, - - = - - - - - - = 4,871,500 Lath, —- - - - - - - - -

5,158,700

orcs hires

HAVE already, in the preliminary report of the Commission for the year 1900, | submitted a detailed statement showing the number of fires, date when each occurred, areas burned over, damages to standing timber, and cause of each so far as could be ascertained. I append here some extracts from the reports of the various firewardens, containing further information of an interesting character which may be of some value to forestry students and others, as showing some of the details connected with that very practical part of forestry which relates to forest protection. A careful study of these paragraphs will give some idea of the perplex- ing questions arising continually in connection with this department of the work, which cannot be learned in forestry schools or by reading text books devoted to the theory of forest management. The work of the firewardens is not only intensely practical but it is dangerous also. In one of the reports published here mention is made of a citizen who lost his life while engaged in this work. On a fire-scarred slope of the Catskill Moun-

tains, near Twilight Park, a monument was erected this year bearing this inscription :

IN MEMORY OF FRANK D. LAYMAN,. OF HAINES FALLS, WHO LOST HIS LIFE ON THIS SPOT AUGUST I0, 1900,

WHILE WITH OTHERS FIGHTING A FOREST FIRE WHICH THREATENED TO DESTROY THE HOMES AND BUSINESS INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS PLACE.

BY THOSE GRATEFUL FOR HIS DEVOTED SERVICES THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED.

By reading the “Remarks,” which the firewardens enter on their reports in a place indicated for such purpose on the blank forms, it will be seen that many ques- tions arise as to the payment of the men; as to disputes between adjoining towns; the liability of offenders against the fire laws, and complaints from taxpayers over unnecessary expenses, all of which require the exercise of patient inquiry and

judicious action on the part of the chief firewarden and superintendent. 143

144 REPORT OF THE

Extracts from Remarks Appended to the Reports of the

Firewardens.

Mr. Charles Bartlett, firewarden for the town of Upper Jay, Essex county, N. Y., reports:

April 23d, t900. This fire was set by Mr. David Shipman to burn some waste brush in his pasture. The wind came up and the fire spread through the grass until it reached some second growth pine, where it made a big smoke, but did little damage. I saw the smoke and drove there immediately. Found Shipman with two men at work, and they had got it pretty well under contol when I reached there. It burned over about two

acres, doing little or no damage.

Mr. Henry Morgan, firewarden for the town of Wilmington, Essex county, N. Y., reports:

May 2d, 1900. Number of acres burned over, twenty ; Lot 82, Jay Tract. The fire was started by a careless man, who lighted his pipe and threw a burning match onto the ground. Extinguished by ploughing a trench and throw- ing damp earth on the fire. We have been very fortunate in stopping fires this year. The ground was not so dry as it gets sometimes. Last year the ground was so dry that we could not put the fire out with dirt ; but this year the ground has been so moist that we could shovel the dirt with good effect.

The great danger in this town comes from the pulpwood jobs. It is hard to stop a fire in one of these jobs because the ground is piled full of dry brush and dead tree tops. All we can do is to back-fire and keep it out of the live timber. There are a great many men in these camps and they all smoke and

use matches carelessly, which is a great source

of danger; but I will watch and do the best I

BURNING LEAVES. can.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 145

Mr. William T. Bellen, firewarden for the town of Mayfield, Fulton county, N. Y., reports:

April 27th, 1900. Number of acres burned, forty ; value of standing timber destroyed, $50. Fire started from a burning match thrown in the dry grass by the roadside, where a man had lighted his pipe. Extinguished by clearing away the leaves, carrying water, digging a trench, whipping the flames with hemlock brush, and starting a back-fire on an old road. Number of men called out, eleven; total number of days’ labor, five and one-half. If the wind had not been in the east it would have burned a thousand acres over. We stopped the fire on an old winter road, and then watched it all night.

September roth, t900. This fire, which burned over about ten acres, was started by a locomotive on the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville railroad on August 1oth. It was supposed to be all out, but on September roth it broke out again. As we could not get any water to put it out, it has been burning in old stumps and logs ever since, but without doing any damage. The railroad company has agreed to settle all expenses and damages.

October 22d, r900. This fire was caused by some careless hunters who were looking after their bear traps. It burned over about ten acres, and destroyed about $50 worth of standing timber. After extinguishing it we removed all the old firebrands to a safe dis-

tance, placing them on ground that had already been burned over.

Mr. Netus Lancaster, firewarden for the town of Stratford, Fulton county, N. Y., reports:

May 29th, 1900. Number of acres burned, twenty; value of timber destroyed, $1o. Extinguished the fire by using water, whipping out with brush, and back-firing. Total number of days’ labor by men called out, five. This fire started near the highway in an old brush lot, from where it spread into some green timber; but we got control of it before it did any serious damage. It was in the edge of the big forest and it might have

destroyed a large amount of timber.

Mr. Duane Norton, firewarden for the town of Greig, Lewis county, N. Y., reports:

May 26th, r9g00. Number of acres burned, 152; value of timber destroyed, $100; value of cordwood and logs destroyed, $30. Warned out 17 men; total number of days’ labor, forty-four and one-quarter.

I just received the above report from the district firewarden. This is the second time he has failed te report a fire when it occurred. After appointing a district warden have I the power to remove him? If so, I will do it, and appoint some one else in his place.

Mr. Edwin Burdick, firewarden for the town of Port Leyden, Lewis county, INEIVE reports): August 7th, r900. About ten acres burned over on Lot 272, Brantingham Tract ; no

State land. Extinguished by shoveling dirt and drawing water, as it was on a ledge of IO

146 REPORT OF THE

rocks. This fire is the only one I have to report. It was an old burned ground where

the timber had all been cut years ago, and burned over time after time.

Mr. Henry B. Linstruth, firewarden for the town of Croghan, Lewis county, ING? YS writes:

August 2d, 1900. Burned over about five acres on Lot 5, Chassanis Tract. Land owned by Mr. Theodore B. Basselin. No damage done as it was all waste land. This fire started near a trail that woodsmen travel on, and was probably set by some one who

was smoking, the season being so dry here.

Mr. Carroll C. Day, firewarden for the town of Harrisburg, Lewis county, N. Y., reports:

August 25th, 1900. Number of acres burned over twelve; value of timber destroyed, $10. About 100 rods of fence were burned. It was very dry and we had to draw water about a mile, and as it was very windy we had all we could do. On September 3d we had a bee. There were twenty-two men and six teams, and they put out all the fire they could find. About the 9th it started up in spots, and so I drew water with two teams and three men for half a day when we finally extinguished it. We had hard work to keep it out of the good timber. Some one started this fire to burn the brush over, but I failed to find out who it was. It may leak out yet.

August 26th, rg00. Number of acres burned over, twelve; value of timber destroyed, not over $10. I appointed Henry M. Hunt to attend this fire. I would have appointed some one in the other part of the town, but the town clerk said that he would take

care of that locality. So I appointed only one man.

Mr. Anson J. Larkin, firewarden for the town of Ballston, Saratoga county, N. Y., reports:

April 3d, 1900. Fire burned over about one acre on Ballston Lake picnic grounds. It was started by the ten-forty-five passenger train on the Delaware and Hudson Rail- road. I observed the smoke rolling up among the trees, took my own help, stopped for one more man, and repaired to the fire as quickly as possible. I found two fires. The first one was a small one, and so I left one man there; the rest of us went to the other one which was about one-eighth of a mile farther on. There was plenty of water nearby. The wind was blowing hard from the south, but with brooms and water we soon had it under control. I would suggest that you ask the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Com- pany to place a new spark arrester on their passenger engine which runs between Sara- toga and Schenectady.

May 7th, r900. About twenty acres burned over to-day; value of timber destroyed, estimated at $75. About $25 worth of cordwood and too lengths of good rail fence, worth $30, were burned. This fire started from a pile of brush which was being burned.

A whirlwind picked up the fire and scattered it in the woods. There were three other

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. aly

fires the same day, caused by passing trains. My men fought well and worked hard. The last fire was reported out by the railroad section hands, but two of my men came in after dark and said they could not put it all out. We were completely tired out and obliged to rest. During the night rain came and extinguished the fire.

July 5th, t900. ‘This fire, which burned over an acre or more, started in some dry grass near the railroad tracks, from where it ran rapidly towards the woods. I was noti- fied by Harold Johnson. I went where I could see the smoke, after which I employed Joseph Tupper, who immediately went to the fire. He could not put it out alone, as it was running very rapidly towards the woods. Tupper saw some Delaware and Hudson track men near by, and notified them. These men came immediately, and by a hard and rapid fight the fire was subdued just as it entered the woods.

August 11th, 1900. Three small fires started by a railroad locomotive, but which did little or no damage. I notified the railroad agent at Ballston Lake, and he despatched a messenger for the railroad track men, who came as soon as possible. There were five of them, and they did good work in putting out the fire.

August 15th, r900. About roo acres burned over. On about twenty acres of this area the trees are still standing, some dead, and most of them injured badly. About thirty acres were in brush and pasture land ; and about fifty acres of second growth soft maple, black ash and elm, growing ina mucky soil. On this portion the trees are all down, but not burned up. The fire burned the muck and soil to a depth of from two to four feet, and in some places deeper. The roots of the trees were burned off, and they are lying where they fell in every direction. In my judgment this tract is a total loss as a wood lot, as there is no soil left, and it will probably be covered with water, except perhaps in a very dry season.

September 7th, 1900. Number of acres burned over, fifteen to twenty, on lands of Edward Mead, in a boggy and mucky pasture containing a few scattering trees. I employed help; but two gangs of railroad track men did the most part of the work. They used green boughs, and shoveled dirt. A trench was dug to keep the fire from

spreading.

Mr. Roy P. Schermerhorn, firewarden for the town of Wilton, Saratoga county,

N. Y., reports:

September 5th, 1900. About roo acres burned over. Ordered out twenty-nine men : total number of days’ labor, seventy-one. This fire was probably caused by berry pickers. It was on a lot that was cut over six years ago, and was covered with old tree tops, etc. We fought it inch by inch from the time when it was first discovered, for all around it there was valuable standing timber, with some wood and logs which were cut and ready for market. The wind blew all the time and it was so dry that we could not extinguish the fire completely until rain came, although we watched it and kept it practically under

control from the first.

148 REPORT OF THE

Mr. Walter S. Mead, firewarden for the town of Providence, Saratoga county, INGE eieports::

August 11th, rg00. About four acres burned over, which were covered with poor timber of little value. About eight rods of fence were destroyed. By prompt work it was prevented from spreading, and soon burned itself out. Owing to the extreme dry season I consider our town fortunate with regard to the small number of forest fires

occurring this year,

Mr. E. J. Wilcox, firewarden for the town of Hadley, Saratoga county, N. Y., reports:

May 2tst, 1900. Fire ran over about roo acres; but very little damage was done to the timber. A small frame house worth about $75 was burned; also, some cordwood worth $15. My delay in reporting this fire is due to the fact that the owner of the land felt confident that he could identify the party that started the fire; but he has failed to do so. I have not made any estimate of the damage, because the fire ran so rapidly that it did not kill any large timber. About forty acres are heavily timbered, mostly hard-

wood, and at present the foliage is fully developed.

Mr. William Merrill, firewarden for the town of Johnsburg, Warren county, NiOYE, ceports):

May 13th, t900. Fire ran over two acres on Township 11, Totten and Crossfield’s purchase, but without destroying any timber ; warned out four men; total of timc worked three days and two hours. A man by the name of Charles Smith was in the field hunt- ing,

June roth, r900. Was notified by Edward Cross to be present at a fallow fire which

and the fire is supposed to have been started by burning gun wads from a shot gun.

he wished to start on Lot 143. It being next to the State forest, and the wind being high, I forbid him from burning a fallow at that time.

June 29th, t900. A small fire of about two and one-half acres occurred on Lot qo. As the land had been burned over about fourteen years ago very little damage was done. It was probably started by some berry pickers. The deputy firewarden ordered out twenty-six men, and they were there before I arrived. It is well that he did so for the fire occurred where it would have spread rapidly if not taken care of at once.

August 5th, 1900. About two acres were burned over on Lot 19, Township 11, shore of Cod Pond; on State land. About $5 worth of timber destroyed. This fire was undoubtedly left by a fishing party who neglected to put out their camp fire when they moved out. It is now under control, with a trench all around it: but it is not entirely extinguished. The recent showers did not touch that place.

September r7th, rg00. This fire—one and one-half acres, near Bullhead Mountain, Township 11— was caused by some log jobbers who set fire to a hornet’s nest. They

neglected to put it out after destroying the nest.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 149

October 5th, 1900. About one acre of brush land burned over without doing any damage. Ordered out one man only. I think this fire caught from the burning gun wads

of a hunter, as some men were seen hunting partridges that day in this field.

Mr. W. J. Hall, firewarden for the town of Luzerne, Warren county, N. Y., reports:

October 18th, 1900. About twenty acres burned over on Lot 7, Kayaderosseras Patent. Value of standing timber destroyed, estimated at $5. I think this fire was started by some squirrel hunters. It was on a mountain near the top, where there was very little timber of any value. This is the only fire that burned over one acre of wood-

land that I have had in my town this season.

Mr. Clayton Ormsby, firewarden for the town of Horicon, Warren county, N. Y., reports:

September 18th, 1900. Fire burned over thirty-five acres on Lot 61, Brant Lake Tract. As it was all brush land, which had been burned over before, I have no damages to report. Ordered out six men, who worked seven days in all. We trenched around it by digging a ditch with hoes. As near as I can learn it was started by some men who were trying to get honey out of a bee tree. They built a fire and smoked out the bees. Although the fire was on waste land it was running towards the woods. The boss of the lumber job there called on me to attend to it. Calling out six men I went there immediately and dug a trench around the head of the fire. By taking it in time we soon

stopped it.

Mr. E. H. Sturtevant, firewarden for the town of Fort Ann, Washington county, INES ieports :

April 28th, 1900. Forest fire on Lot 16, Fort Ann Tract, covering from fifteen to twenty acres. No timber destroyed. Ordered out one man to help me. This fire was set to burn some old rubbish on the site of a shanty which Mr. A. E. Burton wanted to clear off so as to build a new one. The wind came up and blew the sparks all around. The fire traveled so fast it made a great smoke; but we had it under control all night. Mr. Burton and his son did all the work fighting it. They worked all day, and were overcome by hard fighting. They were alone and about five miles from any help, and did not dare to leave the place in order to get help. I saw it in the afternoon and went there imme- diately. I was there until late in the night; but had men summoned at the village ready

to start if needed. Everybody feared a big fire when they saw the smoke.

Mr. W. B. Hall, acting firewarden for the town of Cairo, Greene county, N. Y.,

reports:

«

August 6th, 1900. Forest fire burned over twelve acres of woodland owned by E. W.

Margison, near Cairo village. It destroyed standing timber worth $50; also some cord-

150 REPORT OF DHE

wood and logs worth $roo. This fire was caused by some tramps who were sleeping in the woods. The best pine on this tract had been cut, leaving some suitable for spiles; also, some hemlocks. On seven acres the wood had been cut off two years ago. The young sprouts were mostly killed ; but in the larger growth only a part of the trees were injured, as the fire only had leaves for fuel. On the whole, the damage is light. We saved some buildings, and over 150 acres of adjoining timber land which were in danger.

August 9th, 1900. Number of acres burned over, 400, of which 200 acres were waste or brush land. None of it belonged to the State. About roo acres on top of Ball Hill had been burned over before, and was covered with huckleberry bushes. I estimate that the damage to standing timber will not exceed $100, not including the injury to the second growth. This fire was started by some city boarders who go this way nearly every day to climb Blackhead Mountain. Warned out forty-four men, who worked in all 156 days. This fire started about the same time as the one on Round Top, and so it was impossible for me to go there. I requested James L. Webster, the district firewarden, to call out all the men he could get in that neighborhood, as there was danger of the fire crossing Blackhead Creek, in which case it would burn off the whole front of the mountain.

On the roth I went to Thomas Lennon, the man I had selected for district firewarden, and arranged with him to take full charge of this fire. Lennon and Webster fought it on the mountain side until Saturday afternoon, when Webster called me up on the phone, saying that the men were used up and needed more help. I directed him to order out more men. I sent another load of men (ten) from the village, and was going myself but I had a new call on the northwest side of Red Top. Lennon put all his men on the creek and back-fired the Ball Hill and Hog Back. He did this because he found it impossible to control the fire on the mountain side, where there were so many dead trees, tops and old logs that the fire became very hot. Worse than that, it would smoulder in the turf and moss and break out at uncertain times afterwards. Old mountain men say they never. saw the ground in such dry condition. This was not a huckleberry fire.

September r2th, rg00._ Fire on the mountain land owned by George Badou, adjoining State Lots 4o and 41; 150 acres burned over, destroying standing timber worth $200. Cause of fire, some coon hunters left a fire smouldering in a tree. Total number of days’ labor, seventy and eight-tenths. District Warden John Shedd says that little damage was done, as the timber was mostly hemlock, small and inaccessible. A party living on the turnpike saw smoke near the top of the mountain at an elevation of about 3,000 feet. He knew nothing about firewardens and did not report it. This smoke continued for some time, when the fire spread rapidly down the mountain, driven by a high wind. The district warden then discovered it and promptly ordered out fourteen men. I went to his assistance, and as there was danger of the fire spreading southward I went over to the third district and directed Warden Thomas Lennon to be prepared to meet it at Acra Point. On the 13th we had the fire confined to about roo acres. The mountain was so

steep that the burning sticks rolled down over our trench. We had the fire under control

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. I51

and on the morning of the 16th, assisted by the rain, succeeded in extinguishing it. It was a dangerous fire, and we were very fortunate in stopping it. This shows the value

of organization.

Mr. William A. Douglas, firewarden for the town of Hunter, Greene county, NED YG reports:

August toth, t900. Fire covered 300 acres, part of it brush land; damage to timber estimated at $200. It started about ten o’clock on the mountain near the road running from Twilight Park to Catskill, about a half mile from top of the mountain and along the creek called Lake Creek, which’runs from the lakes near the Catskill Mountain House. It was very dry, and as the wind was blowing hard the fire made rapid progress. The men who were warned out responded as soon as the fire was discovered, and fought it until they thought they had it out; but on looking ahead of them about a fourth of a mile they saw that the wind had carried the fire there, where it had got beyond their con-

trol. In this fire one young man lost his life and another was badly burned.

Mr. Francis Bonnefond, firewarden for the town of Hancock, Delaware county, NYS) reports’:

April 26th, 1900. Number of acres burned, about 600; value of standing timber destroyed, estimated at $500. Fire caught by sparks from locomotive on train No. 1, Erie Railroad. Ordered out twenty-five men. Total numberof days worked, fifty-three. This fire caught, as above stated, about two miles below Hancock village, near a curve on the Erie Railroad, and spread into the woodlands owned by E. E. Wheeler, situated across the highway and on the mountain side, where it burned, as near as can be estimated, 200 acres ; also about the same extent on lands of John T. Laken, from which it spread to the lands of adjoining property holders. There was a terrible wind, which drove the fire like a race horse.

April 26th, 1900. Number of acres burned, 200; value of standing timber destroyed, estimated at $200. This fire was started on the 26th of April by one Andrew Beust, of the town of Tompkins. He was burning out a stump in his field and allowed the fire to escape, after which it crossed the town line into Hancock. By hard work it was brought under control within a few rods of a wood chopping, where there were some 6,000 cords of wood cut for an acid factory. He had no right to set the fire at that time, and there- fore is liable to a fine. Such cases should be attended to, or our town will be all burned over.

Now, what I wish to know is this: As the fire was started in Tompkins, would that town be liable for the expense of putting it out — fifty-five days’ work? I wish you would inform me on this question. (The offender was fined $30 and costs, which he paid in settlement of the complaint.)

May rst, 1900. Fire on Lots 7, 8 and 9, Division 11, burned 200 acres, destroying

about $160 in standing timber; also cordwood worth $125. Ordered out twenty men,

152 REPORT OF THE

who worked a day and a half each, or thirty days in all. I was unable to ascertain the cause of the fire. It must have been started by some one carelessly dropping a lighted match. ‘There are several stone quarries here, and there are men working in them who do not care how much the forests are burned over. I have given them all due notice that if I catch them setting any fires other than lawful ones I would see that they were properly dealt with according to law. It is very difficult sometimes to find out who sets the fires.

Mr. E. A. Howes, firewarden for the town of Tompkins, Delaware county,

Ne Yeteports:

May 3d, t900. Number of acres burned over, 200, on Great Lot 35, Hardenburgh Patent, Lots 1 and 12, Division 5. More than half of the area was waste or brush land ; damage to standing timber, $100. This fire came from the town of Hancock into the town of Tompkins. It was started by the sparks from a locomotive on the Ontario and Western Railroad. <A great part of the above-described lands was a slashing, from which bark and logs had been taken, only a small amount remaining in the woods; but there were several hundred cords in the adjoining woods that were saved. It was necessary to

leave a man on watch for several days, as 1t was a very dry time.

Mr. J. E. Barnabee, firewarden for the town of Masonville, Delaware county,

N. Y., reports:

August 2d, 1900. About seventy-five acres were burned over, one-half of which was brush land. The fire was caused by a man who was burning a fallow and let it escape from his premises. ‘The damage was done principally to the property of this man who was to blame. The fight was made to keep the fire out of a large tract of valuable timber on the east, and it had to be fought day and night.

Mr. H. B. Sewell, firewarden for the town of Sidney, Delaware county, N. Y., reports:

August 3d, 1900. Number of acres burned over, 100; value of standing timber destroyed, $500; fifty cords of wood burned. The owner of the land where it started set fire to a pile of brush, the object of his doing so I have been unable to ascertain. It could not have been for the purpose of clearing the land, as it was worthless. The largest portion of burned territory was swampy land heretofore covered with water; but the long dry spell has dried it up, and it was very susceptible to fire. It burned very deep, and for a long time. Around the edges of the swamp the land was covered with very nice spruce, which belonged to the man who started the fire, and who evidently tried hard to extinguish it after it got out. He knew who the firewarden was, but he neglected to give me any notice. I was notified on August 11th, at seven-thirty p. M., and was on the ground with twelve men at nine p. mM. I remained night and day until the fire was under control. The firewarden from the town of Masonville, with a party of men, was also

present.

BUCKLIN, PHOTO,

MOONLIGHT IN THE ADIRONDACKS.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. ~ 153

August r1th, 1900. Number of acres burned over, thirty, of which all but ten acres was waste or brush land. Value of standing timber destroyed, $50. About twenty acres of woods were also burned. This fire started about two P. M., by sparks that came froma freight engine on the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad. I notified the railroad employees to take care of it, and so did not order out any men. Nearly fifty acres of meadow land have been burned .over this summer in Sidney by the railroad company. They are continually violating the law, and pay no attention to me when cautioned. I

shall soon bring several actions to recover damages.

Mr. Newcomb Mapes, firewarden for the town of Bethel, Sullivan county, N. Y., reports:

May 7th, r900. Number of acres burned, 400; value of standing timber destroyed, $200. This fire was started by John Robb to burn a fallow, without notifying the fire- warden or any one else. He wanted to burn some clumps of brush, and the fire continued to burn through the night, keeping within bounds and control until the afternoon of the 8th, when it escaped and run through the woods, driven at great speed by a high wind, for about two miles. I had been attending to another fire in another part of the town, and on my return I got word that a fire was coming very fast directly toward White Lake. As we were in great danger, I immediately ordered out all the men in the neighborhood ; but before we got to the place we had a heavy shower of rain, which extinguished the fire, so there was no expense to the town for fighting it.

May 8th, t900. Between 300 and 4oo acres of land burned over, on Brodhead Tract, Great Lot 16, Hardenburgh Patent. All waste land; damage very trifling; -alled out nine men; total number of days labor, twelve. This fire was evidently started by some evil disposed person.

May 30th, r900. Number of acres burned over, about 1,000; value of standing timber destroyed, estimated at $500. Number of men called out, fifteen. Total number of days’ labor, one day each for fifteen men and one-half a day for ten. This fire started on a new telephone line which is being put through from Poughkeepsie to Carbondale, Pa., and it spread very rapidly. A number of valuable buildings were in great danger. I called out what men I could get, and, taking charge of them, we had the fire under control on the second day. On the third day we extinguished it altogether. The land was covered very thickly with a growth of young oaks, some hickory, pitch pine, etc. It had

not been burned over in fifteen years.

Mr. Plymouth Davis, firewarden for the town of Rockland, Sullivan county, INGGere DOLESE:

April 4th, tg00. About three acres of brush land were burned over. Ordered out five men. Fire caught somehow from stumps in a field, and would have been a bad one if I

had not seen it in time. There were some big woods with 300 cords of wood and bark

very near. I put the fire out in a patch of half-burned bushes just before it reached the

woods.

154 REPORT OF THE

April 26th, 1900. Number of acres burned, 200; value of standing timber destroyed, $1oo; all second growth. Value of fences burned, $50 or more. Cause of fire, railroad locomotive. Extinguished fire by using shovels, hoes, carrying water, and whipping the ground fires with brush and wet rags fastened to sticks. This was a big fire, and a hard one to fight. The wind blew a hurricane, but we got the fire under control. Just at night the railroad company sent up their Italians to help fight it. /

May 8th, r900. Number of acres burned, 200; value of timber destroyed, $75. Some fences also were burned. This fire ran through some underbrush and small second-. growth timber, pasture land, etc.; but the most of it was on the land of the man where the fire started. I put out a great many such fires this spring. Some of them got such a start before I saw them that I could not check them until the next day; but when I saw one in time I could stop it without much trouble. All the fires have been land fires so

far. It is raining now and I hope they will cease.

Mr. George A. Eller, firewarden for the town of Delaware, Sullivan county, INSSYiCereponts:

April roth, r900. About 225 acres of forest land burned; value of standing timber destroyed, estimated at about $2 per acre. Started from an engine on the Erie Railroad. The section gangs belonging to the railroad put out the fire and were at work before I

got there.

Mr. Hugh Donihue, firewarden for the town of Olive, Ulster county, N. Y., reports:

May 16th,:1900. About fifty acres on the Catskill Range, town of Olive, were burned over; all brush and mountain timber land. Value of timber destroyed, estimated at $50. The only cause that I can assign for this fire is that the New York boarders are passing through the place all the time and smoking. As it is very dry a cigar stub or lighted match thrown by the wayside will start a fire quickly. I would have reported this fire before, but had no blanks until Mr. Emmons, the Chief Firewarden, called on me and

left some.

Mr. Albert Vandover, firewarden for the town of Denning, Ulster county, N. Y.:

October 31st, 1900. Mr. Vandover writes to Chief Firewarden Emmons as follows: I would report that I cannot learn that any fires have occurred in the town of Denning on either State lands or lands of non-residents during the past year. I have no bills for fighting fire against the town or State, and I think the danger is past for the present year. I appointed as district firewardens the four men recommended in your first letter; also another one who is living in the northeast corner of the town, for the protection of the State lands in that vicinity, and the forests on the Peekamoose range. I felt as if all was

not safe in that locality for some time.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 155

Mr. Frank Scott, firewarden for the town of Shawangunk, Ulster county, N. Y.,

reports:

April 8th, r9g00. Number of acres burned, 400; value of standing timber destroyed, $200; value of fence burned, $100. Extinguished by back-firing along the roads and brooks. Ordered out forty-five men. Fire started by some person unknown to me. I wish there could be some way to stop this work. I would advise you to send a detective here.

May 30th, rgo0o. Fire on Lot 6, Rochester Patent, burned about fifty acres; damage to timber, estimated at $100; cause unknown. Ordered out ten men. Total time worked, seven days and five hours. We have a firebug here. I think he could be caught if I had

some one to help me, or permission to hire a man to keep him under cover.

Mr. Ezra P. Hillson, firewarden for the town of Shandaken, Ulster county, N. Y.,

reports:

August toth, t900. Number of acres burned over, twenty ; Lot 7, Division 1. Value of timber unimportant on account of inaccessible situation. Some balsam and spruce destroyed. In consequence of long-continued drought the woods and moss were in best condition to take fire and spread rapidly. It was a particularly obstinate fire, and diffi- cult to control on account of the inaccessible situation among ledges and crevices. By unceasing efforts on the part of the men employed, some of whom remained e~ duty con- tinuously from twenty-four to twenty-eight hours, the fire was held in check fairly well until rain fell during the night of the 12th and again on the 13th. It has left an ugly scar on the side of Wittenburg Mountain.

August rith, 1900. This fire burned over only one acre before it was extinguished. It was discovered in time to avoid serious consequences. It seems to have started in an old stump, where it smouldered for some time. It then spread to a long birch, which blazed up and attracted my attention.

September 17th, r900. The fire which burned over one acre, was caused by lightning. We confined it to some old logs and trees. By prompt measures we kept it under control

after several hours work.

In conclusion I desire to acknowledge the valuable services rendered by Mr. L. S. Emmons, the Chief Firewarden, in organizing the large force of men under his charge and the intelligent manner in which he has reconciled their many differences and adjudicated the perplexing questions which have so often been submitted to him in the discharge of his duties.

WIE TAM er Oxe Supt. State Forests.

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FOR

Township 40,

Totten and Crossfield Parchase, Hamilton County,

New Work State Forest Preserve, Be Ratph S. Hosmer, Field Assistant, and Eagene S: Brace, Lamberman,

Division of Forestry, U. S. Department of Agricaltare,

Preceded by

al Discassion of Conservative [Sambering and the |

(@ ater~Sjapply,

Ba Frederick H. Newetl, Hydrographer, U. S. Geological Serve.

A WOODLAND TRAGEDY,

A DISCUSSION OF CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING AND THE WATER-SUPPLY.

SUMMARY.

INTRODUCTION.

Appropriation. Object of the Working Plan.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF TOWNSHIP 40.

Topography.

THE FOREST. Forest Types. Swamp. Spruce Land. Upper Spruce Slope. FIRE.

RESERVED AREAS.

Watershed Reserve. Water Front Reserve.

MERCHANTABLE FOREST AREA.

THE ESTIMATE.

Compartments. Valuation Surveys. Volume Tables. Yield Tables. Present Stand. Future Stand of Spruce.

SPECIES TO BE LUMBERED. Spruce, Balsam, and Pine. Cedar.

Dead Spruce. 159

160 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION,

REMAINING SPECIES.

Hardwoods.

NATURAL ADVANTAGES OF TOWNSHIP 40 FOR LUMBERING.

Division of Township into Compartments. NATURAL OUTLETS FOR TIMBER.

LUMBERING—GENERAL. Lumbering by the State. The Sale of Stumpage by the State. Recommendations for Mill and Branch Railroad. Recommendations for a Dam at the Foot of Raquette Lake.

STUMPAGE VALUES OF SPECIES TO BE REMOVED.

RULES FOR LUMBERING.

Method of Marking Timber for Removal.

Method of Cutting.

Height of Stump.

Diameter Limit at Top End.

Caremim Felling, Skidding, and in Cutting Roads. Use of Timber for Skids, Corduroy, and Bridges. Lopping Tops.

Methods Preferable for Cutting Roads to the Lake. Scale Rule Advised.

Method of Scaling.

Rules for Lumbering to be Embodied in the Contract.

INSPECTION.

NAMES OF TREES MENTIONED IN WORKING PLAN.

PIA HE:

Fic. 1.— RAILROAD STATION AND STEAMBOAT WHARVES, DURANT.

Fic. 2.— STATION AND WHARF, MARION RIVER CARRY.

SHOWING CAR FLOAT WITH CAR,

Itlastrations.

; PLATE I. Fig.

1. Railroad station and steamboat wharves, Durant. 2. Station and wharf, Marion ‘River carry, showing car float with car.

Puate I].

I. South end of Forked Lake from Township 4o line. 2. West Mountain from Bluff Point, looking into Stillman Bay.

IR Aare JUL,

1. Heavy Spruce stand, Township 4o. 2. Spruce and hardwoods in mixture, Township 4o.

Pinas IDV’,

I. Balsam under Hemlock, Township 4o. 2. Spruce coming in after Aspen on old burn, West Mountain.

PLATE V.

I. Sucker Brook Bay, from proposed terminus of branch railroad and advised location of mill. 2. Terminus of Sucker Brook highway on Raquette Lake.

Prare Wl.

1. Young live Tamarack on Brandreth Lake Outlet near Forked Lake. 2. Dead Cedar on Marion River; killed by flooding.

IP /Man. WALL,

Trees on Outlet Bay thrown by ice.

[ere Nap WOU, 1. Present bridge and dam from Raquette Lake. 2. Present bridge and dam looking upstream.

IT 16+

162 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

PuatTeE IX. 1. View of proposed location for dam from original bridge piers; ele- vation of top of present dam shown by white flag. 2. Proposed location for dam irom below; original bridge piers and present dam in the background.

JENN, DC 1. View from present bridge and dam, looking downstream; piers of original bridge in the distance. 2. Stream below proposed dam site; short stillwater in the distance. Heavy stand of Pine on the right bank.

IPiLMaeD DCI

Comparative loss between chopping and sawing.

Maps.

Map of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. (Frontispiece.)

Map I. Map of State land in and around Township 4o. Map Il. Map of Township 40 showing Forest Types and Reserved Areas. Map III. Lumbering Map.

A Discassion of Conservative Lambering and the Water-Sapply.

By FREDERICK H. NEWELL. HYDROGRAPHER, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

HE protection of the forests of the mountain region of which Town- Ab ship 40 forms a part is important not only for their present and pros- pective value as sources of timber-supply, but also for their effect in supplying and regulating stream flow. Upon the proper exercise of their function as a storage reservoir depend large interests. Several important rivers rise in the Adirondack region, and it is of the utmost importance to the manufactories situated on their banks that a constant and even flow be assured. That the streams may be constantly and evenly fed it is essential that the upper watersheds be protected by forest cover. The forest breaks the force of the falling rain and prevents erosion, while the bed of humus, or forest floor, absorbs the rain and makes a natural reservoir. The absorbent forest floor, by checking the rapid run-off, stores the water which might otherwise swell the streams in freshets and keeps the brooks filled during times of drought.

Wisely lumbered, these Adirondack forests will continue to supply water in undiminished quantity to feed the streams which rise among them, if fire is kept out. Fire is the greatest enemy of the forest. It destroys not only the standing timber and the young growth, but also the leaf litter and humus which make the forest floor. In a virgin forest like that on Township 4o this layer of decaying vegetable matter is usually of considerable depth, frequently several feet, and has consequently great capacity for retaining water. In the working plan for Township 40 it has been recommended that cuttings be excluded entirely from the sum- mits and the upper slopes of the mountains, where there is the most likeli- hood of damage from erosion. With these reservations, and under the conservative lumbering advised, the supply of water from Township 4o will be neither reduced nor disturbed. Cutting to the diameter limits advised for Spruce, Pine, and Balsam will not invite erosion, since it will but slightly reduce the present density of the forest. The effect of lumbering on the

water-supply, even where the forest cover is much broken, is in itself com- 163

164 REPORT OF THE

paratively small. The real danger to the sources of water-supply is not lumbering but fire, which has too often followed the logger. Under the conservative methods recommended, the danger from fire after lumbering is practically removed.

Under the plan of lumbering proposed for Township 40, then, the forest cover will be but slightly opened, and that only for a time; the bed of humus, or the forest floor, which does more than any other part of the forest to retain and protect the water-supply, will not suffer at all in its water- conserving capacity; and the increased danger from fire which usually fol- lows lumbering will not be incurred. Consequently the water-supply would not be unfavorably affected by its adoption.

In order to complete the protection that the forests of Township 40 afford to the upper watersheds of several important streams, it is essential that something be done toward regulating these streams. A beginning has been made in the construction of a small dam for maintaining the level of Raquette Lake. It is recommended in the working plan that this dam be replaced by a permanent structure better adapted both for driving logs and for insuring a permanent water level in Raquette Lake. This level | should be marked upon the proposed dam and should govern the official in charge in keeping the level of the lake at the right point. In the work- ing plan the building of a new dam is fully discussed, and since the present level has come to be generally recognized as being the level best adapted to meet the varied interests at Raquette Lake, it has been accepted as prac- tically established.

In the construction of the dam devices can be arranged at small cost by which accurate record and computation can be made of the daily flow, thus affording facts of great value in discussing the effect of forests on water conservation, and enabling those in charge to regulate the discharge of water from the lake in such way as to insure the best conditions for driv- ing logs and for navigation. Systematic records made on different streams under varying conditions, and extending over a sufficient period to give trustworthy results, afford the most valuable source of information regard- ing stream flow. Records of this sort are especially needed at those points where the streams, though still in or near the forest, reach a large enough size to become important as feeders of the great rivers, or as sources of power. At such points the influence of the forest on the watershed can best be studied, because fewer factors enter into the problem than lower

down the stream. Comparison of watersheds generally similar in topog-

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 165

raphy but with different forest cover, as for example, a forested area with one which has been heavily cut over, will yield results from which much may be learned.

There is great need of such records in order to discuss intelligently the effects of forest upon river flow, for while it is generally recognized that forest preservation has a beneficial influence, the extent of this influ- ence has never been accurately determined, and there is wide diver- sity of opinion as to how far-reaching it is. On hardly any phase of forestry has there been more discussion than on this, and on hardly any is there so slight a basis of known fact on which to rest the argument. It is very necessary that a definite understanding be reached on this point, for on the available supply of water depend many of the greatest industries of the country. Particularly is this true of New York State, where the canals and waterways play so large a part in the domestic commerce. Furthermore, it is eminently desirable that a definite under- standing be reached of the fluctuation of streams which furnish power to mills or for navigation. The prospective manufacturer must know what to expect of a given stream before he will invest his capital in an under- taking dependent on it.

It is important to reduce these conclusions to a definite basis, “expressed, if possible, in such form as to make it possible to estimate the actual value to the people or to the State of the better regulation of the stream. For instance, if it will cost a:thousand dollars to preserve forest conditions upon a given tract, it is important to know whether the benefits thus derived will aggregate two thousand dollars or only five hundred. We can estimate the value of the timber, but the principal unknown factor is the valuation to be placed upon the improved condition of the streams. This valuation, as above stated, can be reached only when a series of meas- urements has been made of the outflow from forest tracts and from similar areas which have been denuded.

Raquette Lake is the only body of water of considerable size in Town- ship 40, but the above statement applies to all lakes and ponds within the Adirondacks. One of the first steps in preparing to formulate a scheme of forest protection for the benefit of the water-supply should be a study of the uses of the water, and of how the flow should be regulated to make the benefit the largest possible. This work should be undertaken wherever practicable on the streams of the Adirondacks, and especially at such loca- tions as the proposed dam at the Outlet of Raquette Lake. These exami-

166 REPORT OF THE

nations, together with a thorough knowledge of the fluctuation of the lower streams and of the utilization of the water by mills or municipalities, will

lead to a definite understanding of a highly important subject.

Sammary.

The conclusions reached by the Division of Forestry of the United States Department of Agriculture after a thorough study of the forest problems of Township 40 are briefly summarized below. A detailed dis- cussion of these conclusions follows in the working plan.

First. Under the systematic and conservative system of management advised in this working plan there would be no interference whatever with the value of the forest as a conserver of the water-supply. To this end ample reservations are recommended, which would thoroughly protect the watersheds and preserve the lake shores from damage. ‘This statement as to watersheds and water-supply has been confirmed by Mr. F. H. Neweil, Hydrographer of the United States Geological Survey, who, after personal examination of Township 40, has approved the recommendations made in this working plan. Particular attention would be given to the protection of the mountain summits and the natural beauties of Raquette Lake. Only the mature softwood timber would be cut, and that under close restrictions and constant supervision.

Second. Township 40 is a well-timbered township, on which there is a sufficiently heavy stand of mature Spruce to insure profitable lumbering under economical and conservative methods. There is also mature Pine and Balsam which should be cut.

Third. The topography of this township makes lumbering compara- tively easy, since the greater part is tributary to Raquette Lake, which occupies the center of the township. The Raquette Lake Railway is at present the only means of getting the timber from Township 40 to the market. With the improvement of the river between Raquette and Forked Lakes, which is strongly advised in this working plan, a second outlet would be secured for the timber on the greater part of Township 4o, and also for all other timber tributary to Raquette Lake. The improvement of this river, so that logs might be driven from Raquette Lake, would make a material improvement in the bids submitted for the stumpage.

Fourth. Township 40 is covered by virgin forest. In a forest of this

character the annual decay of the overmature trees offsets the annua!

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 167

growth. Each year many large trees die, or are blown down and decay. These mature trees, if harvested, would yield a considerable revenue, and at the same time, the producing power of the forest being unimpaired, the conditions of growth would be improved. Under conservative lumbering successive crops may be cut from this forest at recurring intervals for an indefinite period.

Fifth. Under practical forestry, this tract would yield a sustained revenue. By the adoption of a conservative and carefully devised system of lumbering, such as that advised in the working plan for Township 4o, the State would receive a sustained and increasing income from the Forest Preserve. This would bring about the right use of the forest resources of the State lands without in any way interfering with the objects for which the Forest Preserve was created, and without injury to its natural beauties.

From this statement it will be seen that the lumbering of the softwood timber under forest management is safe, practicable, and can be readily made profitable financially; that lumbering under the rules incorporated in the present working plan would tend to improve the condition of the forest, and increase its productive capacity; that such lumbering would remove overmature trees which by deterioration and decay offset the production of the forest in sound timber; that by such lumbering the productive capacity of the forest would be increased; and that all this may be accomplished wholly without interference with the water-supply or with any of the other objects of the Preserve.

The Division of Forestry therefore recommends that the necessary steps be taken to secure the lumbering of Township 40 by conservative methods.

Thorough supervision of the lumbering advised in this working plan for Township 40, by trained men, is essential to the improvement of the forest, to a sustained supply of timber, and to the preservation of the water- supply. Upon the efficiency of the supervision will depend the success of the results obtained by adopting this working plan.

Introdaction.

The New York State Forest Preserve comprises an area of 1,370,928 acres, of which 1,290,987 are in the Adirondack Preserve, and 79,941 in the Catskill Preserve. This large public reservation was set apart to ‘‘ be forever reserved, maintained and cared for as ground open for the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure and as forest lands, neces-

168 REPORT OF THE

sary to the preservation of the headwaters of the chief rivers of the State, and a future timber supply; and shall remain part of the Forest Preserve.” For these purposes it was essential to preserve the forests and so important was it considered to put them beyond the possibility of destruction that in 1894 an amendment to the Constitution was adopted prohibiting abso- lutely the cutting or sale of any timber on land owned by the State within the Forest Preserve. Additions to the Preserve are made by the Forest Preserve Board. Its administration is in the hands of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, whose engineer, the Superintendent of State Forests, has “ charge of all work connected with the care and custody of the Forest Preserve:

Besides protecting the water-supply and furnishing a recreation ground, the Preserve is destined to become of great value to the people of the State as a permanent source of timber-supply. Far from being inconsistent with the other interests for which it is maintained, its conservative utilization for this purpose will rather advance them. Experience has shown that the great enemy of the forest is fire, not lumbering. Forestry, the aim of which is to harvest successive crops, must protect and improve the forest. This: it does by removing the mature trees in such a way that reproduction of the forest is secured, and its continued productive existence is maintained. The trees which have passed their prime give place to a vigorous young growth, which, properly handled and protected, makes certain the future usefulness of the forest as a source of timber-supply. At the same time its beauty remains unimpaired and its general condition is improved.

Realizing the importance of a systematic and conservative plan for the management of the State forests along these lines, the Forest, Fish and Game Commission requested the cooperation of the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture in the study of the forest conditions of the Adiron- dack Preserve. The request was made in the face of the existing amend- ment to the Constitution, adopted in 1894, which governs the Forest Pre- serve. This amendment reads as follows:

“ The lands of the State, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the Forest Preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.” (

It is understood that the main object of the Commission in making the request for the cooperation of the Department of Agriculture in the

PLATE II.

Fic. 1.— SOUTH END OF FORKED LAKE.

FROM TOWNSHIP 40 LIN

Fic. 2,— WEST MOUNTAIN FROM BLUFF POINT.

LOOKING INTO STILLMAN BAY.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 169

study of the Adirondack Preserve was to set before the people of the State the reasons why the above clause in the Constitution should be so modified that the forest might be properly utilized and administered. These reasons are set forth in this working plan. The request was made under the terms of an offer by which the Department of Agriculture, through the Division of Forestry, offers to cooperate with owners in the preparation of working plans for forest lands which present favorable conditions for systematic and

conservative management.* APPROPRIATION.

Under the timberland agreement of the Division of Forestry, the sala- ries of the agents of the Division are paid by the Department of Agricul- ture, while the owner of the land pays their expenses for traveling and subsistence. To meet the initial expenses of the work requested by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, the Legislature of the State of New York during the session of 1900 appropriated $2,000. This was to be expended by the Superintendent of State Forests “for the payment o7 the expenses of experts furnished by the United States Bureau of Forestry for estimating standing timber and other information regarding the lands and trees in the Forest Preserve.” :

It was decided by the Superintendent of State Forests and the Forester of the United States Department of Agriculture that the first working plan should be made for the tract known as Township 40, in Hamilton County, which contains Raquette Lake. Here, during the summer of rgo0, the necessary field work was carried out by a party from the Division of Forestry, assisted by the three foresters of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission.

OBJECT OF THE WORKING PLAN.

The main purpose of this working plan is to outline a method of man- agement under which the merchantable timber may be cut in such a manner that successive crops may be obtained and the condition of the forest con- stantly improved.

In order to decide how to make the first cutting so as to insure suc- cessive crops within a reasonable time and at a profit to the owner (in this case the State of New York), it 1s necessary to know the present stand of timber and of immature trees, and what the rate of growth of the latter

will be after the mature trees have been removed. The making of the

* Practical Assistance to Farmers, Lumbermen, and Others in Handling Forest Lands. Circular 21, Division of Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, October, 1898.

170 REPORT. OF THE

necessary measurements, with a thorough study of the habits and repro- duction of the principal species, constitutes the chief field work incident to the preparation of the working plan, while the plan itself sets forth the advised method and manner of treatment.

In this study of a portion of the Adirondack Preserve, the intention has been to devise a system whereby the forest may be utilized without sacrificing the objects for which the Preserve is held.

In the preparation of a forest working plan, the first step is necessarily a thorough study of the quality and amount of the merchantable timber and of transportation and market. A definite understanding of these things is necessary alike for the lumberman and for the forester. It is the basis on which each of them must form his judgment as to the amount of timber on the land, the diameter limit to which he may cut, the area to be logged over, and the probable profits to be obtained. Such a study of the whole situation is essential if the work is to be financially profitable.

There are, however, two points of view from which this situation may be regarded. The lumberman is primarily interested in the present crop and seeks the most profitable method of harvesting all the merchantable timber with little or no thought for the future. The forester, on the other hand, is concerned not only with the profitable lumbering of the mature timber, but with lumbering it in such a way that the forest may be lumbered again and again. In these two points of view lies the radical difference between the lumberman and the forester.

The forest working plan is dependent on a knowledge of the future growth of the commercially important trees, for on the amounts which can be cut in the future, and on the time which must elapse before such cuts can be made, depend in large measure what the present cut shall be, how much shall be lumbered, and how many years must intervene between cuts. It is highly important that the figures on which these esti- mates are based should be accurate. To insure this, a very careful method of estimating standing timber has been adopted by the Division of Forestry, by which not only is the stand of merchantable timber found, but also the stand of the smaller trees from which the future harvests are to come. The method is explained in detail later (page 25). The estimates of future yield are made by counting on felled trees the annual rings on the stump and at the top of each log, by careful diameter and height measurements, and by other means which aid in reading the life history of the trees. From a large number of these measurements tables are constructed, showing the

a MAP OF

TOWNSHIP 40,

TOTTEN & CROSSFIELD 4

PURCHASE 4 HAMILTON COUNTY

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LEGEND - Conlourinteryal 20 feet Datum is mean sea level Trails represented thus: —-------——- Roads S 2 SS——— Township lines 5 Town % - ese

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. WA

number of years required by the trees to grow one inch in diameter on the stump. The present stand of small trees on a given area, and their rate

of growth being known, the future stand and yield may be predicted.

General Description of Township 4o.

Township 40 lies in what is known as the Totten and Crossfield Pur- chase. It is situated in the west central section of the Adirondack Park, in the northwest portion of Hamilton County, and forms part of the town of Long Lake. The situation of Township 40 in the Adirondack Park is shown on the frontispiece map. It forms, with adjoining State lands, one of the largest and most compact blocks of State land within the limits of the Park. Referring to Map I, it will be seen that Township 40 is bounded wholly on two sides and partly on a third by State land, all of which is covered by virgin forest. On the east side, on the south half of Township 35, the State does not own the softwood timber, which was reserved when the tract was acquired.

The lines of Township 40, in common with those of other tracts in the Totten and Crossfield Purchase, run N. 63° E. and N. 27° W. These lines are known among the Adirondack surveyors as “ten and two o'clock lines,” signifying that shadows would be thrown along the lines at the hours named. The lines running N. 63° E., which will be referred to as the north and south lines, are, approximately, 6 miles in length. The east and west lines are about 63 miles. The total area is 25,660 acres.

The township is reached by the Raquette Lake Railway, the terminus of which is Durant, on the shores of Raquette Lake. This railroad makes track connection with the Adirondack branch of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad at Clearwater, 19 miles from Durant, bringing Raquette Lake within 77 miles, by rail, of Utica on the main line.

A steamboat line on Raquette Lake connects Durant with Blue Moun- tain Lake, while another line to Long Lake via Forked Lake is projected. At Durant are ample wharves, where steamboats can conveniently load, and a car float conveys loaded freight cars to Blue Mountain Lake or to a whari at the lower end of Raquette Lake. (PI. I, figs. 1 and 2.)

TOPOGRAPHY.

There are three watersheds on Township 4o, the largest and most important containing Raquette Lake, which lies in the middle of the town- ship. Raquette Lake is part of the Raquette River drainage system, and

2 REPORT OF THE

receives the waters of Blue Mountain Lake, one of the principal sources of the Raquette River, through Eagle Lake, Utowana Lake, and Marion River. The other important streams which flow into Raquette Lake are South and Brown’s Tract inlets, and Sucker, Boulder, and Beaver brooks.

The waters of Raquette Lake flow into Forked Lake, thence through Long Lake into the Raquette River, and at last into the St. Lawrence. [ts altitude is 1762 feet above sea level.

Of the two other watersheds on Township 40, one is formed by the low hills along the lake shore and the mountains north and west of the lake, which include Nigger Head and Pilgrim. This watershed is tributary to Forked Lake and Brandreth Lake Outlet. The latter flows across the northern part of the township from west to east and empties into an arm of Forked Lake, extending into Township 40. (Pl. II, fig. 1.) This stream drains Brandreth Lake on Township 39, and is an important feature in the topography of Township 4o. :

The third watershed lies on the southwestern slopes of West Mountain, and drains into the Big Moose Lake system.

West Mountain ts the highest point on the township; its altitude is 2919 feet above the sea. (PI. Il, fig. 2.) Nigger Head and Pilgrim mountains are each a trifle over 2800 feet. While the elevation of these mountains is not great, their steep sides and rugged summits give the township a dis- tinctly mountainous character, which is the more noticeable from the absence of other peaks in the immediate vicinity. Between the lake and the higher mountains to the north and west the land is broken by hills. On the south side the mountains rise more abruptly, although they are not as high as those on the north and west sides. Along several of the inlets there is low, swampy land and some open marsh, but in general the ground is elevated.

The prevailing rock is granite, often exposed on the mountains and along the lake front. Where mineral soil appears on the surface it is a sandy gravel of glacial origin; but-for the most part the ground is covered by a deep layer of vegetable matter. This is replaced by muck in the swamps. There are several sandy beaches along the lake shore, but the banks are generally rocky and covered with trees to the water’s edge.

Topographically, the dominant feature is Raquette Lake. Occupying the center of the township and with its many miles of shore line, broken by numerous points and large bays and by several picturesque islands, it gives character to the tract, and makes Township 4o one of the most interesting

of the State’s holdings.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 17

iS)

The Forest.

The forest on Township 40, in common with that of the larger part of the Adirondack plateau, is a mixed forest of broadleaf (hardwood) and coniferous (softwood) trees, the latter predominating. The principal species are, in the order in which they occur: *Spruce, Yellow Birch, Bal- sam, Hemlock, Beech, Hard Maple, and White Pine. With these are associated Arborvitae, commonly known as Cedar, Black Spruce, Tama- rack, Red or Norway Pine, Soft Maple, and White Birch, with scattered White Ash and Black Cherry. Aspen, commonly known as Poplar, and Bird Cherry are found on the burned-over land. The underbrush is mainly Witch Hobble, Striped Maple or Moosewood, and Mountain or Spotted Maple.

Spruce so largely predominates on Township 40 that it makes this a characteristic Spruce township. This species forms 46% of the trees in

mixture.

Forest Types.

In order to classify the forest and to make a more correct estimate of the standing timber, it is usual to recognize forest types. These depend largely on the situation, which to a considerable degree modifies the character of the forest, on the distribution of the various kinds of trees, and on their ‘habits of growth.

On Township 40 the forest falls naturally into three principal types, which have been called Swamp, Spruce Land, and Upper Spruce Slope. The merchantable area of the forest (see Map II) contains only Swamp and Spruce Land. The area marked Summit Watershed Reserve on the maps

is the Upper Spruce Slope land. SWAMP.

The Swamp type includes the low-lying land along the main streams and inlets. It covers 1,977 acres, or 12% of the merchantable area. In general, the elevation of the swamps is only slightly higher than that of the lake. Small areas of open marsh occur near the mouths of some of the streams, but most of the swamp land is covered by forest.

* Wherever the word Spruce is used alone throughout this working plan it means the Red Spruce (Picea rubens Sargent).

174 REPORT OF THE

The characteristic species of the swamps are Spruce, Balsam, Cedar, Black Spruce, White Pine, and Tamarack. Within the swamps are found gravelly knolls, slightly elevated flats, and low ridges rising out of typical swamp land. On these occur White Pine and Hemlock in addition to Spruce, Balsam, and a few hardwoods.

On the lowest and most poorly drained land, immediately along the streams, grow the Tamarack and Cedar. The Tamarack in the Adiron-

-dacks suffered very heavily several years ago from a saw-fly worm, which

destroyed nearly all of the large trees. A living mature Tamarack is now rare on Township 40. In addition, the continued annual flooding of the low ground bordering the inlets of Raquette Lake, caused by the dam which maintains the lake at a proper level for steamboat traffic, has killed practically all the young Tamarack as well as the Cedar growing on this ground.

It should be said here that the damage done by flooding is caused, not by the presence of very high water for a short time, but by holding the water above the normal level for considerable periods at a season of the year when tree growth is going on.

Cedar is also found scattered along the lake shores and bordering some | of the brooks in the better drained Swamp and Spruce Land types. It reaches its best development in the latter situation, where the trees Io inches and over at breastheight average 14 inches in diameter and 51 feet in height.

The Black Spruce found in the swamps is a small, spindling tree, of no commercial value. It is found on slightly higher ground than the Tama- rack, and usually forms a pure stand. The Balsam is common in the dryer swamps, where trees 10 inches and over at breastheight average I1.1 inches in diameter and 63 feet high.

The White Pine in the forest of the Swamp type is limited to the gravelly knolls and low ridges. The Red Spruce is found on the better drained portions of Swamp, in mixture with the Balsam and Cedar, and on the ridges and low hills. While not reaching its best development, it is here of fair size and is the most important species in this type of forest, as in all parts of the township.

The following table was obtained by counting the trees and measuring their diameters on 90 sample acres in the Swamp type. It shows the

average number of trees per acre, the average and maximum diameters of

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 175

each species, and the percentage in mixture for all sound trees 10 inches

and over in diameter breasthigh.

TABLE No. 1.—SWAMP.

Average of go acres. Sound trees fo inches and over in diameter breasthigh.

Average number of Percentage of ANGIE sles sienna NAME OF SPECIES. ieee each species. diameter diameter Eons breasthigh. | breasthigh. Inches. Inches. SPRUCE ti sule ese los See sw sas Sa oernee cee selec = 14.58 39-90 13-5 32 IBinchiawsstioscos Sheeecee cass sceecsmese ensees 2.72 7-44 16.5 29 STON Se seas oesoane cee aoe OOO bes Ser naEsec 03 -08 Qe ¥ 15 FlardeMaplevsssmsris sesises seco eee ee eee Bor -84 14-5 20 lnIGHNE eB Set Banc so DASH cosbes pacoEe ceo sce 1.94 5-30 15.0 27 Balsam) seeerssnc es ees aoe Suse cree oaaiseieees 9-32 25-55 Ir I 18 Softe Vapleses esac. seer ee cin oosien yo see -29 -79 17-5 20 VAS IRIS. ao55 Sone eooneSee seco cess SuSscods 1.23 3-36 25-1 60 (Ged arene semanas cite janes edo ncemaesesee ee 5-68 15-54 13.3 25 Otbershardwoodssa=s5 hee se ee eee eee -44 120 13.6 | 21 pAvera ce Ofallllspecies see. =a ieee se ieer 36.54 100.00 — 13.6 25-7 Average of all species except Spruce. -.....-..-. 21.96 60.10 We 25

SPRUCE LAND.

This type includes the larger part of Township 4o. It covers 14,919 acres, or 88% of the merchantable forest area. A general characteristic is that it is well-drained; it embraces the rising ground and the lower mountain slopes. Red Spruce is the predominant species, making 47% of the trees in mixture. The principal species associated with the Spruce are Yellow Birch, Balsam, Beech, Hemlock, Hard Maple, and White ine:

The Spruce reaches its best individual development in mixture with the hardwoods, on the lower slopes of the mountains. (PI. III, figs. 1 and 2.) For the trees 10 inches and over in diameter at breastheight the average diameter is 14.2 inches and the average height 72 feet. The

maximum diameter is 35 inches.

176 REPORT OF THE

: On this type the hardwoods attain good diameter and height and reach their highest percentage in the mixture. Balsam is more common on the lower portions of the Spruce Land and on the flats, but is found in mixture throughout the forest. (Pl. IV, fig. 1.) The Hemlock grows best on the lower slopes of the principal mountains, where it is found in mixture with Spruce and hardwoods. It shows a marked tendency to grow in groups. © The White Pine on this type is found mainly along the lake shores, where it seeks the sandy banks, growing pure or mixed with the Red (Norway) Pine.

On the Spruce Land, 953 acres were measured. A summary of the

results obtained is given in the following table:

TABLE No. 2.—SPRUCE LAND.

Average of 953 acres. Sound trees 10 inches and over in diameter breasthigh.

eee Average Maximum number of | Percentage of j

Ne ad ea trees | each species, | ee. fate

er acre, ‘s Inches. Inches. Spruce . .--- +--+ 22+ see ces e222 2 ee eee cone 24.23 46.17 14.2 35 TON cooace cadada pa66 2550 coos Sade Ssoues anes 8.98 17-11 19.0 42 Beechsietaeencens iO BQOCOU edScad C00 SuadicESG 4-70 8.95 153 30 Hard Maple tet peel soem eae 3-76 7-16 15-1 32 lets s S5G5a6 couso0 ceiboes Gone c5s4 6408 adcc 4 66 8.88 17.8 47 BRIG cobs acon cdo ono coDuES bane Gets o5G060 4.82 9-18 II.4 24 Sorte MEI 555 secoun csse cos Baqusecd cosa bene -45 -86 16.1 31 AMM, JBHOS Shaq caan seca suco Saou GuoN SUDO Gone -40 E78 26.5 49 (Cader Goce addon nosis aoécos pono eacd dene anne -32 -61 14.0 25 @thershardwoodsteceserecscer- rine cece ely, 32 15-4 28

Average ofsallispecies=emetsiseee estes lies 52.49 100.00 15.4 34.3

Average of all species except Spruce..-..--..-. 28.26 53-83 16.4 34.2

UPppER SPRUCE SLOPE.

The third type, Upper Spruce Slope, has been made to include the summits and steep upper slopes of the chief mountains on the township.

The lower limits of this type vary with locality, but seldom extend below

PLATE III.

Fic. 1.— HEAVY SPRUCE STAND.

TOWNSHIP 40.

Fic. 2.—SPRUCE AND HARDWOODS IN MIXTURE.

TOWNSHIP 40.

a

Ta

AN foe

4 SNe Ree Gea at hae me a tas Bh eer

pl atest cd

“I

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 17

an elevation of 2400 feet. This includes the summits of West, Pilgrim, and Nigger Head mountains and Bluff Point Hill.

Spruce predominates, with a subordinate mixture of Birch, Hard Maple, Beech, and Balsam. The trees in this type suffer from poor soil and exposure, and do not reach the height of those in more favorable and sheltered situations. They often become.stunted toward the mountain tops. The following table gives the average of the 37 acres of Upper Spruce Slope measured:

TABLE No. 3.—UPPER SPRUCE SLOPE.

Average of 37 acres. Sound trees 10 inches and over in diameter breasthigh.

Average 9 Average Maximum AM OF SEGRE number of | Percentage of Pe awe ; sage each: species: breasthigh. | breasthigh. per acre. Inches. Inches. ‘'SMUSS 6 so5c50 Sond BuO adosEeBeOrOCoEO SaneeS 29.68 62.21 13-9 34 inch weston mete aie aa nical oe wo: cic ceases 8.62 15.07 19.7 34 IBECCH ence tie aan ae cris ecietelels cn sicoeceencee 3-38 7-08 15.0 26 iardeMaplempereeeintisicss-joss c= 2 sSeeiease 4-38 9.18 17-4 28 Hem | Ockwmectyee sta -locccocieces -lcecelsesees -62 1.30 WET, 30 Bal same ese soe en neal aos weros soc eeecie seas -76 1.59 12.0 17 Soft Maple --....-..-------.-----+---------- -19 -40 15-4 18 @therghardwoodsteser-ss.s =scc1--sseseseeeece -08 B17 14.5 17 Average of all species........-----. sponge e550 47-71 100.00 15-4 24.5 Average of all species except Spruce. ..-.....-. 18.03 37-79 17.8 24-5 Pire.

The forest on Township 40 has been unusually free from damage by fire. The burned areas, indicated on the maps by shading, are small in extent and in importance. The only burn of recent date is one of about five acres, which occurred during the summer of 1899. Mention of this burn is made in the report of the Superintendent of State Forests to the Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission for that year.*

*Preliminary Report to the Fifth Annual Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries,Game and Forest. Albany,

1900. 12

178 REPORT OF THE

All the other burns on this township are old, dating back from 20 to 50 years. These old burns have largely grown up to White Birch, Cherry, and Aspen, followed by Spruce and hardwoods, which now form a vigorous young stand on these areas. (Pl. IV, fig. 2.) All told, the burns on the township form only 1% of the forested area.

Reserved Areas.

WATERSHED RESERVE.

One of the chief values of the Adirondack Preserve is in the preserva- tion of the upper watersheds of important rivers. Nowhere is this more important than on steep upper slopes where the soil and ground cover are in danger of being washed away unless protected by forest growth.

To protect these upper slopes, it is recommended that the part of Township 40 which has been classed as Upper Spruce Slope should not be lumbered. On account of the heavy winds to which these mountain slopes are exposed the forest might as well be cut clean if cut at all, in lumbering such areas. If only a portion of the trees were removed, those left stand- ing would be in great danger from wind on account of the increased exposure. If a clean cutting were made, a long time must elapse before another crop could be obtained, and reproduction is likely to be rendered difficult.

The timber on these upper slopes is of minor value, because the cost of lumbering it would so nearly equal the returns that the margin of profit would be exceedingly low. Another side of the question, and one which is of importance at Raquette Lake, is that a clean cutting on the steep slopes would seriously mar the beauty of the mountains as seen from the lake.

For these reasons it is strongly recommended that nothing be done in the forests on the upper slopes. These areas appear on Map II as “Summit Watershed Reserve.”

WatTeER FRONT RESERVE.

In order to preserve the beauty of Raquette Lake another reserve is recommended, on which no cutting should be allowed. This consists of a belt along the shores of the lake and of Marion River. It has a minimum

width of 200 feet, and is frequently much wider, as a glance at Map IL

MAP OF | TOWNSHIP 40,

TOTTEN & CROSSFIELD PURCHASE

LEGEND

Contour interval 20 feet

Datum is mean sea level Trails represented thus: ___ Roads a = Township lines :

Town iat) Me, AteM IETS eprint nite

Waterkiromt 2000 ae SummitWatershed

Tess MERCHANTABLE AREA

Spruce Land _ fete A | Swamp —_- ree 2 SS i

Private Lands in Twp. 40 White

| MAP OF es ae TOWNSHIP 40,

TOTTEN & CROSSFIELD

PURCHASE HAMILTON COUNTY IN. YG Y).

Les B. t s (Wort Point

LEGEND

Contourinteryal 20 feet

Datum is mean sea level Se . ) Compiled and drawn Trails represented thus: ___ : y Rie / < ¢ Veg il \ AUN

Roads, Z é fi ; SS bay y, WY La Township lines ONE : :

from Town

U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MAPS

and Ane RECONNOISSANCE | WaterFront- es We i by StimmitWatershed a : Wi <A [ } KHAN UNV Ss eee mT TH —— Fp 4 {i Sa apes MERCHANTABLE, AREA ~ : SprocelLand : ce) a PrivateLands in Twp. 40. White

JAMES B. LYON, STATE PRINTER

A _aretslans emery tensa. erie sahesovc peel gee cen neath he Soke bei spacer af alae Pr its aN “ a " > ff k eS ; ity! 5

Onna ah

Se RNR RD BPS av. ine 2 cp fe cL le CARD AP RS HE POSE ALAN REINA

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 179

will show. All the islands belonging to the State and several of the large points have been included, while at certain points also the belt widens inland, as, for example, along the north side of Marion River, where it 1s made to include the large pines which add so much to the beauty of that bank.

With a reserve along the whole water front the beauty of Raquette Lake would be unimpaired by lumbering. To a casual observer all traces of cutting would be completely hidden, for the logging roads cut through to the lake would be so located, as is explained later in this working plan, that no “ slash ’”’ would be visible from any part of the lake.

Map II shows the three forest types referred to in the three pre- ceding tables (the Upper Spruce Slope and the Summit Watershed Reserve being identical) and the Water Front Reserve. It shows also all the private holdings within Township 40, as given in the “ List of Lands belonging to the Forest Preserve, 1897,” a report of the Superintendent of State Forests. These private holdings have been left uncolored.

Merchantabie Forest Area.

The Spruce Land and the Swamp types combined made the merchant- able forest area, and it is with this portion of the tract that the working plan has to deal. As already said, the total area of Township 4o is 25,660 acres. The following statement shows the area of the water surfaces,

various reserves, burns, etc.:

Raquette Lake and its islands, all streams, open marshes, and the ace

NVsten MT Ont Neseivest een er ENE Se Somaya a 7 288 EeaivateshOldin os... <3 -a tee ieee a ee tran wea ede aek ee eae 766 Summit Watershed Reserve and burned areas outside of reserve. 710 S/DAUGSN Be ial erase tn oho com <2 Ste te ees OD 14 919

SSMALMIA) cops. 3S oc edo ota a: 0 ocacctr eR Re On 1977 16896

Soles) ene ar eRe IR Te eS 3 cha GicaNra Do hana ees eye eae 25 660

180 REPORT OF THE

The following table presents the average results obtained on the 1 043 sample acres included in the entire merchantable area: TABLE No. 4.—MERCHANTABLE AREA.

(Spruce Land and Swamp combined. ) Average of 1,043 acres. Sound trees ro inches and over in diameter breasthigh.

Average Average Maximum number of Percentage of g Ne ET OH Rea trees each species. diameter Giameey per acre. breasthigh. breasthigh. Inches. Inches. SNAMUCO 5 sous isc0Ges S00 Heap diEs Sood. gaNceG sees 23-40 |. 45-75 14 0 35 Birch 2s gee eeciciteta saree ees eee cepemiene 8.44 16.50 19.0 42 IBSSI0, GRE SASS Seddon bac coduIsdadon SoUg DoS6a6 4.30 8.41 15-3 30 lelergal WETS sk coouiados 6obd dood GedekS ooQouE 3-47 By027o 15.1 32 Hemlock ee oie erie ste ccs Rasa aerenersiee 4-43 8.66 755) 47 Balsam. . sjceere seis Noe cee eee Se ote eeetoatenr eee 5-21 10.19 11.4 24 Soft Maple sssee28 aoe csed sareaeecivec en eeecee -44 86 16.1 31 Wihite.Pinessc: cui cnet eceeeetaes oe eee -48 -94 25.6 60 OSGI Ee s CESS Ga bche aoc Gbused Ssoasesuesebop -78 1.52 1380) 25 Other hardwoods.<2:2 by Ben oe -20 -39 15.1 28 Averagevoimallispeciesteat sees ee rieer sierra 51.15 100.00 15.2 35-4 Average of all species except Spruce .......-.. 27 75 54-25 16 2 35-4

The Estimate.

One of the most important steps in the preparation of a working plan is the measurement of standing timber and of the rate of growth of the more important trees. On these measurements are based tables giving the present stand and the future yield, and from them conclusions are drawn regarding the trees to be cut and the restrictions under which lumbering should be carried on. The method by which were obtained the necessary data on Township 4o for all the tables included in this working plan may now be described.

COMPARTMENTS.

To facilitate the estimate of standing timber, the township was divided into six compartments, depending on and following the natural divides.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 181

The advantage of a number of compartments of moderate size lies in the fact that the average acre more nearly represents the condition throughout the compartment than if the area were larger and more diversified in char- acter. These compartments are shown by Roman numerals on map III. In dividing the township for lumbering purposes they fall naturally into three lumbering blocks, which with the compartments, are fully described

later in this working plan (page 208).

VALUATION SURVEYS.

To estimate the standing timber on Township 40, valuation surveys were made. The object of a valuation survey is to ascertain the number of trees of the various kinds on sample acres, and their diameters. These sample acres are ordinarily strips one chain (66 feet) wide and 1o chains (660 feet) long. On Township 40 they were run on compass courses and so laid off at regular intervals and between definite points as thoroughly to gridiron it. They started from fixed stafions about a quarter of a mile apart. Each survey party was made up of four men. Two carried the chain; one of these held the course and directed the party, while the other tallied the trees. A separate tally was kept for each acre. The other two men advanced to right and left of the chain, each measuring the diameter of the trees on his side within 33 feet of the chain. These measurements were obtained by calipers, and were taken at breastheight, or 43 feet above the ground.

Red and Black Spruce and Balsam were calipered to 5 inches, and Pine, Hemlock, and the hardwoods to 10 inches, only sound trees being taken. One thousand and eighty valuation survey acres were measured on the township, distributed as follows among the forest types: Spruce Land, 953; Swamp, 90; Unper Spruce Slope, 37. Disregarding the Upper Spruce Slope, there are I 043, so that for every sixteen acres of merchantable forest land, one acre has been measured.

Together with the valuation surveys, the height of the principal species was obtained by actual measurements with an instrument for that purpose known as Faustman’s Hypsometer.

From the valuation surveys were obtained the number of trees per acre of the merchantable species, classified according to diameters by inches. From these diameter classes the merchantable yield per acre was obtained

by the use of tables constructed from actual scales of felled trees, givine

1H co NSO

REPORT OF THE

the volumes which correspond to the various diameters at breastheight. In this way it was easy to calculate the stand of each and of all merchantable species for each forest type on a given compartment and for the whole

area.

VOLUME TABLES.

The contents of a tree of given diameter and height are got by the use of volume tables in conjunction with the valuation surveys. The tables have been prepared from measurements of numerous felled trees which have been carefully scaled. By counting on felled trees the annual rings of growth, and from other measurements, it has been possible to calculate their rate of growth in diameter and height, and, consequently, in volume. Knowing the rate of growth of the timber trees and their number per acre as given by the surveys, the future yield after different periods and cutting to different diameter limits, can be calculated. In the preparation of the volume tables for this working plan, advantage was taken of lumbering which was in progress during 1900 on the Brandreth Preserve (Township 39) under the supervision of the Division of Forestry. Eleven hundred Spruce trees and 200 Hemlock were scaled. In calculating the contents of these Spruce in standards,* the trees were scaled to 6 inches in diameter at the small end. The advisability of this particular diameter limit will be discussed in detail later in this working plan (p. 227). As all stumps were cut low under the supervision of the Division of Forestry, it is believed that the volume table shows all that can be got from a tree of the given height and diameter. The volume was figured in standards, the rule in common use in the Adirondacks.

The volume table for Balsam was obtained from a study of this species carried on by the Division of Forestry in the northern Adirondacks, the full results of which are to be published later.

The White Pine table was constructed from volume tables in “ The White Pine,” ** modified to accord with height and diameter measure- ments of the same species taken on Township 40. The volume tables for Yellow Birch, Hard Maple, and Beech were obtained from investigations of the Adirondack hardwoods made by the Division of Forestry in 1899. The hardwood volume tables are expressed in the Old Scribner Rule.

*A standard is a log 13 feet long and 19 inches wide at the top end, containing approximately 195 feet B. M. **““The White Pine,”’ Pinchot and Graves. The Century Co, New York, 1896.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 183

In calculating the merchantable volume of Cedar, the Spruce volume table was used, a reduction of 25% being made on account of the difference in height and taper of the two species. The following table gives the con- tents on a basis of diameter at breast height of all merchantable species, except Cedar, found on the township.

TABLE No. 5.—MERCHANTABLE CONTENTS PER TREE FOR ALL MARKETABLE SPECIES EXCEPT CEDAR, ON A BASIS OF DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Contents 1N STANDARDS. Sy aera age Diameter eee Yellow Hard Spruce. White Pine. | Hemlock Balsam. Birch. Tenis Beech. Inches.

6 OS Ma eet pea iene) onl ner rene ey ROOM || cursecieten heat wees on pias eee 7 B20 pesteevesee ia |e emus BI Seacae. [er conceae welll atancees 8 -26 Beene cean lemessenceae P20 alt pose Seieiot oN hieicicierets ue ibe ketere Stee 9 BQQi ON rls ena -16 ND Bie ae tetas ial verre craw teens 10 -42 -49 -33 SOP aleieemiseien lteeeici see. alinccesmeee II -52 -60 -50 SSO iIt Sabot: = ||" Hoosoed a | escasde 12 -65 -79 -68 HOGM [Gees eon fae cae olla cemn clon 13 .80 -97 -87 ESQ ss peteica ces ill Ba eMart ale aren 14 97 1.19 1.07 EOE) sae eon alo Ras teat llraseeess 15 1.15 1.46 1.28 1.21 121 126 128 16 1.35 973 1.50 1.43 134 152 141 17 1.56 2.06 1-74 1.66 153 180 166 Me 179 Delt | TeQOIa Fe Siesiata cele 180 210 204 19 2.03 Qa Ze2Oin lh lee sans 211 242 252 20 2.29 3-14 Oe Dealer eet cree 249 276 306 21 2.58 3-55 2.87 Bae 285 310 362 22 2 89 3-96 Bie OITe u lhuseeroes 322 345 420 23 3-23 4-41 SelO |) sees ebor 359 382 479 24 3 60 4.89 3-93 sone ---- 398 424 543 25 3 98 5-37 4-33 | -------- 435 474 608 26 4-40 5-85 A) || conseade 474 534 678 27 4.86 6.35 Be 2 ins linieian ices cre 518 SOOM |e eee 28 5-36 6.89 CMT Oli lis seteeeae se 564 G7Or Uae maeince 29 5 90 7.46 GY20 Slim ese ceo 608 Toe Na Sececs

184 REPORT OF THE

TABLE No. 5—Concluded.

ConTENTS IN Boarp FEET sy ConTENTS IN STANDARDS. OLp ScriBNER RuLE. Diameter breasthigh. 2 ‘ Yellow Hard Spruce. White Pine. Hemlock. Balsam. Birch. Maple. Beach. Inches. : ) 30 6.48 8 03 6.72 sd Senda OS OHA Scere ers ze ees BT sn al eee meee 8.68 7=QOpn| eee a oeeeee FOA2 | besa sent ek eee BY 72 | io OS eoon 9-31 | enne---- tere eeee 757 a 48) | eeeectes 9-93 | -------- | -eee---- SIO Beasae | mocSas BAR ay Vise Sapa LOM 5 OMe i viele 2 ee alana SOO 25 |< ae eal aa ree 350g) leases 1G) )s | NA Beeeeenoe |p eaeueese: clin Soupes 6A ae eae BON falta meme ae TOSI Sosecooo ||) seaooese | |} s50565 HI" Jcoasee! || codecs 3) eee UACGIAL I oS5eoq0s | I ‘sodacooo: |). oS6eacq) Io a65é5a 0 if AGG006 38 oo0 WYO | Gaspacos || esaseece |] ocaae || so0ce0 |} secose 39, || wees ee ee 14-54 | | weeeenee | -------- | eee eee | eee eee | eee eee UG) ye tlt <Sebepeee eAVI WS BBaSeado {|| codspasco || coseoo “|| cocess |] coseca

YIELD TABLES. Present Stand.

The following tables show the present stand of merchantable timber for the eight commercial trees growing on Township 40. They were com- piled from the 1 043 acres of valuation surveys already mentioned and explained. In these tables the total stand’ for each compartment was obtained by multiplying the average stand got from the surveys by the num- ber of acres in the compartment. The average stand was carried out to four decimal places and then multiplied by the acreage. In order, however, to simplify and shorten the table, two of these decimal places were taken off in the final figures, for both the total stand and the average stand per acre. This explains the fact that the product of the average stand multiplied by the total number of acres in the compartment varies slightly from the product as stated in the table. This variation is so small as to have no

appreciable effect on the result.

PLATE IV.

AM UNDER HEMLOCK.

ALS

G. 1..—B

FI

TOWNSHIP 40.

OLD BURN.

N

O

ASPEN

NG IN UNDER

MI

CO

SPRUCE

Fic. 2.—

MOUNTAIN,

WEST

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 185

The following table gives in standards the present stand of Spruce on Township 40, to limits of 10, 12, and 14 inches at breastheight. The table shows also the total stand and the average stand per acre on each compart- ment for Spruce Land and Swamp, separately and combined:

TABLE No. 6.—SPRUCE—PRESENT STAND.

Merchantable Volume in Standards.

CurTine To a Limir Curtine to a Limit Curttine To a Limir oF 10 INCHES IN oF 12 INCHES IN or 14 INCHES IN

Number Diameter Breasruicu. | Diamerer Breastuicu. | DiamETER BREASTHIGH. ae Type. Acres.

Petits Average Average Average

stand Total stand. stand Total stand. stand Total stand. per acre. per acre. per acre

I ....| Spruce Land.| 3 743 | 28.77 | 107 683.12 | 24.33 | 91078 88 | 19.19 71 813.64 1) eres es < es 621 26.17 16 252 21 23.59 14 646.89 19.50 I2 109 69 NOE eE ae 56 ..| 2224 | 21.23 47212.66| 18.43 | 40994.31 | 14-89 33 105.95 IW, Sead eh --| 2678 | 20.47 | 54 811.93 | 17-13 | 45 878.48 | 13-79 36 942.74 Eee Ob Sul) Ab GS |) AR || Tan Con sr 19.51 93 590-42 15-81 75 876.60 AYA By as 855 | 27-69 23 675.60 | 24-23 20 718.79 19.68 16 826.40 po taleaats (eee es ees 14.919 | 24.17 | 360 637.33 | 20-57 306 907.77 | 16.53 246 675 .02

W so55|| SWAMDoos6 ce 685 | 14-76} 0110.60 | 11.47 7 856.95 8.33 5 706.05 Tse = SE Cetiaale hk 12 | 11.88 142.56 8.80 105 60 6.62 79-44 1OGt aoe Hh aan 252 9-51 2 396.52 7.44 1 874.88 5-79 I 459.08 LINES erase CE haere 595 | £3=60 8 092.00 | 11.03 6 562.85 8.43 5 015.85

Nisan Saleem 433 | 14-36 6 217.88 | 11.50 4979-50 9.28 4 018.24 Motallere esc oss 1977) | 13).04) 26959.56 | 10.81 21 379.78 8 23 16 278 66

T ....}) (| 4428 | 26.60 | 117 793.72 | 22.34 | 98935-83 | 17-51 77 519-69 Nears: | Spruce | 633 25-90 16 394-77 | 23-31 14 752-49 19.26 12 189.13 IQ aaa | Land and | 2476 | 20.04 49 609.18 | 17-31 42 869 19 13-96 34 565.03 IW aaah Swamp } 3 273 19.22 62 903-93 | 16.02 52 441.33 12.82 41 958.59 Wiesner | combined. | 5 231 22.41 | 117 219.69 18.84 98 569.92 15.27 79 894.84 Valet s=|\)) \ 855 | 27-69 23 675.60 | 24-23 20 718.79 19.68 16 826.40 (otal ou ess ceerse eee 16 896 | 22.94 | 387 596.89 | 19.43 | 328 287.55 15.56 262 953.68

186

REPORT OL DEE,

The following table gives in standards the present stand of Balsam on

Township 40, to limits of 10, 12, and 14 inches in diameter breasthigh.

The table shows also the total stand and the average stand per acre on each

compartment for Spruce Land and Swamp, separately and combined:

TABLE No. 7.—BALSAM—PRESENT STAND.

Merchantable Volume in Standards.

CurttinG To a Limit OF 10 INCHES IN

Curttine To a Limit OF 12 INCHES IN

CuttTine To a Limit oF 14 INCHES IN

Number D1aMET&R BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. of Sonate Type. Acres. ment. Average Average Average stand Total stand. stand Total stand. stand Total stand. per acre, per acre. per acre. Th Spruce Land.| 3 743 2.32 8 684.51 1.10 4 111.31 -40 I 481.11 LUMA ac WG 621 1.06 655-96 -50 BIlesr -20 126.13 INE SeAe ie --| 2224 3-49 7 759-09 1.84 4 102.39 -69 I 537-45 IVi 225): ot 2 678 4-42 I 845-87 DoS 6 282.05 -88 2 363.87 Vise ue - 4 798 2.65 12 730.05 1.46 6 981.09 -66 3 184 91 Vilnscce 06 855 1.96 1 672.81 1.18 I 012.75 -40 344.22 Totalsze) |e see egos: 14 919 2.91 | 43 348.29 1.53 | 22 800.90 -61 9 037-69 Ike Swamp 685 6.25 4 284.54 2.35 1 608.11 -83 568.00 IDE Se a ee 12 -79 9.48 41 4-92 -41 4.92 1000 S50 ey eee 252 2.46 620.42 1.38 347.00 ETT 192.78 IV ... (6 veeee 595 05 3,003.86 | 2.49 I 479-59 -70 413-70 W - Se neti seh 433 6.12 2 651.52 2.48 1 075.40 3 S7/ 245.08 Totaler: Wiese eecese 1977 5-35 | 10 569.82 2.28 4 515.02 72 I 424.48 Seals) (| 4428 2.93 12 969.05 1.29 5 719-42 -46 2 049-11 Te: 2 | Spruce | 633 1.05 665.44 -50 316.23 21 <- JeByo@s JURE 1a and | 2 476 3-38 8 379-51 1.80 4 449-39 -70 I 730.23 UN Tee | Swamp | 3273 | 4-54] 14849.73| 2.37 7 761-64 -85 2777-57 Waser | combined. | 5 231 2.94 15 381.57 1.54 8 056.49 - 66 3 429.99 WAL Saoc| |} l 855 1.96 1 672.81 1.18 I O12.75 -40 344.22 TGA cal iseiiaao dosece 16 896 3-19 | 53 918-11 1.62 |. 27315292 -62 10 462.17

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 187

The following table gives in standards the present stand of small Bal- sam from 6 to g inches, inclusive, in diameter breasthigh. The table shows also the total stand and the average stand per acre on each compartment for Spruce Land and Swamp, separately and combined:

TABLE No. 8.—SMALL BALSAM—PRESENT STAND.

Merchantable Volume in Standards of Trees 6 to 9 inches, inclusive, in diameter breasthigh.

Number of i com- Type. Acres. 3 Meigs stand'per Total stand. partment. sche Msaacc:- SpLuce wander neste eee 3 743 1.91 7 164.10 Tee GG ac EU RA Cn ea RS 621 -91 566 23 WNC gecsse UE ee el Pairs eR cise ineieie SORE 2 224 3-14 6 982 47 TtVen se sis RONDE ae ete rac ee RE 2 678 3-36 9 008 79 Nie 6 Bee eee BS OEE ORUESS 4 798 1.70 8 165.24 Wil cecens GA OEE Pb n eis aa SCL 855 1.03 884.58 Motal-=- =. Bee oh ss eres aaa oe alee ee rece 14 919 2.20 32 771-41 Tee aes s Walp wetedicic tea eaoee eee eeeree 685 9-05 6 199.52 Gt ia pena 7 Sagem eR Oe yas meee oe 12 2.81 33.72 1) Sea eee He SABRI EEO OGUG OOOOD0 GGOC0S Sees 252 5.98 | I 505.95 1 VE eee HONS a oaielanau are eset oa eteetelers 595 6.74 4 008.52 Warts. 2 ESCO OOnce non Saadodae san 433 6.54 2 832.17 Mota eee = 5506 6055 3600.55 5660 S500 OSdO oSS058 1977 TeB7] 14 579.88 i eeasce Spruce Land and Swamp combined. 4 428 3-02 13 363.62 II ...-.. s rs = 633 -95 599.95 Dishes ysSee OG cs Mi 2 476 3-43 8 488.42 TVire secies fe a Be 3 273 3-98 13 017-31 Vee are! ‘s se os 5 231 2.10 10 997 4I WAS eee seis “ s ae 855 1/203 884.58 Motalye- 24 cececteesosusset asses ee eeee 16 896 2.80 47 351-29

188 REPORT OF THE

The following table gives in standards the present stand of Pine on Township 40, to limits of 10, 12, and 14 inches in diameter breasthigh. In this table, *‘ Pine Land” includes that portion of each compartment upon which the stand of Pine is heavy enough to be considered. Seventy-six

per cent of the merchantable area is so classed:

TABLE No. 9.—PINE—PRESENT STAND.

Merchantable Volume in Standards.

Cuttinc To a Limit Cuttine To a Limit Cuttine Tro A Limit OF 10 INCHES IN OF 12 INCHES IN or 14 INCHES IN Number of DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. com- Type. Acres. aerate Average Average Average stand Total stand. stand Total stand. stand Total stand. per acre. per acre per acre. Ties PineLand.| 2 533 4 87 12 342 97 4-87 12 328.41 4-86 12 312.05 Oa eee ei | 500 1.54 772.00 1.50 750.70 1.50 750.70 OE oncen if | 1920} 4.04 7757-84 | 4-00 (O73-17| = 3-03 7 548-34 IV ...-.. a 3 273 1.05 3 435-23 1.05 3 435 23 1.05 3 435-23 Walesa a | 3 768 I 07 4022.84 1.07 4.022 84 1.05 3951.14 Niles seas ce | 855 .07 60.30 07 60.30 -07 60.30 | Motalleese | os ai ae | 12 849 2.21 28 391.18 2.20 28 270.65 2.18 28 057.76

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

189

The following table gives in standards the present stand of Cedar on

Township 40, to limits of 10, 12, and 14 inches in diameter breasthigh. The

table shows also the total stand and the average stand per acre on each

compartment for Spruce Land and Swamp, separately and combined:

TABLE No. 10.—CEDAR—PRESENT STAND.

Merchantable Volume in Standards,

CutTTineG To A Limit OF 10 INCHES IN

Cutrine To a Limit OF 12 INCHES IN

Cuttine To 4 Limit OF 14 INCHES IN

Number DiamMETER BreaASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. ie Type. Acres.

ment. Average Average Average

stand Total stand. stand Total stand stand Total stand. per acre. per acre. per acre.

I ....| Spruce Land.| 3 743 0.14 540 92 0.12 442.39 0.08 304.27 IGG Sees 6 621 235 215.98 -29 179 29 SB 165.88 IDOE 356 Ub 2 224 -03 74-59 -03 56.37 = 203 56.37 HV Et 2 678 -74 1 983.25 -66 1757 25 -51 I 373-23 Vik: is 4 798 -08 401.30 -08 366-39 06 305.58 VI .... - 855 -65 557-66 .58 497-30 -42 365 . 33 (otalpsa|eass2e0 scene 14 919 -25 3 BaP 22) 3 299.03 =1Y/ 2 570.69 aa Swamp ..... 685 -24 162.96 12 83 82 03 23 63 iG ieee UG eae 12 | 26.98 828873 23-73 284.76 18.35 220.18 ONL a6 BETA rate che 252 -65 163.29 -51 128 70 Bor, 67.76 Vie OG Pies 595 5-69 3 387.66 4.70 2A O4EI Za B03 2 161.92 Wasase SAN ey fers 433 6.42 2 781.41 5-05 2 187.25 B27] I 415 65 MRotalyee Se eec2 tes ocd 1977 3-45 6 819.06 P94] 5 478.07 1.97 3 889 14

I sses|| (| 4428 16 703 .88 aL2 525.62 -07 327 90 JHC sar | Spruce | 633 85 539-71 a3 464 05 -61 386 o1 Tiles | Land and 2 476 10 237-88 a@y/ 185.08 -05 124 13

? i

IV ... | Swamp | 3273 | 1-64 | 5370.92| 1.39 |. 4551-38) 1-08] 3535.15 Wee combined. | 5 231 -61 3 182.72 -49 2 553-65 -33 We 720e23 Mik see te|J L| 855 65 557-06 -58 497-30 43 | 365 33 Mota || aoe See 16 896 -63 10 592-79 -52 8 777-10 38 6 459.83

190 REPORT OF THE

The following table gives in standards the present stand of Hemlock on Township 40, to limits of 10, 12, and 14 inches in diameter breasthigh. The table shows also the total stand and the average stand per acre on each compartment for Spruce Land and Swamp, separately and combined:

TABLE No. 11.—HEMLOCK—PRESENT STAND.

Merchantable Volume in Standards.

Curttine To a Limit Cuttine To a Limit Cuttine To a Limit OF 10 INCHES IN OF 12 INCHES IN OF 14 INCHES IN Number DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. oe Type. Acres compart- ment. Average Average Average stand Total stand. stand Total stand. stand Total stand. per acre. per acre. per acre. I ....| Spruce Land..} 3743 | 5-74 | 21475-84| 5.54) 20730.98| 5.24 19 596.85 TG tee OG = 621 18.36 II 399-95 17.86 ai 090.56 | 16.74 10 398.15 DDG ee OO Sal|) Bean 7.80 17 355.65 7.51 16 695.12 6.94 15 432.34 Vie ss sal. 2ORS | UuGZ-O5 42 707.41 15.46 41 396.52 14.61 39 122.37 V ..-- --| 4798 | 10.32] 49 502.89 | 9 85 | 47256.94 | 9-14 43 872.43 hig Games ue Be 855 2.59 2 215-31 2.55 2 178.37 2.39 2 040.71 WOVEN esl) csooce coocbs 14 919 9-69 | 144 657.05 9-34 | 139 348-49 8.74 | 130 462.85 eee |eswarmpyeceee 685 0.52 354-00 0.45 Bnei 0.38 259-75 TTS tae Cc 12 7.42 89.04 6.01 72.06 4.89 58.68 TelsTop eee OS aa treealte 252 1.08 271.78 1.04 261-32 -66 165.06 IV .... BY, (eae 595 | 4-09 2 433-43 | 3-77 2240.18 | 3.26 1 937-44 Naser Shs eee 433 3.98 I 721.78 3-70 I 601.06 3-19 I 379-71 Totals) 5-4 ketoeeteeen ea 1977 2.46 4 870.03 22, 4 485.89 1.92 3, 800.64 Ty sees) (| 4428 4-93 21 829.84 4-75 21 042.25 4.48 19 856.60 1B Gaunt | Spruce | 633! 18.15 II 488.99 | 17.63 If 162.62 | 16.52 10 456.83 IG es | Land and | 2 476 7.12 | 17 627.43 6.85 | 16956.44 6.30 | 15 597.40 ° 4 IV ...- | Swamp | 3273 | 13-79 | 45 140.84 | 13.33 | 43 636-70 | 12.55 41 059.81 Wester | combined. | 5 231 9-79 51 224.67 9-34 | 48 858.00 8.65 45 252-14 Vib ie ceeals) lL 855 2.59 2 215-31 2.55 2 178.37 2.39 2 040.71 Motalie? | Assi cereecicee 16 896 8.85 | 149 527.08 8.51 | 143 $34.38 7-94 | 134 263.49

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Ig!

The following table gives in board feet by Old Scribner Rule the present stand of Birch on Township 40, to limits of 15, 17, and 19 inches in diameter breasthigh. The table shows also the total stand and the average stand per acre on each compartment for Spruce Land and Swamp, separately and combined:

TABLE No, 12.—BIRCH—PRESENT STAND. Merchantable Volume in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule,

CuttTinG To A Limit CutTrinec To a Limir Cuttine To a Limit oF 15 INCHES IN oF 17 INCHES IN oF 19 INCHES IN Number Diameter Breastuicu. | Diamerer BreasTuicu. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. ai Type. Acres. ment. Average Average Average stand Total stand. stand Total stand. stand Total stand. per acre. per acre per acre. ]_...| SpruceMand..| 3 743 I 964 7 350 810 I 722 6 447 179 918 3 437 243 Oia b¢ Be 621 2 118 I 315 105 I 949 I 210 287 I 706 I 059 217 JOU Ress GG ee 2224 I 710 3 802 996 1559 3 466 660 I 334 2 967 O61 VA: oe Bes e207 I 460 3 908 742 I 308 3 503 844 I 112 2 977 216 Were HY eel 4798. 785 8566114 | 1 629 7 814 344 | 1414 6 784 065 Wal Soke ee Se 855 2 190 1 872 822 2 036 I 740 588 1 812 I 549 237 PROTA He steric sclcisct 14 919 1797 | 26 816 589 1621 | 24 182 902 I 258 18 774 039 eee Swamper 685 339 232 133 223 153 029 185 126 396 IU ae hes Ct eee 12 670 8 046 670 8 046 441 5 292 Tole ee? CO SN eeers 252 119 29 988 106 26 775 73 18 383 IN’ cose @ - ocece 595 276 164 041 197 117 043 133 78 948 V .... Oe ooer 433 434 187 801 387 167 363 275 119 040 TOCENLS Sal ee aa 1977 315 622 009 239 472 256 176 348 059 ieee) (| 4428 I 712 7 582 943 I 491 6 600 208 I 256 5 563 639 ieee | Spruce | 633 2 090 I 323 151 I 925 I 218 333 I 682 I 064 509 10D eects | Land and | 2 476 1 548 3 832 984 I 411 3 493 435 I 206 2 985 444 LVS Swamp 3 273 I 244 4 072 783 I 106 3 620 887 934 3,056 164 \Weieas | combined. | 5 231 I 673 8 753 915 I 526 7 981 707 I 320 6 903 105 VAT etl) L 855 2 190 1 872 822 2 036 I 740 588 I 812 I 549 237 Mota pe suesec cosas 16 896 1 624 | 27 438 598 1459 | 24655 158 I 132 19 122 098

192

REPORT On Dik

The following table gives in board feet by Old Scribner Rule the

present stand of Hard Maple on Township 40, to limits of 15, 17, and 19

inches in diameter breasthigh.

The table shows also the total stand and

the average stand per acre on each compartment for Spruce Land and

Swamp, separately and combined:

TABLE No, 13.—HARD MAPLE—PRESENT STAND.

Merchantable Volume in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

Cuttinc To a Limit Cuttine To a Limir Curtine To a Limit OF 15 INCHES IN OF 17 INCHES IN OF 19 INCHES IN Number DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. ae Type. Acres, compart- ment! Average Average Average stand Total stand. stand Total stand. stand Total stand. per acre. per acre, per acre. Te ete Spruce Land.}| 3 743 452 I 691 260 356 I 333 938 258 966 750 Iso e 621 983 610 276 870 540 272 692 429 889 1GBC B56 a : 2 224 1008} 2 242 192 791 1 758 250 607 I 350 924 InY os 2 678 486 I 302 354 381 I 021 186 267 713 885 Ws et --| 4798 500 | 2 397 647 383 | 1 836 271 275 I 317 224 VI a Gi 855 325 277 838 232 198 687 149 127 329 Total... Be erates ag aL ALOLO 571 8 521 567 448 6 688 604. "329 4 906 oo! I Swamp...-.. 685 4! 27 838 19 13 316 II 7 562 IE A CLIN NEN re 12 76 OVP tenesao. Nloocidea Dood I) asaese -lsdadessobes LIT esas Sees Wave 252 13 | i) O/30) AR Son eee eae Are MS ae ROSS c Vin siete ea ees GOH || aosads tatefatayeres oe alta etetate Seae ue cken! (lessee seus nescence Viste lie ose 433 27 II 570 16 6.7554) sacs | bemeeeeeeece Motallt cha |e seep 1977 22 43 495 10 20 O71 4 7 562 T ....}) (| 4428 388 | 1 719 098 304 | 1 347 254 220 974 312 lO Gear ale | Spruce | 633 966 611 188 854 540 272 679 429 889 VEDA eee | Land and 2 476 907 2 245 367 710 I 758 250 | 546 I 350 924 " \ | Vege see | Swamp i 3 273 | 398 I 302 354 312 I 021 186 | 218 713 885 Miser | combined | 5 231 461 2 409 217 352 1 843 026 252 I 317 224 NAB e565 |p] l 855 325 277 838 232 198 687 149 127 329 Total es sowscnsccees 16 896 507 8 565 062 397 6 708 675 291 4 913 563

PLATE V.

Ss

Fic. 1.— SUCKER BROOK BAY.

FROM PROPOSED TERMINUS OF BRANCH RAILROAD AND ADVISED LOCATION OF MILL,

Fic. 2.— TERMINUS OF SUCKER BROOK HIGHWAY.

ON RAQUETTE LAKE,

ay,

if

a ol

ie i me i 1 dW ttyhot as Peete lens

fay ~

ay

FOREST,

FISH

AND GAME COMMISSION.

1O)8)

The following table gives in board feet by Old Scribner Rule the

present stand of Beech on Township 40, to limits of 15, 17, and 19 inches

in diameter breasthigh. The table shows also the total stand and the

average stand per acre on each compartment for Spruce Land and Swamp,

separately and combined:

Merchantable Volume in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

TABLE No. 14.—BEECH—PRESENT STAND.

Curttine To a LimirF OF 15 INCHES IV

Cuttinc To a Limit OF 17 INCHES IN

CuTtine To a Limit

OF 19 INCHES IN

NEEREIS Diameter BreastHicH. | Diameter Breastuicu. | Diameter BREASTHIGH. ee. Type. Acres.

Tene Average Average Average

stand Total stand. stand Total stand. | stand | Total stand. per acre. per acre. peracre:| Ieee le Spuuce Land.! 3 743 504 1 887 277 342 I 279 028 199 | 746 5904 uN. & ez 636 394970 | 432 268 549 256 | 159 047 it) Riveetee a Soll 22 Qant 513 I 140 140 325 722 849 182 405 520 ees KC col) 2oS 269 720 754 | 0772 | 461 $16 100 268 020 Woe Wy --| 4 798 477 | 2 287 490 323 | 1547 902 182 873 034 VI “6 3 855 312 266 516 178 151 841 78 66 904 Total - saona0 |) WONG) 448 6 697 147 297 4 431 985 168 2 519 119 les) Swamps ic... Paine one ose Vo IPN LY seen ea ed eee ea TW ses erteaise.: 1:25) || eerste |e eseeemiegeee ve [Eee n ey Ont Pere eee ot aia ton ALR oa nea UUs CO asees | ZG Ze ocr tees | era eete eee [eerie lM Se erence ac? j[na cleaver Ih cisaaetoreesicere Tiss 3 ie esata Lest Meese ocaullt so akias-osuet: |i aso seser IMCOT cee t iain Meneses annals resem iarne Ames: We séncli Oe eeeees 433 | 5 OV 7All Persie aI ae ede che lace ats UP vai eee Mio tale pss sae S: 1977 I DD a eG cel |) See See oel bce Se crie emece oe see Uses) (| 4428 | 426 1 887 277 | 289 I. 279 028 169 746 504 GUS | Spruce | 633 | 624 394 970 | 424 268 549 251 | 159 047 Lees | Land and | 2 476 | 460 I 140 140 | 292 722 849 | 164 405 520 TV ters Swamp 3 273 | 220 720 754 141 461 816 | 82 | 268 020 Name e | combined. | 5 231 438 2 289 707 | 296 I 547 902 |} 167 873 034 WAL SSE S| ( 855 312 | 266 516 | 178 | 151 841 | 78 | 66 904 eS .

Motalwe 8 Waa souecieees 16 896 397 | 6 699 364 | 262 4 431 985 149 2 519 119

194 REPORT OF THE

The following table is a summary of Tables Nos. 6, 7, and 9, which

give the present stand of Spruce, Balsam, and Pine: TABLE No. 15.—SOFTWOODS—PRESENT STAND.

Total Merchantable Volume of Spruce, Balsam, and Pine on Township 40, in Standards.

CuttTinc To a Limit OF ro INCHES

IN DiaMETER BREASTHIGH. NUMBER OF COMPARTMENT. Acres. Averase:stand Total stand. per acre I bondag bene scel pads sapnuaeD done ecue \eso6 4 428 8232 143 105.74 WE Sees bea Sods ebec odes ceas'es5o S050 Gace Sec8 633 28.17 17 832 21 MDG sadb dacs Saoocond adec case casa csoa bose sco 2 476 26.55 65 746 53 TNE oes uroe Sse Rae ke Dae ieee a eee eS 3273 24.81 81 188 89 Ri aah agers irae Gp ON se aR re ae ea NE 5 231 ; 26.12 136 624 10 8 WER eee aS eee aera Ap Crceroeicl acoesaas 855 29.72 25 408.71 ANoyl S886 Sad Sood Sone 6ooods Gobo CBUS COGS Booe 16 896 27.81 469 906.18 CuttinGc To a Limit oF 12 [NCHES IN DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. PO Reeth erome pense cite astomieitio leis eieleciefenern 4 428 26.42 116 983.66 eye ae berese rete nbetenieie pCO CREA SHB cIpEC aoe 633 24.99 15 819.42 108 Be Secs JE OBA Sorbo POs Anes ceBenOecTeenoc 2476 22.21 54 991.75 INE aad oobobe bebe cobn00 dhogoD Gund 6666 onDabe 3 273 19 44 63 638.20 Vv Ben SSAEHO bos Baeaosop cade 6aKd 5 231 21.15 110 649.25 Vien sarees BRB ESHOHES SoA GCCRSreS 855 25-49 21 791 84 PME SAiGbleGoons.caQ0b0 Cn60 coddes Been 4608 6606 16 896 22.72 383 874.12 CuttinGc To A Limit oF 14 INCHES iN DiaMETER BREASTHIGH. Pee Ni 0 a Bree ees re av eretio erane oetettareterate 4 428 20.75 91 880 85 esse Sees a aren sean eoee te 633 20 65 13 070.88 INGO es SESE a ROSE ae nee 2 476 17.71 43 843 60 Vi SSSR SES Barer cine at eee tia amie era gies eee 3 273 14.72 48 171 39 bt penetrate MACE ROTC aN US iy in ae 2 5 231 16.69 87 275.97 VI WSs hs a dheiste mnale Mere eens Bele e ere | 855 20.15 17 230.92 Wey) Vi a peer as sila dL ot ye cas 16 896 17.84 301 473-61

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 195

The following is a summary of Tables Nos. 12, 13, and 14, which give the present stand of Birch, Maple, and Beech:

TABLE No. 16—HARDWOODS—PRESENT STAND.

Total Merchantable Volume of Birch, Maple, and Beech on Township 40, in Standards and in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

Cuttinc To a Limit oF 15 INCHES IN DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Number of compart- Acres. — ment... : Average stand per acre. Total stand.

Standards. Board feet. Standards. Board feet. eS eceotionecs 4 428 12.96 2 527 57 381 II 189 318 II on aooooe 633 18.87 3 680 II 945 2 329 309 IOUT co ese 2 470 14.95 2915. 37 018 7 218 401 TV eee oS ois veces 3 273 955 1 862 31 261 6 095 891 Wi coude BepUnbSeee 5 231 13-19 2572 68 989 13 452 839 WAL Soa e eears cane 855 14.50 2 827 12 396 2 417 176 Motalyaercasecia-)2 see's 16 896 12.96 2 527 218 990 42 703 024

CuttTins To a Limit oF 17 INCHES IN DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. Npeeeericlesice scicisi 4.428 10.69 2 084 47 315 ' 9 226 490 IDL Gasadeeosoceceed 633 16.42 3 202 10 396 2 027 154 III ..--....--+.---- 2 476 12.37 2413 | = 30 639 5 974 534 IN, peSaosweeeaer eee 3 273 8.00 1 559 26 174 5 103 88g W esccdbabdaneqees 5 231 IT.15 2174 58 321 II 372 635 WALD Seecncoeaaeeeee 855 12.54 2 446 IO 724 2 Og! 116 Motaleee eens Sc oes 16 896 10.86 2 119 183 569 35 795 818

Cuttinc To a Limit oF 10 INCHES IN DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. If Sco coca badass 4 428 8.44 I 645 37 357 7 284 545 IN p66 sg5asuee C500 633 13-40 | 2 612 8 479 I 653 445 TNT iin areata eiinis 2 476 9.82 I 915 24 317 4 741 888 NVA Aes ware! deine nie 3 273 6.33 I 234 20 708 4 038 069 VW coos uesoccossauc 5 231 8.91 1 738 46 633 9 093 363 Wil 2546 st505eceeser 855 10 46 2 039 8 941 I 743 470 Motaliase ae bssse tne | 16 896 8.67 I 690 146 435 28 554 780

196 REPORT OF THE

Faetare Stand of Sprace.

A study of the rate of growth of Spruce has been made by the Division of Forestry in several parts of the Adirondacks, in both cut-over and virgin forest. Similar measurements of growth were made on Township 39, under forest conditions closely resembling those on Township 40. By means of these measurements, it was possible to select from the several tables compiled by the Division of Forestry, showing the rate of growth of Spruce, that which applies most closely to the Spruce upon Township 4o. The table chosen and given below was made from measurements taken at Tahawus, Essex County, New York, on land where the conditions of growth of Spruce were sufficiently similar to those on Township 40 to make safe its application to that tract. The increased increment which followed the opening of the forest by lumbering has been disregarded, in order to insure a thoroughly safe and conservative estimate. The table chosen was com- piled from analyses of 461 trees.

The following table shows the average annual increase in diameter for Spruce of various sizes, and the number of years required to grow one inch:

TABLE No. 17.—RATE OF GROWTH IN DIAMETER OF SPRUCE.

Diameter breasthigh. Annual growth. Time required to grow one inch. Inches. Inches. Years. 3 .0460 22 4 .0605 17 5 .0718 14 6 .0825 12 7 0933 Il 8 .1040 10 9 .1150 9 10 .1260 8 Il 1350 m 12 1425 7 13 .1485 7 14 .1545 6 15 1595 6 16 1645 6 17 1685 6 18 1725 6

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 197

The following table has been constructed from Table No. 17, and shows the growth in diameter to be expected in trees of 4 to 13 inches, breasthigh, in periods ranging by decades from 10 to 60 years:

TABLE No. 18.—GROWTH IN DIAMETER OF SPRUCE BY 10-YEAR PERIODS,

Present Diameter | Diameter Diameter Diameter Diameter Diameter diameter breasthigh breasthigh breasthigh breasthigh breasthigh breasthigh breasthigh. | after 10 years. | after zo years. | after 30 years. | after 4o years. | after 50 years. | after 60 years. Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches Inches. Bis SS SS WT OS ges ecm Glee et em etiy eiey Na eS acco Sot hanes wall (Us (ot apes 8.62 § 5 WR ecocco Ys) oS ecsqes) iy onesG 8.31 9.35 10.50 CRS eireciectic! M3 cece 8.73 9.80 II.00 12.43 VAD sari Ae secee 8.94 10.00 rey 12 7I 14 15 8 9 00 10.13 II.40 12 86 14.31 16.00 9 10.13 II. 40 12 86 14.31 16 00 7 7/ 10 git 2y/ 12a 14 15 15.80 Ty7enbil” 2 al eeeestare sa il 12.43 13.89 15.48 77 17/ TSE S/7ewe |p eee 12 13-45 15.00 16.66 TSEQAS ne aesese Na aoe ceaen 13 14.46 16_16 7A SAe Ne Ree We A eer Bees Seetes

Knowing from the valuation surveys the number of trees per acre of various diameters down to 5 inches, breasthigh, the future stand may be calculated by the use of Table No. 18. For purposes of comparison, the yield which might be obtained in the next five decades if the present cut were made to a diameter limit of 10, 12, or 14 inches, breasthigh, respec- tively, has been calculated. The following table shows the yields of Spruce which might be obtained after successive 10-year periods on Township 40, expressed in standards, and the number of years which must elapse before an equal cut can be obtained, provided the same diameter limit is adhered to at that time.

TABLE No. 19.—ESTIMATE OF FUTURE YIELD PER ACRE OF SPRUCE ON MER- CHANTABLE AREA.

Cutting limit: Average | : Interval required Aianeter present stand Average cut per ATC oeainale at the end of Beton breasthigh. per acre. Romy Catmpciiods gingctand aids: equal cuts. Bo) 20 30 40 50

Inches. Standards. | | Years,

se) 22.94 1.90 5-20 10.00 16.10 | 24.20 50

12 19-43 | 2-20 6.20 W210) | BO FO || “oadse 39

4 15-56 3.80 9.20 TOGO: |s Nees satel atsis< 29

198 REPORT OF THE.

The following table shows, in percentages of the present cut to the

three diameter limits, what the future cuts will be in from 10 to 50 years:

TABLE No. 20 —FUTURE CUTS OF SPRUCE, EXPRESSED IN PERCENTAGES OF PRESENT STAND.

Cutting limit: " Average Average cut per acre obtainable at the end of ro- | Interval required diameter present stand year periods, expressed in percentages of present between breasthigh per acre. stand. equal cuts. Io 20 30 40 50° Inches. Standards. % % % % % Years

10 22.94 eS AE Cg i 7Oag. || O57 50

12 19 43 Tees 32.0 63-9 TOOROMa ease 39

14 15.56 Math 0) WN TCS | oco i) coos 29

( |

Table No. 21 shows the total future yield of Spruce to be expected from the merchantable area of Township 40, in from 10 to 50 years, after

cutting to 10, 12, or 14 inches.

TABLE No. 21 —ESTIMATE OF FUTURE TOTAL YIELD OF SPRUCE ON MERCHANT- ABLE AREA.

9 re Interval Cutting limi": Total 3 Ae present Total yield per acre opranaple at the end of 10-year periods, ae breasthigh. stand. Hin Stameewals: Eee equal cuts. 10 20 30 40 50 Inches. Standards. | Years. 10 387 596.89 | 32 102.40 | 87 859.20 | 168 960.00 | 272 025.60 | 408 883.20 50 12 328 287.56 | 37 171.20 | 104 755.20 | 209 510.40 | 349 747.20 | -.--..--- 39 14 262 953.68 | 64 204.80 | 155 443.20 | 280 473.60 | -.....--- shee 29

It will be seen from these tables that if to inches be adopted as the

present diameter limit, almost 50 years must elapse before an equal cut can again be obtained. The rotation with a 12-inch limit is 39 years, while if 14 inches be chosen, 29 years will be the interval between equal cuts. A comparison of the amounts to be obtained shows that it is more profitable to cut to a 12-inch limit than to a 10-inch limit, and also that cutting to 14 fibine

present yield to a 14-inch limit is not, however, large enough to justify the

inches will yield more in the long run than cutting to 12 inches.

construction of logging roads, the building of camps, the improvement of

streams, and the meeting of other expenses necessary for lumbering. Cut-

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 199

ting to 12 inches the present yield is 19.43 standards per acre, an amount sufficiently large to make sure a margin of profit in lumbering. With a 12-inch limit the trees of large size which have reached their maturity will be removed, with a consequent benefit to the remaining growth and to the forest, while a sufficient number of seed trees will be left to insure the repro- duction of Spruce.

A diameter limit of 12 inches is preferable to a smaller limit, because a larger number of seed trees would be left standing and the chances for the reproduction of the Spruce would be proportionately increased. More- over, cutting to 10 inches would remove many trees which although old are still thrifty, and which, after the first cutting, will add to their merchant- able contents far more rapidly than would those smaller trees which would remain if a lower diameter limit were fixed. The more conservative limit will also protect the watersheds better and minimize the damage to the forest from lumbering. It is believed, therefore, for the several reasons above stated, that 12 inches will be preferable to any other diameter limit to which to cut the Spruce. It must be clearly understood, however, that this diameter limit is subject to local modification at the discretion of the man who marks the trees. It is not an arbitrary figure, but merely an average to aid in fixing the yield and in marking the trees to be cut. It will, under certain conditions, be necessary for the good of the forest to leave Spruce _ of over 12 inches and to cut trees below 12 inches in diameter.

Table No. 22 is constructed from Table No. 21, and shows what will be the money returns of future cuts of Spruce in from 10 to 50 years, at 40, 50, and 60 cents per standard. It is not intended to be more than an approximation; but, assuming that the present prices will obtain in the

future, it shows the returns to be expected.

TABLE No. 22 —ESTIMATE OF FUTURE RETURNS FROM SPRUCE STUMPAGE ON MERCHANTABLE AREA AT THE END OF TEN-YEAR PERIODS.

Cutting limit: diameter Present value. 10 20 30 4° 50 breasthigh.

STUMPAGE @ 40 CENTS PER STANDARD.

Inches. 10 $155 039 $12 841 $35 144 $67 584 $108 810 $163 553 12 131 315 14 868 41 902 83 804 130, SOO eens eee

14 105 181 25 682 | 62 177 DIZ TSO) | asec weeny

200 REPORT OM ayEEE:

TABLE No. 22.—Concluded.

Cutting limit: diameter Present value. | 10 20 30 40 50 breasthigh. |

STUMPAGE @ 50 CENTS rER STANDARD.

10 $193 798 | $16 O51 $43 930 $84 480 $136 013 #204 442 12 164 144 | 18 586 52 378 | 104 755 MAHL || pecceecgoosc 14 131477 | 32 102 77 722 140: 23°7"|) a Woye d= al Ree ea

STUMPAGE @ 60 CENTS PER STANDARD.

10 $232 558 $19 261 #52 716 | $101 376 £163 215 $245 330

Species to be Lambered. SPRUCE, BALSAM, AND PINE.

While estimates have been given for eight species, it is advised that lumbering should be restricted for the present to Spruce, Balsam, and Pine. As has been stated under “ Future Stand of Spruce,” the diameter limit to which the Spruce should be cut, under the present plan, has been fixed at 12 inches breasthigh.

In Table No. 7 the stand of Balsam has been given for trees 10 inches and over in diameter breasthigh, and in Table No. 8 for trees 6 to 9 inches breasthigh. The stand to 10 inches is 16.4% of the total stand of Spruce to 12 inches. Since in lumbering it is customary to put in 15% of Balsam with the Spruce, it would reach this amount for the whole tract if cut to 10 inches only. Should it be possible, however, to lumber more Balsam than is necessary to make 15% of the Spruce, the total merchantable stand might be taken, except in those few localities designated by the inspector where the local conditions require that clean cutting should not be done. Balsam being one of the inferior trees, the condition of the forest would be rather improved than injured by its removal, since more room would be made for the more valuable species.

As is shown in the preceding tables, the first growth White Pine on Township 40 is mostly mature, almost all the trees being of large size. These pines should be lumbered except within the reserved belt along the banks of the lakes and rivers. A 14-inch diameter limit is recommended because trees of this size are merchantable and should come out, and

7 PLATE VI.

Fic. L-— YOUNG LIVE TAMARACK ON BRANDRETH LAKE OUTLET.

NEAR FORKED LAKE,

Fic. 2.— DEAD CEDAR ON MARION RIVER.

KILLED BY FLOODING.

FOREST, FISH AND. GAME COMMISSION. 201

because cutting to this limit will leave a certain number of trees for seed. Cutting to 14 inches will yield an amount of Pine equal to 8% of the cut of Spruce to 12 inches. °

These diameter limits for Spruce. Balsam, and Pine refer. as has been stated, to the diameter breasthigh, or 43 feet from the ground. These limits must not be confounded with what the diameter would be at the cutting point on the stump, as the following table shows.

The figures used in constructing this table were determined by 2 624 measurements taken on this tract and upon Township 39, where lumbering has been carried on under the supervision of the Division of Forestry dur- ing the past summer (1900). The work was done under watchful inspec- tion and according to the rules of the Division for lumbering, and all stumps were cut at the lowest practicable point. The measurements were very carefully taken, and the results may be relied upon for Spruce.

TABLE No. 23.—COMPARATIVE AVERAGE DIAMETERS OF SPRUCE.

At breastheight. At lowest practicable cutting point. At top of root swelling. Inches. | Inches. | Inches, 10.0 II.9 -| 13.0 II.0 1220 14-1 120 14.1 15-3 13.0 15-2 16.5 14.0 16.3 L7, 15.0 17 4 18.3 16 oO 18.5 20 0 17.0 19.7 21.2 18.0 20.8 22 19.0 21.9 23-5 20 0 23-0 24-7 21.0 24-1 25-9 22.0 25-3 27-1 23220 26.4 28.2 24.0 PS 29.4 25.0 28.6 30.6 26.0 29-7 31-7 27.0 30.9 32 9 28 0 "32.0 34.0 49) © 33-1 35-2

202 REPORT OF THE

The increasing difference between the diameter at breastheight, at the cutting point, and at the top of the root swelling, is explained by the fact that on the larger trees the swelling of the roots reaches higher, and consequently increases the diameter at the top of the root swelling in com- parison with the diameter breasthigh. Thus, the larger the tree the greater the taper from the top of the root swelling to breastheight. For a discus- sion of the cutting point see page 225. The same general proportion shown by this table applies to Balsam and Pine.

The following table shows the stand of Spruce to 12 inches, Balsam to 10 inches, and Pine to 14 inches, breasthigh, with the totals for the merchantable area in the several compartments. It must be borne in mind that Pine Land is not distinct from Spruce Land and Swamp, but is that part of them in which Pine forms any considerable portion of the growth: TABLE No. 24.—PRESENT STAND OF SPRUCE 12 INCHES AND OVER, BALSAM 10

INCHES AND OVER, AND PINE 14 INCHES AND OVER, BREASTHIGH, ON EACH COMPARTMENT OF TOWNSHIP 4o.

MERCHANTABLE VOLUME. BOARD FEET BY . ING TANDARDS. OLD SCRIBNER RULE. Number of com- g partment. Species. Type. Acres, Average Average stand Total stand. stand Total stand. per per acre acre. ; Spruce.-..| Spruce Land : 22.34 98 935-83 4 356 19 292 487 4 42 d ye eae ie eieeee lle balsam and Swamp , 2.93 12 969 05 571 2 528 964 | Pine sss Pine Land 2 533) 4.86 12 312.05 | 948 2 400 850 Total eee aoe sell seeteenin ner oa mena 4 428) 28.05 | 124 216.93 5 470 24 222 301 ( Spruce...-| Spruce Land é 23 31 14 752-49 455 2 876 736 | 33 Mysore are tcvaystee pes { Balsam ...| and Swamp : 1.05 665 44 205 129 761 | | (GBinezeriee Pine Land 500 I 50 750 70 293 146 386 io tal yaya clea rete ee es 4c Rac ane 633] 25.54 16 168.63 4 980 3 152 883 ( Spruce....| Spruce Land Lek 42 869.19 3 375 8 359 492 2 476 AUT eS seveysie state meee 2 Balsam and Swamp 3.38 8 379 51 659 1 634 004 | URine=ee2- Pine Land 1920] 3.93 7 548.34 | 766 I 471 926 Ota eee a Oeste ae lee ree 2476 23.75 | 58797-04 | 4631 It 465 422

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

TABLE No. 24.—Concliuded.

MERCHANTABLE VOLUME. BOARD FEET BY N b f Se Nea OLD SCRIBNER RULE, wWumbeFr of com- e anectyrnernt Species. Type. Acres. Average Average stand stand Total stand. Total stand. per per acre, acre. ( Spruce Spruce Land ( 16 02 52 441.33 3 124 10 226 059 | 3 273 Wie Se .----|¢{ Balsam and Swamp \ 4.54 14 849.73 885 2 895 697 | Le LPMOKD 6 Soe Pine Land BIZ 7B i OS 3 435.23 205 669 $70 Mota Sara cure tase eeetalne ..s oral Nicvee ee hoe e ae 3 273] 21-61 70 726.29 4214 13 791 626 ( Spruce.--.] Spruce Land! ) 18.84 98 569.92 3 674 19 221 134 5 231 Witten icvaciseiaicteter's { Balsam and Swamp ( | 2.94 15 391 57 573 2 999 406 | (Gkinesea2== Pine Land 3 768 1.05 3 951-14 205 770 472 “OGM” SSS Bice See tel Resear tee teal bs nenpaee Ren lees Pe 5 231 22.54 | 117 902.63 4 395 22 9QI O12 | | ( Spruce....} Spruce Land 24 23 20 718 79 4 725 4.040 164 855 Wills 0856 BeeeeSBeE < Balsam and Swamp , 1.96 1672 81 382 326 198 | (G@Rinereseee Pine Land 855 -07 60.30 14 II 759 Pirates seo eee) cy he cree | meee Me ates 855] 26 26 22 451.90 5 121 4 378 121 Spruce ...| Spruce Land 19 43 | 328 287.55 3 789 64 016 072 16 896 Balsam ...| and Swamp 3-19 53 918.11 622 | 10514 030 Pineweeeee Pine Land 12 849 2.18 28 057.76 425 5 471 263 Grand total ....--. ae ete hee ee eS 16 896] 24.28 | 410 263 42 4 735 80 001 367

204 REPORT OF THE

Taple No. 25 shows the present stand of Spruce 12 inches and over, Balsam 10 inches and over, and Pine 14 inches and over, breasthigh, on the three lumbering blocks of Township 40. (See Map III.)

TABLE No. 25.—PRESENT STAND OF SPRUCE, BALSAM AND PINE BY LUMBERING

BLOCKS. MERCHANTABLE VOLUME. BOARD FEET KY Number IN STANDARDS. Number t OLD SCRIBNER RULE. oO of compart- Species. Type. Acres. block. ment. Average Average stand stand Total stand. Total stand. per per acre. acre. (Spruce ...| Spruce Land ? 22.34 | 98 935.83 4 350 19 292 487 4 425 I I 4 Balsam ...| and Swamp \ 2.93 12 969 05 571 2 528 64 | (@Binewese: Pine Land 2533) 4280 12 312.05 948 2 400 850 ADSI Moeel asting “ph eube beac ||! soobog cooe 4 428) 28 05 | 124 216.93 | 5470 24 222 301 II ( Spruce ..-| Spruce Land } 17.97 | 208 632.93 3 504 46 683 421 oot i TI 613 2 / Balsam ...| and Swamp , Bago) 30270) 25 659 7 658 86g IV | ( Pine ...-.| Pine Land 9 461 1.66 15 685.41 324 3058 655 V Gaal) wosese f coStoo ccc: || Docandeabe 11 613} 22.70 | 263 594.59 | 4426] 51 400945 { Spruce .-.| Spruce Land 5 24-23 20 718.79 4.725 4.040 164 55 3 VI | Balsam ...| and Swamp 1.96 I 672.81 382 326 198 | \Geinereeas Pine Land 855 -07 60.30 14 II 759 mMmotaleeeste 855} 26.26 22 451.90 5 121 4 378 121 (Cieuavkiopzalll “Gesces escoosdace || code bdaase 16 896} 24.28 | 410 263.42 | 4 735 80 oor 367 CEDAR.

The stand of merchantable Cedar on Township 4o is so scattered that no limit for cutting has been fixed. There is no generally accepted stump- age rate for Cedar in this locality, and advantageous market conditions

would depend largely upon whether some of the improvements advised

run

LUMBERING MAP

MAP OF TOWNSHIP 4.0. TOTTEN & CROSSFIELD PURCHASE y HAMILTON COUNTY, 4 NY

1900

' Site) for

LEGEND Contourinteryal 20 feet Datum is mean sea level » Trails represented thus: — Roads Township lines: 4 Town i oo eeeeoes MERCHANTABLE AREA Spruce Land [Tl Swamp Ga

Burns Cm

Private land and all reserves____. white

Lumbering compartment lines & Nos, ---=---------—

Available outlets,railroads, roads, dams. mill- sites ete. shown by black synybols.

Seas ree et A e)/) 1) pee

job

Aa

North} Hay) Tenby North Point

\y Stolai

be ‘anegiiman Bay

ep

is Z Yipee z TANS

anes B us

3 Ospreyld.

Stilubert 'sTd_

Ss ONAL See Sele een a int: : Pusan Sia VO. ‘ ; i!

oS ala Pe =\- MiG pute fear sy

vo

Sazne

: \ ™ 4 Rinks

a

Sue, OurLeT —

U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MAPS

Scale of Miles 1

oo ge SON tid

Hay hae h <2 | (Bondy.

Compiled and drawn

from

and RECONNOISSANCE by H.S. MEEKHAM

DAMES 8, LYON, STATE PRINTER

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 205

later in this working plan were made. In some places all the live merchant- able trees should be cut. It is recommended that the sale of Cedar be left to the discretion of the forest officiais.

Under “ Recommendations for a Mill and Branch Railroad ” (page 212), suggestions will be found regarding the utilization and sale of the dead Cedar on the township.

DEAD SPRUCE.

In order to show how the mature trees are going to waste on Town-

ship 40, the dead Spruce were calipered and recorded on the valuation sur-

veys. No stubs nor broken-top trees were included, and only those Io inches and over in diameter breasthigh were measured. The result is shown in the following table: TABLE No. 26.—DEAD SPRUCE ON TOWNSHIP 40. Average of trees 10 inches and over in diameter breasthigh. Num ber Average Average Maximum 29°02 05 of valuation number of trees diameter diameter surveys. per acre. breasthigh. breasthigh. Acres. Inches. Inches. Gonnce ILemil 65.6566 code capesecseese 953 1.623 18.6 30 Swamp eesscen nese ee eases eine go 900 16.9 27 Total merchantable area ......--.---- I 043 I 561 18 5 30 Wippermspuulce slopes ee) -osem neces 37 2.000 fe 29

It will be seen that the dead Spruce are for the most part large trees. The contents of a tree 18 inches in diameter breasthigh is 1.79 standards, or 349 feet B. M. On the whole merchantable area of 16 896 acres there would be 26 375 dead Spruce, with an average contents of 1.79 standards. The total dead Spruce gone to waste is thus 47 211.25 standards, which, with a stumpage value of 50 cents per standard, means a loss of $23 605.62. That such waste should be prevented hereafter is clear. If cut at once, many of the trees listed as dead Spruce could be still utilized for lumber

and some of them would make good sawlogs.

Remaining Species.

There are strong reasons why the remaining species should not be

lumbered now. There is a good stand of young Hemlock on the tract,

2006 REPORT OF THE

but as it is yet far from mature, better returns will be obtained by allowing the trees to grow than could be got from their present sale. Besides this, Hemlock bark is not sufficiently thick on small trees to make it valuable, nor heavy enough to sell to advantage by weight. That the bark should be used when this species is logged is obvious, both because of its value and because in order to drive the logs the bark must be removed. In addition, the value of Hemlock is at present comparatively small. A rise in value may reasonably be expected in the future, since Hemlock is being used more and more in the place of Spruce, as the demand for the latter increases.

HARDWOODS.

There are several reasons which make present lumbering of the hard- woods inadvisable. It is recognized that for the. benefit of the young growth it would be best to remove the large hardwoods at once and so improve the conditions for reproduction of the more valuable softwoods. But present rates render the logging of hardwoods on Township 40 imprac- ticable. Prices do not warrant generally the cost of building logging roads, nor the hauling of logs to the present railroad, which would be necessary, since it is not feasible to drive hardwoods.

However, with the construction of a manufacturing plant on Township 40 and the necessary branch railroad connecting with the Raquette Lake Railway, the more valuable species, as Birch, Hard Maple, Beech, Black Cherry, and White Ash, of the larger diameters, would undoubtedly find a ready sale at good prices. The roads that had been cut for the Spruce and Pine could be utilized for removing the hardwoods. The cost of lumbering would be reduced and, consequently, the stumpage would become more valuable, while the tops might be sold for fuel, or for the manufacture of charcoal, wood alcohol, etc. This should be done in order to get them out of the way and so lessen the danger from fire.

The larger portion of the hardwood timber on Township 40, tributary to Raquette Lake, is on Compartments Nos. 2, 3, and 5, and could be brought to the hereafter proposed location for a mill much more cheaply than to the present railroad station on the lake.

For these reasons it would be more profitable to lumber the softwoods first and the hardwoods afterwards, although the opposite arrangement

would be better for the forest.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 207

Nataral ddvantages of Township 40 for Dambering.

Township 40 is a particularly desirable tract upon which to begin con- servative lumbering by the State. Its timber is mature, and under proper restrictions may be removed with entire safety to the forest, transportation will be cheap and easy, large markets are easily accessible, and the work and its results will be fully open to public inspection. The streams tribu- tary to Raquette Lake, which, as will be seen by a glance at the map, come in from all sides and run in most cases completely across the township, make easv and natural outlets for all the timber to the lake, with the exception hereafter noted. Raquette Lake has two outlets, the Raquette River to the north, which leads to the markets and mills below, and the Raquette Lake Railway, which connects with the New York Central Railroad at Clearwater Junction. The timber on the northeast quarter is tributary to Forked Lake or Brandreth Lake Outlet. The latter runs from the aorth line of the township southeasterly into Forked Lake, and 1s fed by several small streams on each side. These afford a natural outlet for all the timber on that portion of the tract designated as Compartment No. I, by way of Forked Lake into the Raquette River, and down the latter, which leads to the markets of Tupper Lake and Piercefield, where are some of the largest lumbering plants, sawmills, pulpmills, and manufactories in the Adirondacks.

The larger part of the timber upon Townships 6, 5, and 41, which is owned almost entirely by the State, is also tributary to Raquette Lake. If these townships were to be lumbered together with Township 40, it would pay to make permanent improvements, such as roads and dams, in addition to those advised in this working plan. These additional improve- ments would be hardly justified, however, on Township 40 alone, on account of the comparatively small amount of timber remaining after the deduction of the summit reserves and the reserved strips along the lake front, together with the water acreage.

The topography of Township 40 is very favorable for lumbering. The small streams which reach across the township have, with few exceptions, a gradual descent to the lake, and empty into it in some sheltered bay where logs may lie safely boomed after the ice breaks up in the spring, protected by the trees about the shores from being driven about and scattered by heavy storms. Here they could rest safely until it should be

deemed advisable to tow them by steamer or otherwise to some point

208 REPORT OF THE

where they could be loaded upon cars, or to the Outlet, down which they could be driven to the markets below, or to some point on the lake where there might be a mill erected to manufacture the lumber. The railroad, which has been completed from Clearwater to Raquette Lake, and the steamboat lines on the lake, could well be used to bring in the necessary men, supplies, tools, and outfit for removing the timber. At present there are several stearnboats which could be hired with their crews at very reason- able figures. These boats would make it entirely unnecessary for the lum- berman to incur the expense of building steamboats to do this portion of the work, or of hauling supplies over a long supply road with teams. Supplies could be moved quickly and cheaply to any desired point on the lake, whence it would not be a long distance by road to any place where a lumber camp would naturally be located. Long distance telephone and telegraph lines traverse the township, making possible quick communi- cation with a base of supplies—a condition which is found in hardly any other locality which could be selected in the New York State Forest Preserve. :

It is plain from these facts that unusual natural advantages, together with the excellent facilities for transportation, make this tract an especially

favorable one for profitable lumbering.

Division OF TOWNSHIP INTO COMPARTMENTS.

It was, as has been explained, considered advisable, for the purpose of estimating the stand of timber, to divide the township into six compart- ments. Map II] shows the boundaries of these compartments by broken lines.

Compartment No. I contains all the northeast quarter of the township naturally tributary to Forked Lake or Brandreth Lake Outlet, except that portion which, although naturally tributary to Brandreth Lake Outlet, has been included in Compartment No. V. This exception has been made because the log haul would be materially shortened by leaving the brook at the point indicated as “available short haul” on Map III, and going south across the marsh to strike the small brook running into Stillman Bay on Raquette Lake. The cost of hauling logs, for that portion of the tract, would in this way be greatly diminished. Compartment No. I is an import- ant one, for the reason that its timber cannot be lumbered into Raquette Lake cheaply, but must go into Forked Lake, and thence north by way of the Raquette River.

PLATE VII.

TREES ON OUTLET BAY THROWN BY ICE.

Fy Sie Kacy

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 209

Compartments Nos. II, I1I, IV, and V are simply the subdivisions. of the Raquette Lake tract into the several subordinate watersheds, separating those portions of the township naturally tributary to the various inlets of the lake.

No. II includes that portion tributary to Outlet Bay on each side of the lake. No. III comprises the area tributary to Boulder Brook. No. IV contains the section naturally tributary to Marion River and.South Bay in the southeast quarter, and also that in the southwest quarter tributary to Otter Bay and Brown’s Tract Inlet. No. V covers that part of the township which is naturally tributary to Beaver Bay, Lonesome Bay, and Sucker Brook Bay, by way of Cranberry Pond Outlet, and all the timber _lying on the east side of West Mountain and tributary to Stillman Bay by way of Lone Pond Stream, and as far east as the Ten Eyck private holding. Compartment No. VI is a small compartment which lies back of West Mountain, and includes Otter Pond. The timber upon it is not naturally tributary to either Raquette Lake or Forked Lake, but could be brought across into Cranberry Pond Outlet.

In dividing the township into tracts for lumbering, the six compart- ments into which it was divided, for the purpose of estimating the stand of timber, fall naturally into three blocks. One includes that portion tribu- tary to the Brandreth Lake Outlet and Forked Lake (Compartment No. I); another, that portion tributary to Raquette Lake (Compartments Nos. II, HI, IV, V), and which should be lumbered to that point; and the third (Compartment No. VI), the small compartment back of West Mountain, from which the timber would naturally go to Moose River. The latter should be lumbered with the timber on Township 41 in the same valley and watershed, but could be brought to Raquette Lake via Otter Pond (see available route shown on Map III). If this route were used it would be necessary to employ tow teams to help in hauling the logs from Otter Pond to the top of the divide between this compartment and No. V; or, since the ascent is short, although comparatively steep, the work could be satisfactorily done by the aid of a small hoisting engine and wire cable at the top of the divide.

Nataral Oattets for Timber.

There are only two outlets advisable for any of the timber on Town-

ship 40, and but one for that portion of the northeast quarter which is 14

210 REPORT OF THE

included in Compartment No. I. As already explained, all the timber on this compartment must of necessity go out by way of Forked Lake and the Raquette River (outlet of Forked Lake), through Long Lake and the Raquette River again, and so down to some of the many manufacturing points below. But although there is only one outlet for Compartment No. I, there would be no trouble in disposing of the stumpage on this compartment for its full value, as there are a number of responsible lum- bermen and manufacturers who have already signified their intention to bid for the timber if it is offered for sale.

There is a small amount of timber on the northern slopes of Pilgrim and Nigger Head mountains, near the north corner of the township, which could be brought to Brandreth Lake Outlet, but which could be hauled more cheaply direct to Forked Lake by way of High Pond. (See Map III.)

All the rest of the timber on the tract, except that upon Compartment No. VI, could be brought to the lake on a down-grade road by following the watercourses of some of the inlets and their small feeders, and would

have two available outlets to market, one by the natural water outlet of

Raquette Lake into Forked Lake, from there into the Raquette River, _

and so down to the manufacturing plants which are located at various points along the stream below, from Tupper Lake to Potsdam and Nor- wood; the other, by way of the Raquette Lake Railway, which, as will be seen from the map, touches the lake at a point near the entrance of Brown’s Tract Inlet. This affords a means of transportation for either logs or lumber direct from the lake to any desired point. This fact should have marked effect upon the bidding for the stumpage on this tract. It will readily be seen that the manufacturer who has a plant located at some distant point not on the Raquette River could get the timber to his mill more cheaply and more quickly by loading it upon cars at Raquette Lake and shipping it direct to his mill, than by driving it downstream to the near- est point where a railroad could be reached (which is at present Tupper Lake village), as he would otherwise be compelled to do. When there, after paying the cost of driving and of sorting the logs from the other timber in the stream, he would still have the additional cost of loading and of transport to his mill—an added expense which would not allow him to compete successfully with the manufacturer whose mill is on the natural outlet. But the railroad, coming directly to the lumbering center of the tract, makes it possible to load and ship the timber right from the lake

without the expense of driving the logs, and the purchaser from a distance

FOREST; FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. P21 Te

would therefore be able to offset the cost of loading and transport against the cost of driving. Hence he could afford to pay as much for the stump- age as the man on the stream below, provided he could secure satisfactory

freight rates. Lambertng — General.

There are two ways in which Township 40 might be lumbered; the one by the State itself, the other through the sale of stumpage by the State.

LUMBERING BY THE STATE.

Lumbering by the State would necessarily entail the purchase ofa large lumberirg outfit, such as horses, sleds, wagons, blankets, dishes, etc., the hiring of clerks, foremen, and cooks, and all the detail work incident to the practical execution of a lumber job. State or governmental organiza- tions are badly suited to work of this kind. It is altogether unlikely that the State would be the gainer financially by carrying on the lumbering. The private lumberman, with his knowledge of all the methods of securing necessary help and supplies, and with his lumbering outfit already on hand, can undoubtedly lumber more cheaply and would be willing to pay at least as much for the stumpage as the State could hope to realize by doing its own lumbering. The task would be still more complicated if the State should erect a mill and manufacture and market the lumber. For these

reasons lumbering by the State is not advisable.

THE SALE OF STUMPAGE BY THE STATE.

The fact that the end of the supply of Spruce timber throughout the State is plainly in view, furnishes a potent reason why the stumpage may be sold for its full value.

The stumpage upon each compartment separately or upon the whole tract could be put up for sale to the highest bidder, to be removed under certain rules and restrictions, about which more will be said further on. The method of sale would, of course, be regulated by the State officials in charge of this work, but it should be by sealed bids, the timber to go

to the highest bidder, since it is probable that by this method the State would receive a higher price for the stumpage than if it were sold at private sale.

Lumbering by the sale of stumpage, with the understanding that the

timber should be removed, would be particularly advisable for Compartment

Zz REPORZ OF DHE

No. I in the northeast quarter of the township, as there is hardly enough timber in that part of the tract to warrant the erection of a mill. Logs have already been driven from the east line of Township 40 to Tupper Lake and Piercefield, and that would be the best way to dispose of the timber on this compartment.

The timber on the remainder of the tract should be sold to one pur- chaser. It would thus undoubtedly bring a higher price and attract a more reliable class of bidders than if it were sold in small lots. Such sale would also avoid the necessity of having a large number of contracts with small contractors, and would lessen the burden of supervision which necessarily

‘

goes with operations of this kind with irresponsible “ wildcat” jobbers. The timber would probably be cut in a much more satisfactory manner and with less friction between the lumbermen and the inspector. The pur- chaser of the stumpage would, of course, have the option of reselling it to the small contractors, but he himself would be bound by the contract and held responsible for the careful cutting of the timber according to the rules and methods prescribed. It follows, therefore, that the best way to lumber Township 40 1s by the sale of stumpage to the highest bidder. Under this plan the purchaser should have the right to build a mull at a point on the lake which could be easily connected by a railroad spur with the Raquette Lake Railway, for reasons stated fully under ‘* Recommenda- ticns for a Mill and Branch Railroad.” (See page 212.) He should also have the right to improve the stream and to build a dam at the foot of Raquette Lake—a matter which is discussed fully under “ Recommenda- tions for.a Dam. at the: Foot of Raquette Lake? (See page 217.) as shown later, neither dam nor mill will destroy the use or beauty of the lake as a resort.

There are a number of possibilities in the lumbering of Township 40, which are shown on Map III. A careful study of this map is advised

for those interested in the working plan.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A MILL AND BRANCH RAILROAD.

A strong argument in favor of allowing a mill to be built on the shore of Raquette Lake is that any reputable firm, after having gone to the neces- sary expense entailed thereby, would be particularly careful to see that the rules for cutting were observed, lest by violating the contract they should forfeit the right to cut the timber, and thus lose the money they had invested

iS)

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 21

in the mill. A second advantage derived by the State would be that, since logs could be taken from the water directly into the mill, avoiding the expense of driving them a long distance or loading them on cars to be taken to the place of manufacture, the lumberman could afford te pay a higher price for the stumpage, provided it were possible to obtain a suffi- cient quantity of timber to warrant the erection of a mill and the building of a spur track to connect it with the main line of the railroad.

If logs or lumber were to go out by rail, there are the following rea- sons why it would be advisable to allow the construction of a spur railroad track to Sucker Brook Bay. (See available railroad route and mill location on Map III, also shown in Pl. V, figs. 1 and 2.)

There is a large storage area at this point where timber could be held until it was desired to remove it, without interfering with either navigation or summer travel, of which there is comparatively little on this part of the lake. All logs and timber should be in this large storage boom or down the stream in the spring before the summer travel on the lakes com- mences. <A mill located here would be far enough away from the common routes not to annoy summer tourists who might mistakenly be opposed to conservative lumbering, and would still be within easy reach of those who were interested in seeing how the work was being carried on. The highway running from Brown’s Tract Ponds to this point on Raquette Lake has been practically abandoned as a wagon road, and for a considerable distance could be utilized for the track bed of the railroad without doing much cutting. The timber that stood on the right of way along this pro- posed route has already been cut for a portion of the distance, as it was at first intended to bring the main railroad track to the lake at this point. This was not done because the present route shortens the steamboat run to Marion River, making a quicker connection with the Blue Mountain Lake region. A spur could be constructed to this point with less damage to the forest than to any other suitable bay on the lake. A large boomed _ storage area here would not be exposed to the usual danger of having booms cut or opened by guides and tourists traveling by water, as there is no con- necting water route into this bay. This would not be the case if it were attempted to store logs near the present railroad station, as that location is on a long-used water thoroughfare between Raquette Lake and the Fulton Chain, up Brown’s Tract Inlet. Again, the coming of all passenger steam- ers and launches on the lake to the present railroad station and steamboat

wharf several times a day, coupled with the fact that there is not room

214 REPORG OH GE

enough in the bay to accommodate both branches of business satisfactorily, is an additional reason why that location would be undesirable. Sucker Brook Bay is much nearer to the middle of the lake and of the township than the present station, and if it were selected as the terminus of a spur track, long towing by steamboat from a large portion of the tract would be avoided.

There are many reasons why it would be advisable to allow the erection of a mill at the point shown, if a satisfactory bidder could be secured to undertake it. It would open a means of manufacturing into shingles much of the refuse Pine and Cedar, which it would hardly pay to ship or drive to other markets in the log. If this Pine and Cedar could be manufactured near the lake, the slight expenditure necessary to bring it to the mill would be warranted. There would be a great many Pine butts and tops and broken pieces of Pine which could be made into shingles. There are also at present on the tract many Pine trees that have been cut and blown down and shaved shingles manufactured from a small portion of the butt. The remainder of these trees has been left in the woods and could in most cases be sawed into excellent shingles. It should be utilized in this manner. and sold at a reduced stumpage rate, if only for the purpose of removing the trees, which now not only increase the danger from fire, but entirely prevent reproduction on the space they occupy and are almost indestruct- ible by decay.

Around the shores of the various inlets of the lake—more especially along Marion River and Brown’s Tract Inlet—there is a large amount of dead Cedar which has been killed by the water having been held at too high a point in the summer. The effect of this is shown in Pl. VI, fig. 2. This Cedar could be utilized for shingles, fence posts, rails, and telegraph poles. It might be sold at a reduced rate in the same way as the refuse Pine. It is not likely that it would bring a very large price, but it should be sold with the provision that the trees be cut very close to the ground and that all the teps and branches be burned during the winter, or when there is no danger from fire. There is a considerable amount of Cedar on the tract which could be sold, and there would probably be a market opened for it if the erection of a mill were allowed.

If the right to construct a mill and a spur from the main railroad line were granted, those who did not own a mill, but who were desirous of

purchasing the stumpage, could continue their lumbering even if the mill-

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 215

men and manufacturers attempted to form a combine to keep prices down. They could hold the timber in a large storage boom at this point until they had received a fair offer for it, since it could be shipped at any season of the year when the lake is free. from ice; or, with the concession advised, if there were no possibility of their selling it in the unmanufactured state, they would have the opportunity to erect a small mill and to manufacture their logs into lumber. The advantage of having these different ways of disposing of the timber can hardly be appreciated by those without actual experience in lumbering and without knowledge of the difficulties which are oftentimes encountered from unexpected sources. These concessions would undoubtedly have a marked effect on the stumpage prices offered. There would be no danger to the owner of getting his logs hung up in a log drive as the result of low water, drought, or other causes, and of being compelled to lose materially by his failure to deliver the timber at a cer- tain time, since the water is of sufficient depth at this point to permit of logs being floated to a mill slide or steam jack works without being raised above its natural level. The shore at the place shown on the map as a proposed mill site is of a firm, sandy soil. It would admit of easy erading, and could be quickly and cheaply brought into proper condition for erecting a mill, for the necessary side tracks for holding cars, and for piling ground for lumber. It will be seen by a glance at Map III that there is a large amount of timber on Township 40 which would come natur- ally to this bay. This would include all the timber from the Cranberry Pond district and the south side of West Mountain, as well as all from Compart- ment No. VI and the Otter Pond country. That portion of the timber trib- utary to Beaver Brook could also be hauled directly into this storage boom, without towing by steamboat, as there is a swamp running from the south end of Sucker Brook Bay through to where Beaver Brook comes into the lake (see Map II), and there is no grade between these two points. In case it should eventually be decided to allow the timber on Township ar to be cut, there is a heavy stand throughout that area tributary to Cran- berry Pond, Shallow Lake, Pelcher Pond, and Queer Lake, all of which could be driven down directly into the storage boom if some improvements in the stream were made. All timber coming into Boulder Brook Bay, Stillman Bay, and Outlet Bay could be quickly and easily towed across the lake when the wind was favorable, and the only timber that would

require any long towing by steamboat would be the comparatively small amount in Compartment No. IV.

216 REPORT CF THE

The construction of the spur track would be necessary if it were decided to sell the hardwood stumpage and allow the timber to be manufactured in a mill erected on the township, or to ship the logs out, as this is a central point. The map shows that back of each of the points or peninsulas, except Woods Point, there is a depression or swamp running through from one bay to another, which is low enough not to interfere with the hauling of logs across the peninsula, thus obviating the necessity of going around the points. This condition rarely exists and forms one of the natural advantages of the township for lumbering purposes. This would not be of so much importance in softwood lumbering, but would be a great advantage in the case of hardwoods, since they will not float a long distance, and must be hauled by team to a place where they can be Icaded upon cars or be manufactured. The fact that they could be hauled directly across these points from one bay to another would shorten the haul very materially, and consequently save a large amount of money. The possibility of having roads cross these points through swamps, which would protect them from the drifting snows invariably found on a lake road, is also a decided advantage.

If it should eventually be decided to sell the Hemlock bark and logs, this would be the most convenient center from which to ship the bark to market in cars. The bay is protected by small, well timbered ridges, which would serve as breaks against the prevailing wind. The effect of wind on the shores in the spring is shown by a view taken near the Outlet. The trees were overturned by an ice-pack which was driven in large masses into this bay by the strong south and west winds. These usually prevail during the early spring, when the ice is breaking up, and through the early summer, at a time when log-driving is generally being carried on. The result shown in Pl. VII was noticed only in places where the south and west wind strikes the shore. The only objection, from a lumberman’s standpoint, to the loca- tion of a mill at Sucker Brook Bay, is that the prevailing wind is from the south and west and would tend to hold the logs off shore. But this objec- tion is more than counterbalanced by the many other points in favor of this place, and the timber can be held inshore without large expense by the use of lever winches and kedges. The prevailing wind is an important con- sideration in choosing the location of a mill on any lake. On this lake, however, there is no choice except to take the most suitable bay on the side nearest the railroad, and the one recommended seems to be the best

possible from all points of view.

Fic. 1.— PRESENT BRIDGE AND DAM.

FROM RAQUETTE LAKE,

Fic. 2.— PRESENT BRIDGE AND DAM.

LOOKING UP STREAM,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 207,

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A DaAm AT THE Foot OF RAQUETTE LAKE.

A permanent dam should be constructed at the foot of Raquette Lake, with suitable sluices for logs and properly constructed waste gates for keep- ing the water at a uniform height on the lake during the summer season, and also for driving logs from this lake into Forked Lake in the spring, if desired. The dam should be built at a point about 500 feet below the present combined dam and bridge, at or near the point shown on Map Ill. The existing dam should be removed entirely, and the highway which at present crosses on top of it should be made to cross over the proposed dam. If it be built of wood, the work should be done at once, before the Pine timber on Township 35 is removed, since this is the most accessible for the purpose, and there is a heavy stand near the proposed location which could probably be secured now at a reasonable price. As the timber rights were reserved when the south half of Township 35 was sold to the State, it 1s quite probable that this timber will be removed within two or three years.

The control of the water in Raquette Lake should be placed entirely in the hands of a State official, since unless this is done there are many interests which will conflict. Such a conflict would be lessened by the building of a properly constructed dam and the regulation of the flow of the water with impartiality and discretion. There have already been many thousand dollars appropriated by the State at various times for the pur- pose of improving the Raquette River from Potsdam to its source in Ham- ilton County (see Report of the New York State Forest Commission, 1893, Volume II), but so far as has been learned none of the money has ever been expended upon the stream above Long Lake. The stream between Long Lake and Forked Lake has been improved by private lumbermen, so that it is now possible to drive logs north from Forked Lake. There are still some rapids between Forked and Raquette lakes in which there are many large boulders which would have to be removed, and there should also be some side piers built in the stream at different places, more espe- cially one at the island midway between the two lakes, for the purpose of confining the stream to one channel. There is also a large amount of drift-wood jammed at different points on the rapids, the accumulation of spring freshets for years, that would have to be removed before it would be possible to drive any of the timber belonging to the State above this point down to the natural water markets below. With a dam properly

constructed the water could be held overnight or until a certain height

218 REPORT OF THE

was reached. Then, when the water was released, the logs and timber could be sluiced through very rapidly until the water in the lake was low- ered to a certain point, when the dam should be closed. When the water in the lake had again reached the specified height the sluicing could be repeated until the timber that was to be delivered downstream was run through, after which the water could be maintained at a steady level on the lake above during the summer months, using the same dam for both purposes. Thus the use of the proposed dam would not raise the water in the lake any higher than the present dam. The logs would be driven by temporarily lowering the water. The occasional lowering of the water necessary to drive the logs should be over early in the spring, before tourist travel had begun, and the lake could remain at its normal level throughout the summer. These requirements can not be satisfactorily fulfilled by the present dam, which evidently was intended only to maintain the water at a suitable height to facilitate steamboat navigation on Raquette Lake, Marion River, and South Inlet. The level of the water in Raquette Lake is at present controlled entirely by the steamboat company.

Steamboat navigation on the lake above would not be interfered with © by the adoption of the proposed method of regulating the use of water for log driving. It would not be necessary to raise the water above the high water mark on Raquette Lake, nor to cause any serious damage to property on the shore. It would be necessary, however, to build a suitable dam at the point shown and to remove the present combined bridge and dam, as it 1s built at a point where the stream is wide and shallow and will not allow the release of sufficient water to properly flush the stream for driving below, unless the planks which are set up against the upper side of the bridge for the purpose of closing the dam are removed for a considerable distance from along the present bridge front. When the water is at ordinary height, there is not sufficient depth to carry timber through the present dam. And when the high water of the spring freshets swells the stream to a proper driving depth the logs would strike the bridge roadway stringers, for the bottom of the bridge stringers is only 43 feet above the top of the sluice, and unless the water is just at a certain height, logs can not go through. The stringers could, of course, be raised in the spring for the purpose of sluicing logs, if there were no other objections to the present dam; but this is only one of the minor reasons why it would not satisfactorily serve the double purpose of driving logs or timber out of the lake in the spring

and maintaining the water at a steady level in summer. At the time the

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 219

photographs shown in Pl. VIII, figs. 1 and 2, were taken, there were only 10 inches of water above the sluice floor.

The site recommended for the dam is shown in Pl. IX, figs. 1 and 2,

and is the best location available. The bed of the stream is narrowed here, . and there are good, high banks, especially on the south side. This is the nearest point to the lake at which a dam can be built entirely on State land, as the dividing line between the State land and private holdings in Township 35 runs across the combined dam and bridge now in use and clears this location by about 100 feet on the north side of the stream. A dam 12 feet high built here would have its top exactly level with the top of the present dam, and would raise the lake when full of water to just the same level. This level is shown by the white flag on the pole in PI. IX, fig. 1. The location of the proposed dam, the original bridge piers, and in the distance the present bridge and dam, are clearly shown in PI. XG iee 2)

There are several short sets of rapids between this point and Forked Lake similar to those already shown. The building of a dam here and the removal of the obstructions above—the old bridge piers and the present dam and large boulders—would allow the water to be discharged, through properly constructed sluices, with a sufficient head above it to give the required pressure to flush the stream below and would furnish a sufficient

-depth in the sluices to carry timber through the dam when there was water

enough in the stream to float it away. The removal of the present dam and other obstructions would allow the water to flow evenly and steadily over the wide and shallow portion of the Outlet where the present dam is located, and while furnishing a sufficient depth to float timber down to the dam, the added width of unobstructed flow would serve to keep the deeper and more narrow sluice-way below filled with water, according to the height and pressure of the water from the lake above.

The prevailing wind would be a decided advantage in driving logs from the lake downstream, as it would aid in moving them to the Outlet and holding them down to the sluicing booms. There is a large boulder which stands out of the water in Outlet Bay at the point shown on Map III, which would furnish an excellent boom stay for the purpose of holding the logs down the Outlet if desired. Booms could be hung to this rock by drilling a hole in it and using a large iron split plug and wedge with a ring in the plug. The booms could be opened on one side, or both, as the case

might require. These are some of the many natural advantages for lum-

220 REPORT OF THE

bering this township. It is not considered necessary to mention all of them in detail. They will be readily apparent to the experienced lumber- man.

The erection of a dam at the place proposed would raise the water above it, so that a large number of the rocks and boulders, which are seen below the present dam in Pl. X, fig. 1, would be covered by the back flow, and but few of them would need to be removed.

Unless this stream were improved and the right granted to drive tim- ber from this lake to Forked Lake under certain restrictions, the lumber- men, manufacturers, and mill owners on the stream below would be prac- tically barred from competitive bidding on the timber above this point, and such competition would be necessary in order to get the highest possi- ble price for the timber. :

According to the estimated stand of timber on Township 40, there are 410 263 standards of Spruce, Pine, and Balsam which it will be advisable to cut. If the Hemlock 14 inches and above at breastheight were included, there would be 544526 standards on this township alone. An advance of one cent per standard on the stumpage price would realize to the State more than enough to cover the cost of making the proposed river improvements. The timber on this township alone would undoubtedly sell for at least 5 cents more per standard, or approximately 25 cents per I 000 feet B. M., with a water outlet to market assured, than it would if confined to a single outlet, and that a railroad. In the latter case, too, exorbitant and arbitrary transportation rates could be maintained 1f the railroad were inclined to do so, as it would have no fear of competition. The effect on the stumpage value of this timber of having two outlets would be very important.

- On Townships 6, 5, and 41, after all private holdings have been deducted, there remain about 70 000 acres of land belonging to the State, from which the timber, in addition to that on Township 40, could come to this lake. If this land should yield the same average amount of Spruce, Pine, and Balsam per acre as estimated for Township 40, there would be I 700 000 standards to add to the estimated 410 000 standards on Town- ship 40. This would mean 2110000 standards of Spruce, Pine, and Bal- sam on the four townships. If the Hemlock were included on the same basis there would be about 2 800 000 standards of timber so located that

they could be brought to this lake center, not including any of the Cedar.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 221

Four thousand dollars would certainly cover the cost of all the neces- sary improvements, besides paying for all the timber and material needed for the construction of a wooden dam.

The small cost of the proposed improvements, when compared with the probable gain by the increased value of the stumpage, makes their construction imperative from a business standpoint. Each advance of one cent per standard on the stumpage on the four townships would mean a gain of about $28 000. There is no question but that the stumpage price would be very materially advanced by having two outlets and by the ccn-

sequent rivalry in bidding.

Stampage Calaes of Species to be Removed.

The prices of stumpage vary greatly according to the location of a tract, the topography, and the stand of timber. From the standpoint of the forester not less than of the lumberman, the prices that may reasonably be expected for the stumpage on Township 40 require consideration.

_ What the lumberman can afford to pay depends upon several con- ditions, all affecting the final question of what it will cost to deliver the timber to the markets. The market price is the basis of the stumpage price, _and the cost of getting the timber to the market regulates the scale of prices. For example, if the timber were worth at the mill $1.50 per standard, and the cost of delivery were $1.00, the stumpage price that could be paid would be 50 cents. If the timber could be delivered for 90 cents, the stumpage price would be 60 cents. The conditions which govern the lumbering of a tract regulate the stumpage prices. If a tract is very rough and precipitous with a small stand of timber, a long haul to water, and then a long and costly log drive before reaching market, the stumpage price would be lower than if the tract were comparatively smooth, with good skidding ground, a large stand of timber, short haul, and cheap log driving.

Market and consequently stumpage prices of Spruce and Pine in the Adirondacks have been steadily rising for some time, and especially of Spruce, because of the increased demand for Spruce pulp-wood. The increasing scarcity of timber lands, except those which are owned by the State or large corporations and those in private preserves, will likewise tend to maintain prices. As the growing scarcity of timber becomes

apparent, millmen and manufacturers are vying with the State in getting

Dae REPORT OF THE

hold of valuable timber lands, and of late there have been large investments in forest lands in the Adirondacks.

Township 40 is so favorably located for lumbering cheaply that the State would be justified in expecting the highest stumpage prices that are being paid locally at the time it is lumbered.

It was at first intended to furnish a complete list of railroad transpor- tation rates to different markets in connection with the probable cost of lumbering each compartment in the township separately, this cost having a direct bearing upon the stumpage prices which could be expected. But it was found impossible to get satisfactory rates on something that might or might not be done in the future. ~As prices are constantly fluctuat- ing, and as conditions which exist at present might be radically changed before it was decided to cut the timber on the tract, it was deemed better simply to quote the prices that could reasonably be expected for the stump- age at the present time.

The price of Spruce stumpage at present ranges from 40 to 55 cents per 19-inch standard, and should include the Balsam at the rate of 15 per cent of the Spruce. Letters received from many pulp manufacturers show that Balsam can be used in this ratio with satisfactory results. Balsam has long been included with Spruce stumpage under the same price, as should be done on this tract, cutting to the limits advised. In disposing of stump- age it is the usual custom to sell Spruce, Pine, and Balsam combined (sometimes including Hemlock and Cedar), these being the soft timbers which are commonly lumbered together in the Adirondacks. Pine stump- age is the most valuable and Balsam the least so, with Spruce between them. If there were an equal amount of each on the tract it would be fair to include them both with Spruce and let the Spruce price govern the whole. There is practically no market for Balsam unless sold with Spruce.

If the stumpage of Spruce, Balsam, and Pine were sold together on Compartment No. | at the present, it would probably bring 60 cents per 19-inch standard, as there is nothing to prevent this timber from being driven direct to markets downstream, and the stands of Pine and Balsam of the diameter limits advised for cutting are about equal on this compart- ment. (See Table No. 24.) There is a good log road already constructed from the point at which Brandreth Lake Outlet enters Township 40 down to Forked Lake. (See Map III.) This would add to the value of the stumpage by lessening the cost of the lumbering. It is quite likely that the State would be able to obtain 55 cents per standard for all the Spruce,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 223

Pine, and Balsam timber on the whole tract, sold together, if the 1mprove- ments and concessions advised were made. But it must be remembered that prices are fluctuating, and that these estimates are good only for present conditions.

Rales for Lambering.

The application of the following rules will ensure the safety of the forest. Its function in preserving the water-supply and as a public recre- ation ground will not be impaired by conservative lumbering, while its capacity as a producer of timber will be steadily increased.

In order to be certain that no timber below the advised limit for the different species is removed, and also in order to designate the trees so that there will be no possibility of the lumberman misunderstanding which trees he should cut and which he should not cut, it will be necessary to mark all trees intended for removal.

The diameter limits advised have been fixed after a thorough study of the effect of the cuttings upon the forest and the profits to be realized from the lumbering. Upon the care with which the markings are made and rules carried out the success of practical forestry upon Townsnip 40 chery depends.

As has been stated (page 49), smaller trees which show unmistak- able signs of decay and death, but are still merchantable, or of which the tops have been broken off by falling trees or wind storms, so that it is clearly apparent that they will not live, should also be marked for removal.

Spruce, Pine, or Balsam trees, whose branches are so interlocked with valuable hardwoods or Hemlocks that they cannot be removed without cutting the latter, should not be marked. They can be taken when the

other species are marketed.

METHOD OF MARKING TIMBER FOR REMOVAL.

The method of marking trees adopted by the Division of Forestry is to blaze the butt of each tree intended for removal below the cutting point on the stump, with a hatchet, and to stamp the spot with the hatchet- head, on which the initials ““ U. S.” are raised. This symbol may, of course, be changed for State work. The marks on the stump will make it possible to determine afterwards whether any trees intended for removal were left, and also whether any were taken which were not intended for removal. The markers should brand all trees that are to be cut. It has been found that in marking timber the most satisfactory results can be obtained with

224 REPORT OF THE

a crew of three men. The usual custom is to take a strip through the forest, the men keeping abreast within easy speaking range of each other, marking every tree between them which is to be removed, and watch- ing each other to see that no trees of the proposed limit or above are over- looked. The inside man follows the line of marks already made, and the others are guided by him. The man on the side next to the forest which © has not been marked spots a hardwood tree occasionally, where there is not sufficient marked timber to serve as a returning guide line. It is esti- mated that a crew of three men can mark from 40 to 60 acres a day. The cost of marking on this tract should not exceed 15 cents per acre.

METHOD OF CUTTING.

There are but two methods of cutting timber in common use—chop- ping and sawing. Since sawing saves much timber which is necessarily wasted by chopping, it is strongly recommended for Township 4o. It will be apparent even to those who are entirely unacquainted with lumbering methods that a tree felled and cut up with a saw yields more lumber than one cut with an axe. The kerf chopped out with the axe causes a loss in length of approximately one-half the diameter on the butt of each log. This being usually the best part of the log, it is very advisable to save it. For an illustration of the difference between the two methods of cutting see Pl. XI. What this difference would mean on this tract, on the Spruce alone, is approximately as follows: The average Spruce tree 12 inches and over at breastheight on Township 40 yields 1.26 standards if cut with the saw, as Shown in Pl. XI, fig. 1. If cut with the axe, as in Pl. XI, fig. 2, it would yield only 1.19 standards, a loss of .o7 of a standard per tree. Ii we assume that the total merchantable stand of 328 287 standards is con- tained in 260 545 trees with an average contents of 1.26 standards per tree if cut with the saw, then a loss of .o7 standards per tree by chopping would mean a total loss of 18 238 standards for the whole tract. At 50 cents per standard this loss would reach $9 119. A greater number of cuts, made by cutting the timber in shorter lengths, would increase the loss propor- tionately.

It is the usual custom in cutting Spruce logs intended for pulp-wood to cut them 14 feet 4 inches long. Each log then makes seven 2-foot lengths of pulp-wood, when cut up before “ rossing.” The four additional inches are to cover the necessary loss in cutting up and in trimming off the battered, discolored, and damaged ends of the logs, caused by driving them

PICA x.

Fic. 1.— VIEW OF PROPOSED LOCATION FOR DAM FROM ORIGINAL BRIDGE PIERS.

ELEVATION OF TOP OF PRESENT DAM SHOWN BY WHITE FLAG,

Fic. 2.— PROPOSED LOCATION FOR DAM FROM BELOW.

ORIGINAL BRIDGE PIERS AND PRESENT DAM IN THE BACKGROUND,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 225

through rapids and over falls, and by their lying in the water until taken out for manufacture. If the logs were to be manufactured at Raquette Lake, two inches, or at the most three, would cover all trimming, as the logs would not have to be driven through rapids or over large falls. An extra four inches, however, should be allowed on this tract for the lengths to which the softwoods are usually cut—10, 12, 13, or 14 feet, and also 16 feet when it is for the purpose of saving timber by bringing the cutting point in the top to the prescribed limit. This can always be done by vary- ing the length of the log on the foregoing length scale. To allow any longer lengths than these to be scaled at the top end would cause a loss to the State, on account of the decrease in diameter as compared with timber cut 13 feet—the length upon which the scale rule advised is based. But if the timber were cut into 10- to 16-foot lengths, and the quantities above and below the 13-foot standard length balanced, there would be no

appreciable loss. HEIGHT OF STUMP.

It is always important in lumbering to cut at the lowest point prac- ticable. The timber in the butt 1s almost invariably of the first quality. It is clear and free from knots, and, if sound in the heart, is actu- ally worth more to the manufacturer than any other portion. Very frequently the cutting of the tree at the lowest point practicable will con- siderably increase the scale allowed for the whole tree, because the slight difference either way in the height of the stump increases or decreases the diameter at the top of the logs. In the Adirondacks logs are scaled in even inches. Fractions of an inch below $ are dropped, while any above are considered whole inches. Very often the diameter of a log is so near the $-inch point that the increase gained by cutting low is enough to put the log into the next higher inch class. These apparently slight differences in scale may at first glance seem of little importance, but in reality they can make or mar the profits of the average lumber job.

In verification of the above, we cite results of experimental measure- ments made in 1897 by Henry S. Graves, now Director of the Yale Forest School, and published by the Division of Forestry in Bulletin No. 26, entitled “ Practical Forestry in the Adirondacks,” page 59:

“ Two hundred and eighty-three trees, which were measured in Neha- sane Park in 1897, were scaled in standards. The taper of each log in each tree was computed, and it was determined what the diameter at the top of each would have been if the stump had been cut 18 inches above

the ground. ie

ra ee = —$<<<—— es

REPORT OF THE

i) i) oO

“It was found that out of these 283 trees 78 would have actually scaled more in standards if low stumps had been cut. Computation was made of the percentage of increase in each tree affected, and of the ratio of trees of each diameter showing an increase to the entire number measured.

“The total increase for all the trees amounted to 5.4 standards. The total yield of the trees was 258 standards. The percentage of increase was, therefore, 2.1. The trees from which this computation was made were all sound. In actual practice a number of the trees are found to have some imperfection at the stump anda short piece has to be cut off. In generaliz- ing from the above figures, therefore, an allowance should be made for trees of this character. It is believed that a reduction of 5% 1s ample. The figure 2.1% should be, therefore, 2%.

“ These figures mean that for every 100 000 standards removed, 2 000 are wasted by cutting high stumps. If a tract of 100 000 acres yields on. an average 15 standards per acre there would be a loss in cutting high stumps of 30 000 standards. At a stumpage value of 40 cents per standard this represents an actual loss of $12 000.”

If these figures were applied to Township 40, on which there are 410 263 standards of the species advised for removal, the saving would be, at a stumpage price of 50 cents per standard, $4 102.63.

It is claimed by some lumbermen that the cutting of high stumps economizes in the time and labor expended in the “ butting,” or cutting off, of that portion of the tree which is sometimes affected by heart rot, shakes, or other defects. But the tree can very seldom be cut high enough to remove these defects when found, and another cutting usually has to be made, and sometimes two or three, before the proper point to remove the defect is reached. As it is impossible to judge with absolute certainty, from outside appearances, what the condition at the heart is, especially with regard to Spruce, and as the foregoing theory could hold good only on very slightly affected trees, while all sound trees cut in this manner would be cut at a very appreciable loss, a foot in length saved of the clear timber in the butt of the tree, where the cutting-point diameter runs from 14 to 30 inches, as it does with the Spruce on this tract, is worth several feet in the top of the tree. There is not only the difference in the increased scale of the butt, but also the difference of the two extremes of quality—the clearest and best timber in the butt, and the smallest and most knotty in the top.

The cutting point cannot be arbitrarily fixed for all conditions. Local-

ity and the position of the trees with reference to large rocks, fallen trees,

NO to

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

“NI

or other obstacles, tend to make this impossible. But it is recommended that no cutting more than 6 inches above the top of the root swelling be

allowed.

DIAMETER Limit AT Tor END.

The following table, obtained by very careful measurements of 1 064 Spruce, shows in standards how slight is the difference in scale of the top log gained by cutting to a diameter limit at the top end of 4 or 5 inches

rather than 6 inches.

TABLE No. 27,—DIFFERENCE IN SCALE BETWEEN CUTTING THE TOP LOG TO 4 OR 5 INCHES AND TO 6 INCHES AT THE TOP END,

Total gain by Total gain by

i 2 Average Number of cutting Average cutting Average :

Diameter breasthigh. trees to 5 inches gain to 4 inches gain PED IAS) ©)

analyzed. rather than per tree. rather than per tree. ces to 6 inches. to 6 inches. Dera che: Inches. Standards. Standards. Standards, Standards.

Io and over. I 064 3-39 -003 4.06 -004 23.40

12 and over. 883 2.16 -002 2.52 -003 15 56

14 and over. 602 -44 -OOI -26 - 0004 9 95

The average gain in the top log per tree 12 inches and over cut to 5 inches at the top end instead of to 6 inches is 0.002 standards. There is an average stand of 15.56 trees, 12 inches and over, per acre on Township 40. The gain per acre, cutting to 5 inches instead of to 6 inches, would therefore be 0.03112 standards. For the whole area of 16 896 acres this gain would be 525.80 standards, or only sixteen-hundredths of 1% of the total yield of Spruce cutting to 6 inches.

It is true that if the purchaser of stumpage were to manufacture his own timber, the value to him of the additional material which the smaller But if the timber is sold by scale, as advised in this working plan, there would be no appreciable gain to the owner of the timber, though the forest would benefit Further, all log buyers and dealers in pulp-wood object very strongly to any smaller diameter than 6 inches.

limit would yield would be greater than the table indicates.

by the removal of so much more of the objectionable tops.

With a diameter of 12 inches at breastheight, the top at 6 inches is sure to be about as far up in the limbs as the tree will have any commercial value, even for pulp-wood.

228 REPORT OF THE

For these reasons it is advised that the Spruce and Balsam timber on this township be cut to a 6-inch limit. But it should be plainly under- stood that a 6-inch limit on Spruce means that the timber shall be actually cut to 6 inches in the top. and not cut to 7 or 8, as is usually the case, unless there should be some very satisfactory reason therefor. Should any timber over 6 inches in diameter at the small end, long enough to yield a four-foot stick of pulp-wood, be left in the top, it should be scaled double as a penalty for not taking it at first. The length of the top logs can be varied by cutting them off at 10-, 12-, 14-, or 16-foot lengths, to bring the cutting point in the tops to the desired place on the trees. The

tops might be cut to any smaller diameter by the contractor if he desired,

_ but, if cut smaller than the limit, should be scaled at the limit. For

example, if a Spruce log be cut to 5 inches at the top end, 16 feet long, it should be taken as a 6-inch log. This rule should be applied to the diameter limit on Pine, as far as practicable.

A to-inch limit at the top end is advised for the Pine. Pine logs are not considered merchantable timber, in the generally accepted sense of the word, when cut shorter than 1o feet in length and Io inches in diameter at the top end. It will therefore be necessary in cutting the Pine to allow the lumberman to cut the logs into 10-, 12-, 14-, or 16-foot lengths, as the particular tree being cut may require. In order to save timber, every Pine tree should be measured to the required diameter limit at the top before a log is sawed off, and the length of the different logs should be varied on the above mentioned lengths to bring the cutting point of the top log to the required diameter limit in the top of the tree. By so doing, much valuable timber would be saved, and if there were any visible defects in the tree they would be found before the cutting up commences and the lengths could be

varied to remove them.

CARE IN FELLING, SKIDDING, AND IN CUTTING ROaps.

It is easily possible to save a large amount of the smaller growth on this tract by the exercise of a little care to fell the timber properly, and not to break down the smaller trees when it could as well be avoided by throw- ing the trees in the direction where there are the least number, or none, of the more valuable species growing. This should always be done when possible. The laying out of roads and skidways is another matter in which the exercise of reasonable care, while it means no extra cost to the lumber- man, would accomplish a great deal in the preservation of the young

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 229

growth. Many lumbermen make a very serious mistake by cutting too many roads for the area to be lumbered. They lose not only the cost of cutting out and leveling the roads preparatory to lumbering, but also that of clearing out for more skidways than are needed and of the breaking out and fitting up more roads in the winter than are necessary for hauling. A winter of deep snows entails a consequent expense of shoveling the snow from the front and off the top of a large number of unnecessary skidways. These are not small items under certain conditions, as many lumbermen have found out to their sorrow.

Much unnecessary cutting and clearing out incident to making too many roads and skidways can be avoided by a careful location of the main roads and the building of no more branch roads than are absolutely neces- sary to reach the timber without skidding the logs too far, and also by building fewer and consequently larger skidways, whenever practicable, rather than many small ones. It is impossible to make a set rule for the distance logs should be skidded or the number of roads to be cut, both varying greatly with difference in topography. The proper location of roads should come under the direct supervision of the inspector in charge of the work, in whose hands, if he is competent for the position, these details may be safely left.

UsrE OF TIMBER FOR SKIDS, CORDUROY, AND BRIDGES.

In building skidways, corduroys, and bridges, the smaller hardwoods

should always be used whenever it is practicable. Where there is no hard-

_wood nearby, the Balsam will almost invariably be found in sufficient quan- tity. Whenever possible one of these should be used for this work.

In building skidways, it has been found practicable and econom- ical at times to cut from the trees intended for logs sticks of 2 or 3 log- lengths, as the holding capacity of the skidway may require, and to use them ior skids until the logs are hauled off them in the winter. They should afterwards be cut into the proper lengths and hauled with the other logs. On account of the large diameter limit here advised for the cutting, it would be advisable to use that part of the tree nearest the top for this purpose, since it is lighter and easier to handle. At the same time it should be remembered that there is a decided advantage in using large, heavy skids, since, although it takes a little more time to get them into position, they do not require as much blocking up to raise them to the proper height in front, and the danger of the breaking down of a large skidway, after the

230 REPORT OF THE

logs are all carefully rolled upon it, is removed. The use of small Spruce for building skidways, corduroys, and bridges should not be allowed, unless it is impossible to find other timber of less value within a reasonable dis- tance, a condition very seldom found in the Adirondacks. If small Spruce is used (except with the inspector’s approval), it should be scaled at double value; for example, a stick 14 feet long and 6 inches at the top end should be scaled and charged against the person buying the stumpage as two such sticks. There should also be the distinct understanding that no smaller diameter limit than 6 inches will be figured, even on sticks of 4 inches in diameter, if cut from small trees without the consent of the inspector. This may seem at first glance a very hard rule to impose upon the lumberman; but a careful study of the conditions at present existing on all the lumbering operations that have been looked over makes it very evident that the inspector in charge of the proper lumbering of this tract should have a right of this kind: This is necessary in order to protect the State from the repeated small violations of the rules for lumbering, which, while hardly of enough consequence singly to warrant an open rupture or the breaking of the contract, would, if allowed to go on unchecked (as would be quite likely unless there was a small penalty of this kind which could be applied at once), very materially :nterfere with the proper lumber- ing of the tract. The enforcement of this rule would give the inspector in charge an opportunity to employ his own judgment in each case as to

whether or not it were necessary to use small Spruce.

LoppinG Tops.

There has been a great deal of discussion throughout the Adirondacks about the advisability of lopping tops when lumbering. Each side has its supporters. It is noticeable, however, that the owners of the land, and all who have a decided interest in the preservation of the forest, are usually in favor of lopping tops, while those who are opposed to lopping tops are almost certain to be either the persons who are compelled by contract or agreement to do the lopping, or some of their friends, who have taken the idea from them. There is no doubt that the proper lopping of tops is of great importance in the matter of checking forest fires. When the limbs are not lopped the tops are propped up from the ground by those underneath, and during a dry time in the early spring or summer, especially before the leaves are out, the small limbs and branches get exceedingly dry. If they catch fire in this condition, they will burn very quickly, making a hot, flashy

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 231

fire, especially when the tops are Spruce, Pine, Cedar, Hemlock, or Balsam. Where there are several tops lying together they will burn with a flash and roar that carr be seen and heard for a considerable distance, often send- ing sheets of flame above the tops of small standing trees. These flames flash up through the branches of the resinous trees and usually set fire to them and kill them, while the added flame from the burning trees sets fire to the branches of others. When down tops are in this dry con- dition and are thickly spread over the ground (as is usually the case when cutting to a small stump diameter limit) the fire will run from one top to another, especially if a strong wind is blowing, just as it runs through dry, dead grass of wild meadows in the spring or fall. Even in swamps, where the Cedar had been cut and the tops were lying thickly spread about, the fire, impelled by a strong wind, has been known to run across as quickly as a man could, although the ground under the tops was wet and springy and would not burn.

When the forest is dry it has been found by all woodsmen almost impossible to check entirely a forest fire until it has run out of the territory of old cuttings, dead and dry tops, and slashes, or until rain has fallen.

For these reasons it is strongly advised that all tops on this tract not wholly broken by the fall be thoroughly lopped, in order to bring them to the ground, or near enough to it so that the first winter’s snow will crush them down completely. They will then soon become wet and soggy, decay will set in much more quickly, and they will not burn in ordinary summers. The danger of fire, the greatest danger to the forest from lumbering, will thus be very materially lessened.

The cost of lopping tops varies greatly under different conditions and on different jobs. It is usually from 2 to 3 cents per standard, according to the diameter limit to which the cutting has been made and the thorough- ness with which the work is done. It will be readily seen that if the top were cut off at a diameter of 8 inches more branches would remain to be lopped than if it were cut to 6 inches. Consequently it costs more to lop tops for an 8-inch diameter limit than for a 6-inch. On the same principle, the larger the stump diameter limit the less lopping of tops per stand- ard, as it costs no more to lop the top of a tree containing two or three standards than it does one containing only one standard after the 6-inch point is reached. Therefore the cost of lopping tops on this tract, if cut to a 12-inch diameter limit breasthigh (which is practically 14 inches on the stump at the cutting point), would be less per standard than 1f they

232 REPORT OF THE

were to be cut to a 10-inch diameter limit, as there would be a much smaller number of tops from which to cut the limbs. The cost should not be above 3 cents per standard, or 15 cents per 1000 feet B. M., and the lopping should be thoroughly done for that sum.

A little care exercised in the proper felling of a tree makes a decided difference in the work of lopping tops. If the tops are lopped immediately after the tree is felled, before other trees are felled upon it, the work can be done much more cheaply and with more safety to the young growth than if the lopping is made a separate job to be done after the cutting is com- pleted. Later there will be many slashes, the cleaning out of which will add materially to the cost of lopping.

METHODS PREFERABLE FOR CUTTING ROADS TO THE LAKE.

The logging roads to the lake should reach the water as near the backs of the bays and the mouths of the inlets as practicable. No roads cut through the reserved strip along the lake front should be wider than is absolutely necessary to allow the passage of one loaded team at a time. No logs whatever should be skidded upon the shores of the lake. It would be impossible to allow the clearing out of a space large enough for the skid- ways and the consequent cutting of skidding roads and trails without caus- ing more or less of an opening on the lake shore, which can just as well be avoided. Any roads which must be brought out at points where there are no streams coming into the lake should be made to come out to the lake with as short a curve as possible, and never in a straight line. The short curve will break the view of the cutting up the road, except for a very short distance, and will prevent it from being seen from the lake.

A little care in bringing out the roads properly and in keeping skid- ways away from the lake shores will prevent the lumbering from offending tourists and the summer traveling public, as well as the residents around the lake, who might not at first clearly understand its purpose and result. The proper arrangement of the shore end of the roads is as necessary to preserve the beauty of the landscape as the leaving of reserve strips along the lake shore.

SCALE RULE ADVISED.

The 19-inch Standard Rule has been the basis for all estimates of the softwood timber on Township 40. This rule gives the contents of all logs in terms of a standard log, 13 feet long and 19 inches in diameter

PLATE X.

Fic. 1.—VIEW FROM PRESENT BRIDGE AND DAM, LOOKING DOWN STREAM.

PIERS OF ORIGINAL BRIDGE IN THE DISTANCE.

Fic. 2.—STREAM BELOW PROPOSED DAM SITE.

SHORT STILLWATER IN THE DISTANCE. HEAVY STAND OF PINE ON THE RIGHT BANK

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

to ios) iS)

at the small end. The use of this rule in determining the amount of timber sold on Township 40 is strongly advised for the following reasons:

Tt is the rule best known and understood throughout the Adirondacks; and therefore it commends itself to the buyer and seller alike as a common scale which both parties understand perfectly. It is, in the opinion of a large majority of the lumbermen, millmen, manufacturers, jobbers, and con- tracters, the fairest rule for both buyer and seller.

A standard rule is preferred to a board foot rule in this case because most board foot rules give too small a scale to the small logs as compared with the larger ones. There will naturally be a large number of small logs in the tops of the trees on this tract, and as they bring, when sold with the larger ones, the same price per standard, it is advisable to use a rule which gives as nearly as possible the actual contents of the small as well as of the large logs. These requirements will be best served by the adoption of the 19-inch standard log.

The Old Scribner Rule has been used in calculating the volume of the hardwood timber, because it is considered advisable to use a board foot rule for timber of this kind. This rule is more nearly accurate for the small logs than any of the others. It has been proved conclusively by manu- facturers and millmen that neither the standard nor the Old Scribner allow

‘more merchantable material for small logs than they actually contain,

METHOD OF SCALING.

The method of scaling advised for this tract is the one in com- mon use—viz., measuring the diameter at the top end of the !og. Its use is recommended, however, with the following provisions:— That no Spruce or Balsam logs should be measured at the top end if cut more than 14 feet long (unless to save timber on account of breakage, forks, or defects), except such top logs as may be cut 16 feet long to bring them to the required top diameter limit. Pine logs over 14 feet long should be measured at the top end only when cut 16 feet long to save timber on account of breakage, punk knots, forks, etc., or to bring the cutting point to the desired top diameter limit. Any timber cut for dimension stuff, booms, spiling, or building material should be scaled at each 13-foot length when practicable. To scale long timber at the top diameter is not just, and would cause a serious loss to the State. When the timber is in such a position that the 13-foot points are not accessible, as when

ZaA REPORT OF “2HE

piled in skidways, every log should be measured at each end and the aver- age of the two measurements taken as the diameter, and from it the con- tents should be found. The customary rule of accepting the diameter of the logs at the nearest full inch above or below the actual diameter should be followed.

No Pine logs should be culled or left in the woods that would scale 50 per cent or over of sound merchantable timber. Such logs should be scaled and taken at their actual merchantable value, both the end area of sound merchantable timber and the length of the log being taken into con- sideration. This rule is necessary in order that the State may not be the loser by careless or inefficient cutting, because much timber is sometimes wasted by slovenly work, especially in Pine.

Merchantable Pine timber should be construed in this case to be any timber that will cut sound boards of the minimum length of 10 feet.

Spruce or Balsam logs should be scaled and taken at their actual merchantable value whenever they do not contain more than 25% that will not make merchantable pulp-wood. The incorporation of this rule would largely do away with careless and wasteful methods of cutting the timber, since no lumberman would continue to haul and drive logs under conditions involving this loss of scale. The scalers should be in the employ of the State and the number should be determined by the amount of lumbering going on. They should be selected wholly with reference to their capa- bility and reliability, and they should be directly responsible to the inspector

in charge of the work.

RULES FOR LUMBERING TO BE EMBODIED IN THE CONTRACT.

It is advised that the following rules be incorporated in any contract made for lumbering on Township 40. As has already been said, thorough supervision by trained men is absolutely essential to good results in the application of these rules:

1. All timber shall be cut with a saw whenever practicable.

2. No timber shall be cut-in the reserved strips, except with the consent of the Inspector.

3. All roads laid out through the reserved strips shall be approved by the Inspector before any cutting is commenced.

4. No trees shall be cut which are not marked.

5. All trees marked shall be cut, unless a satisfactory reason is given for

leaving them.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 235

6. No trees containing merchantable timber shall be left lodged in the woods.

7. No trees shall be cut more than 6 inches above the swelling of the roots, unless a satisfactory reason is given.

8. All merchantable timber in the tree which is above the established diameter limit at the small end shall be utilized. If such timber is left, through carelessness or purposely, it shall be scaled double and charged at the stumpage rate paid for the timber.

9g. No Spruce shall be used for bridges, corduroy, skids, slides, or for building camps or dams, unless the scarcity of less valuable timber makes its use absolutely necessary. Any timber unnecessarily so used shall be scaled double and charged at the stumpage rate.

to. All tops shall be sufficiently lopped to insure their being flattened to the ground by an ordinary winter's snow, the lopping to be subject to the approval of the Inspector in charge.

tr. All merchantable timber used for building skidways shall be cut into logs and hauled out.

12. Timber may be used for booms, but will be scaled and charged at the regular stumpage rates. Hemlock timber, if used for building pur- poses, shall be charged at the same rate as Spruce.

13. Contractors and lumbermen shall be careful not to do any unnecessary

damage to young growth in lumbering.

14. The violation of any of these rules, if persisted in, shall be deemed a

sufficient cause for annulling the contract.

Inspection.

The work of the Inspector is of the greatest importance. Upon his capacity and judgment depends largely the proper lumbering of Township 40, or any other tract. The Inspector should combine all the qualities of a first-class lumberman and a competent and impartial scaler, and should have a fair knowledge of practical forestry, besides the necessary energy to insure a careful and thorough inspection of all portions of the tract where lumbering is going on, enforcing the rules as thoroughly in out-of-the-way places as in those open to public scrutiny. He should have full control of the scalers and markers.

Any division of authority in the carrying out of the rules should be carefully avoided. The decision of the Inspector should be final upon all matters connected with the lumbering.

iS)

26 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

He should make detailed reports to his superior officer of the number of pieces and standards scaled on each separate job, and of the general progress of the work at the end of each month. He should also furnish the lumper- men cutting the timber with a statement of the scale of the timber measured at least once a month while scaling is in progress, giving the number and contents of logs of each species.

Names of Trees Mentioned in Working Plan.

CONIFEROUS SPECIES.

Common Name. Red Spruce. White Pine. Balsam Fir (Balsam). Hemlock. Arborvitae (White Cedar). Red (Norway) Pine. Black Spruce. Tamarack.

Botanical Name. Picea rubens Sargent. Pinus strobus Linn. Abies balsamea (Linn.) Mill. Tsuga canadensis (Linn.) Carr. Thuja occidentalis Linn. Pinus resinosa Ait. Picea mariana (Mill.) B. S. P. Larix laricina (Du -Ro1) Koch.

BROADLEAF SPECIES.

Yellow Birch.

Sugar (Hard) Maple. Beech.

White Ash.

* Black Cherry.

Red (Soft) Maple. Silver (Soft) Maple. Paper (White) Birch. Aspen (Poplar). Largetooth Aspen (Poplar). Wild Red (Bird) Cherry.

Striped Maple (Moosewood).

Mountain (Spotted) Maple. Witch Hobble.

Betula lutea Michx. f. Acer saccharum Marsh.

Fagus atropunicea (Marsh.) Sudw.

Fraxinus americana Linn. Prunus serotina Ehrh.

Acer rubrum Linn.

Acer saccharinum Linn. Betula papyrifera Marsh. Populus tremuloides Michx. Populus grandidentata Michx.

Prunus pennsylvamca Linn. f.

UNDERGROWTH.

Acer pennsylvanicum Linn.

Acer spicatum Lam. Viburnum lantanoides Michx.

PLATE XI.

DEEL) SECA) eh

bonne

yon

‘z-ol4

Tezeworg

“weyouy eZ)

CHOPPING

COMPARATIVE LOSS BETWEEN

SAWING.

AND

History of the Dbamber Industry in ihe State of Ne “ork.

BY WHLELAM: By FOX.

i yw 7 Y. ROM the time when the pio-

neers first swung their axes in the primeval forests of New York, the operations of the

lumbermen have been closely con-

nected with the industrial progress and development of the. State. The first settler was the first lum- berman ; and his work began when he felled the trees preparatory to making the clearing in the forest where he could build his log cabin and raise his food.

Although thé use of the axe alone would hardly constitute lum- bering operations, as the words are understood to-day, still it was not many years until a sawmill made its appearance in each settlement, whereupon the lumber industry in

all its principal details was then

inaugurated. | The first colonists, owing to their limited resources and the undeveloped condi- tion of mechanical art, went without sawmills longer than the later settlers. They obtained lumber for their houses, barns and fences by the use of the axe, supple- mented at times by saws, large and small, worked by hand power. In the later settlements, however, which in the beginning of the last century included three- fourths of the State, a sawmill was built in each locality within ten to fifteen years

237

238 REPORT OF THE

after the first family moved in. In many instances the sawmill preceded the gristmill; and in a few places the erection of the mill antedates the advent of the first settlers.

The phrase “lumbering operations,’ through long usage, is now understood as including all the work of the lumbermen from the felling of the trees to the sawing of the logs. So, any history of this industry should commence properly with the erection of the first sawmills. Prior to that time trees were cut down by the settlers in clearing land and constructing their cabins. From the logs thus obtained boards and shingles were ‘rived out by hand,” an axe and a wedge being the only tools necessary to the work. The shingles were for the roof; the boards for the floor, partitions and household furniture. This work was generally confined to the labor of one man, and to the needs of his one house and little farm. But with the erection of a sawmill the work was extended until it embraced substantially, in one form or another, all the different stages of the industry which characterize the work of the modern lumberman. Trees were felled and cut into logs of suitable length. These logs were skidded and hauled to the mill, where they were sawed into lumber of various dimensions, the product being sold to the settlers in the vicinity or floated in rafts down some stream to a greater market.

Whatever may have been the means used by the first colonists in converting trees into lumber the methods adopted in their logging operations must have been substantially the same as those of to-day.

Right here attention is called to the fact that from the days of the first settle- ments down to the present time the lumbermen have never resorted to clearing

operations in carrying on their work of tree felling. There is, however, a wide-

spread impression to the contrary. People are very apt to think of cleared lands.

and farming areas as the result of lumbering operations, and to attribute the absence of forests to the work of the lumbermen.. Now, this is an error. The dis- appearance of the forest is due to the farmer; not to the lumberman. The farmer cuts and burns every tree and bush to make his clearing and improve his land; the lumberman takes only a few scattered trees to the acre, confining his selection to some merchantable species. Then, again, many of the fires which destroyed so much of our forest areas were due largely to the carelessness of the farmers in burn- ing their brush and log heaps; also, but in a smaller degree, to locomotives, hunt- ers, campers and several minor causes. The lumbermen do not start fires; for their work — chopping and log hauling —is done mostly in the late fall and winter when the woods will not take fire. Had no one ever landed on our shores but lum-

bermen, had no other industry but theirs ever been carried on within our borders,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 239

the forests of our State would still be standing in an unbroken, umbrageous

growth.

The Primitive Forest. Its Composition.

In 1614, the year when the first houses were built at Albany and on Manhattan Island, the territory which afterwards constituted the State of New York was forest covered throughout its entire extent. Some of the Indian tribes belonging to the Six Nations had cleared small areas near their villages on which they raised corn; and in some places on the east side of the Hudson River there, were openings caused by forest fires which the red men had started in order to facilitate hunting. But these clearings formed an insignificant proportion of the entire region. It was a silent, unbroken wilderness where stood a primeval forest which, in grandeur and undeveloped wealth, was unsurpassed in all the region of the Atlantic coast.

New York was not only a forest State, but it was essentially a white pine State. This valuable species was predominant throughout the entire territory. It was conspicuous everywhere by its towering height, although it may not have been as numerous as some of the inferior or smaller species with which it was associated. In height, diameter and quality of timber the pines of New York compared favor- ably with those of any other region on the continent. Generally they attained a height ranging from 130 to 160 feet, with a diameter, breast high, that varied from two to four feet. In some localities there were individuals of still greater size. So far as can be determined now, the maximum height was reached at about 255 feet, and the maximum diameter at about 80 inches. There is a record of a white pine which was cut in the town of Meredith that measured 247 feet in length as it lay on the ground. There are many New York lumbermen living to-day whose reminiscences include stories of giant pines that measured 7 feet or more across the stump and over 220 feet in height.

There is ample evidence as to the uniform distribution of this species through- out the State. The History of Delaware County states that “the town of Walton when first settled was heavily timbered with pine, and some hemlock, which at an early day was rafted to Philadelphia in lumber or logs, constituting the all-absorbing industry from which the land debts and living expenses were paid ;”’ and that ‘“‘the mountain east of the village of Walton received its name from the immense pines that covered its sides, and the entire valley of the village was a dense forest of the same.’ The History of Cattaraugus County tells of the “remarkable size and good quality’ of the white pine in the southwestern part of

New York. Holden’s History of Warren County mentions ‘the splendid pines

240 IRITIEOIVIL ON AENE,

with which the great Brant Lake Tract abounded.” The writer—whose grand- father and father were the pioneer lumbermen of that famous tract — well remem- bers hearing in his boyhood the white pine of that region enthusiastically described as being “clear as a hound’s tooth.” The meaning of the Indian name Schenec- tady —‘“the end of the pine plains’’—indicates that this species was conspicuous in that region, although it seems there to have been largely admixed with pitch pine.

We are told that Pine Street in New York City took its name from the “many magnificent pines” that adorned the farm of Jan Jansen Damen.*

Peter alan the Swedish naturalist, who visited Albany in 1749, Whitese a: ene white pine is found abundant here. The greater part of the merchants have extensive estates in the country, and a great deal of wood. If their estates have a little brook, they do not fail to erect a sawmill upon it for sawing boards and planks, with which commodity many yachts go during the summer to New York, having scarce any other lading than boards. They saw a vast quantity of deal from the white pine on this side of Albany, which is exported.”

Michaux f. states that in 1801 “the shores of Lake Champlain appeared to be most abundantly peopled with this species.”

Dr. Torrey, in his Flora of New York-—— published in 1843 —says: “The white pine is found in most parts of the State,” and “ our chief extensive forests of this noble and most valuable tree”’ are ‘“‘on the headwaters of the Hudson, and on the rivers which empty into the St. Lawrence; on the Salmon and Black riverys, which empty into Lake Ontario; on the headwaters of the Delaware and Susque- hannah; and on the headwaters of the Allegany and Genesee.” This distribution includes substantially the entire State except the lowlands, from which the white pine had been taken by the early settlers long before Torrey wrote.

The Adirondack tourist of to-day can still see in the tall trees at Paul Smith’s, or in the noble colonnade along the shores of Forked Lake, further evidence of its widely extended habitat.

The Catskill region was also rich in white pine, although there was a strong admixture of hemlock on its mountainous slopes. An old number of the Ulster County Gazette contains an advertisement, dated November 13, 1799, which reads

as follows:

* New York Historic Trees. New York Times, May 12, Igol.

+The mountain laurel, Ka/yua, so abundant in the Catskills, was discovered by this scientist and

named after him

em

2

ih yee

i axe ry

FIRST SETTLEMENTS

IN THE STATE OF

NEW YORK.

0 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Scale of Miles.

\f

2

=\\

R Woke 8 (i

8

Sf

é a Niagara Falls

Ye GENES ae ence Darien -1f99 —S1OF Abxande,

ONS: 6 51802. = 1804, 0 © Ordngevi bur = os pa 1805

305

Holand WY: 5-1807— Castile Wethersfield 1808 SS T810 =

——eAy cade! —_ 1806. sos, Centerville IRI6- edo | © 1803— oH ami = 181 1 f= SO=Farmersville7—— O—l1817- = Rushford 9

— Gra) fi

=o

— Erg : Ces yells¥ — :

Svicr— nS pe Ste Little Valley o— ——=1807=€ 5

Efiendship — 08-9 SIT Amity- = 1804-9 ——[= Clarksville Wirt! 0-1892— 1812 —t-}¢; ORolivar \— 1819: ims

Norr.—The figures on this map are the dates when the first settlers arrived in the respective localities. In each case a sawmill was erected within a few years, and in some instances the erection of the sawmill antedated the settlement. (See appendix.) Hence the dates shown on the map indicate closely the beginnings of the lumber industry throughout

the State.

Settlements in groups of years have been colored as follows;

1614 - 1700

1700-1725 ||

15-150

1750 - 1775

1775 - 1500

1800 - 1825

1825 - 1900

The year given is the one in which the SIAR is CPS — first settlement was made in the town. When there is a place of the same name as the town it is located thus, O. When there is no place or Post Office of the same name as the town we have located the center of the town thus o.

MASSACHUSETTS

— ATLANTIC OCEAN

“nassau \ ?° Hempstead — O- - Babylor 16:

JAMES 8. LYON, STATE PRINTER.

Chiu fs

Lon —

FIRST SETTLEMENTS

IN THE STATE OF

NEW YORK.

0 5 10 20 80 40 50 60 70 80 Scale of Miles.

+ y A Settlomonts in groups of years Haye been colored as follows;

1614 - 1700

1700 - 1725

Mies

Res

aie a 1725 - 1750 cs

: LO Soferset Kendall aN : 1 Mery : é AVI ‘ ! Ne © ; / Gow Finnie? lalze | : i = C. ~

1 Wildou L07Rfdlewaye/Gaine a ag = BlaKeway LOR Lp b sndipyORLEANS | te GARA i1410d eis none f ¥ Ph he Loyattoito. | Barre Geden ) 3 1800 - 1825 f 1800 oPbmbrinlbos — j-——1alL———,___cis0e : ay ee <7 1800 | Oakfield Elba perpen 7 = ep onoiande (ie ’ eee TRS. < $ z HWheatilele {801g 018011805 oO oRiga 5 ¥ aS, Rirklant 2 Ok . KOA 5 a = ae Ningara Fal Batavia PByyoies 2 = BOBS ‘ : siden. Pepukfort : We 1825 - 1900 . Sane T80—5 0% 18 : nikita © t Sr, a — hye OC, NE

“SOO, os d ; LE 42 Nes oN etsth. ype Covington i kA : i ee : The year given is the one in which the |_ AES ye} atarata te) >ordieunte Seog] me Peaiblice e8 7 F- on AL YOu Cu) - aS —~— first settlement was made in the town. ; nv ta 180 he 78 | When there is a place of the same name 4 ii) Walaa WYOMING ™LivINGSTON) as the town it is located thus, O. When 5 If a sPiaon © utherenend® Meee Sands sprinalvarera there is no place or Post Office of the Sey 5 j oninn 1 1310 ci Dae same name as the town we have located

0)

“Gra “Osian0 entender are

5 Pansvite tr Sims offfime —— Ens ties { 1807 orn Se "

the center of the town thus o.

mht 0 NUT 0 porare Ryan ret) Vilenayas isn °

Frankihieifie

Ot) Ne o <j : hd News) Hon Manstield BY idonl)y $ Lenguiso. ish AE Gime | MG QU L tue Valley o ache

e : FY Crvwk | rAGARTA A hia

haulaugua Les

1505 us So Carn fo G 4 1806 5 nt pe eae offtinilate 18a. ; au Jasper, 5 oMIna o Or . i ; 7 S i 6 < iy fh is 1512 Sood! 4 yea Ss 1805-2 AES Fail oso Valley :

1Gengpoe 2 eae = s : x a Kk ra % Poscarore : iGo Siete > Alma, 3205—o LE pan : WL - ————— : ;

- f-sOlive (1740 Kingato)

Norr.—The figures on this map are the dates when the first settlers arrived in the respective localities. In each case a sawmill was erected within a few years, and in some instances the erection of the sawmill antedated the settlement. (See appendix.) Hence the dates shown on the

map indicate closely the beginnings of the lumber industry throughout the State.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 241

“FoR SALE. THE ONE HALF OF A SAW MILL.

With a convenient place for building, lying in the town of Rochester.* By the Mill is an inexhaustible quantity of PINE WOOD.— And also,

A STOUT, HEALTHY, ACTIVE

NEGRO WENCH.

Any person inclined to purchase, may know the particulars by applying to

JOHN SCHOONMAKER, jun.”

The advertiser and his fellow lumbermen of that region have long since gone their way, and with them their “inexhaustible quantity of pine wood.”

With the white pine there was in many localities an admixture of Norway pine; and in Steuben county, or along the southern border, considerable yellow pine (P. echinata, Mill.).

The white pine, being the most valuable of all the forest trees, was taken first, and, until 1850 or thereabouts, the work of the lumbermen was confined almost exclusively to this species.

Next, in -importance, the hemlock requires some mention, as it, also, was distributed over the whole territory. Though of inferior dimensions and quality throughout the Adirondack region, yet in the southern tier of counties, and along the Catskill range, it attained a size and strength that compared favorably with the best Pennsylvania hemlock.t For a long period, however, it had no value except for its bark, which was necessary in the tanning business. Trees were cut, peeled, and the bark hauled to the tanneries while the trunks were left in the woods to decay as waste or useless material. This was largely the case within twenty-five years, especially in Pennsylvania, the demand for bark being greatly in excess of the demand for hemlock lumber. Not until there was a scarcity of pine did the lumbermen find it profitable to take hemlock logs to the mills; and,

then, for many years the margin of profit was very small.

* Town of Rochester, Ulster County; not the city of that name.

} In the town of Colchester, Delaware County, there is a hemlock tree over two feet in diameter standing on the line between divisions 63 and 64 upon the north side of the hill opposite the school- house in the Wilson Hollow. While it was a young tree about six inches through it had been marked by some sharp instrument, probably an Indian weapon, in 1535. Two hundred and fifty-three con- centric rings of annual growth over this mark is a blaze made by James Cockburn in 1788; and over another twenty-eight annual rings is a blaze made by Christopher Tappen in 1816.

16

242 REPORT OF THE

The spruce, which in late years has formed so large a part of our lumber pro- duct, was confined mostly to the Adirondack plateau and the Catskill slopes. It formed no part of the forest in the western or southwestern portions of the State; neither did it appear in the southern tier of counties, along the Pennsylvania line, west of Broome county. The lumbermen who operated along the valleys of the Chemung, Tioga, Allegany and Genesee rivers cut no spruce, many of them living and dying without ever seeing a tree of this species.

It is unnecessary here to define the habitat of the other evergreen species; for the lumbermen used none of them until quite recently. The balsam, which is con- fined almost entirely to the Adirondack forests, is now cut to a limited extent for pulpwood and lumber; and the white cedar of that region has something of a market now in the way of shingles, posts and telegraph poles.

The hardwoods, or broadleaved trees, were present everywhere, mixed more or less abundantly with evergreens, In some places within the primeval forest there were “ hardwood ridges,’ so called because there were no other species; in other places there were slopes on which pine, hemlock or spruce grew unmixed in pure stands or great “‘clumps.”’ Along the river valleys or bottom lands where the soil was dark and rich with alluvial deposits the more valuable hardwoods — white oak, ash, cherry and black walnut — predominated. Maple, beech and birch grew every- where, on mountain and plain; but there was no chestnut or oak on the great northern plateau, and there are none there now. Such, in short, was the general character of the forest which covered the territory of New Amsterdam when Hen- drick Hudson cast anchor off the island of the Manhattoes.

Until recent years lumbermen paid no attention to the hardwoods, and but little of this kind of timber was cut, beyond what was needed for cooperage, furniture or pyroligneous acid, industries which until the present time were never prominent in this State. As fast as the lumbermen took out the pine and hemlock the great hardwood forests that remained soon fell beneath the axes of the advanc-

ing farmers and disappeared in fire and smoke.

The First Sawmitts.

John Verrazzano and Hendrick Hudson made their famous discoveries and sailed away without leaving a man behind to occupy the newly found territory. No settlement was made by white men, no house erected until 1614. Just when the industrious labor of the first settlers took the form which we now call lum-

bering it is impossible to say. But in 1623, nine years after the first colonist

J. Y. MCCLINTOCK, PHOTO.

NEW YORK.

OLDEST SAWMILL IN

BUILT IN 1805, IN ULSTER COUNTY.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 243

built his home at New Amsterdam, three sawmills were erected there by the Dutch West India Company, and with their erection begins the history of lumbering operations in the State of New York.

The machinery of these mills, which were shipped from Holland, was constructed so that the saws could be run either by windmill or water power. One of them was built on what is now known as Governor’s Island, and was probably operated by wind power; another one, which stood on Sawmill Creek, a tributary of the East River, may have used a water wheel. In 1639 the mill on Governor's Island was leased at an annual rental of 500 merchantable boards, half oak and half pine.

About this same time, perhaps a little earlier, some sawmills were built at Fort Orange (Albany) or its immediate vicinity. Andries Corstiaensen, a master mill- wright, with two sawyers, were sent there from Holland in 1630. Among the settlers at Rensselaerwyck (Troy) in 1630 were Lawrens Lawrenssen and Barent Tomassen, sawyers.* In 1636, Barent Pieterse Koeymans joined the colony, and in the fall of 1645 took charge of the Patroon’s sawmills, being allowed 150 guilders a year for board, and three “stuyvers”’ for every plank he sawed. In two years this mill cut over 4,000 boards. In 1673 Koeymans bought a large tract of land on the Hudson River, twelve miles south of Albany —the location of the present town of Coeymans—on which there were some desirable mill sites, and where Cruyn Cornelissen and Hans Jansen had erected sawmills as early as 1651.

The colonists soon made other settlements in the Hudson Valley, and in 1661 Frans Pieters Clavers built a sawmill on the little stream which runs into the river two miles north of Stuyvesant Landing, in what is now the town of Kinderhook, Columbia County. This stream has been known as the Saw Kill ever since Clavers built his little mill there.

In 1663 a sawmill was built by Jan Barentson Wemp on the Poesten Kill, a stream which empties into the Hudson at Troy. As the falls of the Poesten Kill (puffing or foaming creek) furnished a strong water power it may be assumed that this mill was driven by a water wheel.

In a letter dated January 2, 1701, written by the Earl of Bellomont to the Lords of Trade, England, he says:+ “ They have got about 40 sawmills up in this province (the Province of New York), which I hear rids more woods or destroys more timber than all the sawmills in New Hampshire. Four saws are the most in New Hampshire that work in one mill, and here is a Dutchman lately come over

who is an extraordinary artist at those mills. Mr. Livingston told me this last

* History of Albany County, by George R. Howell. New York: W. W. Munsell & Co., 1886. + Colonial Documents. Vol. III, p. 825.

244 REPORT OF THE

summer he had made him a mill that went with 12 saws. A few such mills will quickly destroy all the woods in the Province at a reasonable distance from them.”

The evolution of the sawmill is largely due to the conditions and demands of the lumber industry in America. Our early colonists built and operated sawmills one hundred years or more before there was one in England. It may be well to. note here that this method of manufacturing was not an absolutely necessary adjunct to the work of the forester. The wainscotings, panelled ceilings, cabinet work and Chippendale furniture which made famous the stately homes of England were constructed in all their perfection long before the first sawmill was erected in that country. The men who founded the Massachusetts Bay colony, together with the emigrants who followed them for a hundred years, had never seen a sawmill in their native land. So, if a sawmill did not always make its appearance in the colony soon after the first settlement, it does not follow that no lumbering operations were carried on. They had other means of manufacturing the forest products.

As already remarked, the pioneer of the wilderness, in building his lonely cabin, could, with axe and wedge, easily supply his few wants in this respect. But in the villages which sprang up at each important trading post there was a demand for building material and shiptimber which the inhabitants themselves could not well supply. Most of the settlers were engaged in better paying pursuits or professions; hence, some outside labor found employment in manufacturing lumber by hand power. Large timbers for house and shipbuilding were hewn out and squared with a broad-axe by men whose expert handling of this tool is now a lost art; planks, boards and boat-sides were mostly made by pit-sawing. The latter was a common industry in the old country; and one reason why England had no sawmills until after 1768 was because the mobs, who always opposed labor-saving machinery, destroyed the first ones as fast as erected, through a fear that the pit-sawyers would

be thrown out of employment. Pit-Sawitng.

Pit-sawing was done by two men with a long saw which had a cross-handle at each end. A large timber, hewed square, was placed over a pit or elevated on trestles, with one man standing on top of it to pull the saw up, and one man below to pull it down. The workman on top, who guided the saw along a chalk line and was necessarily the better man, was called the “ top-sawyer,” a name still used occa- sionally in the backwoods to indicate a tip-top man; and the one below was called the pitman. When sawmills were first substituted in this work the saw was pulled

up by a spring-pole overhead, and pulled down by a wooden beam attached to the

‘A 'N “ALNOAOOV 2° A ‘AUWTIVA GNVIGOOM NI

“TIIN AHATLINIAd

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 245

crank of the mill wheel. This wooden beam was called a pitman, and is known by that name to-day in every sawmill throughout the country. Our amateur philolo- gists will not have much trouble in guessing the derivation of the word.

But pit-sawing, or “whip-sawing,” as sometimes called, was not entirely aban- doned on the introduction of sawmills.* This old method was still useful in saw- ing “long stuff,’ because in many mills the log carriage was not long enough to saw planks of the desired length. The writer remembers seeing two men as late as 1860 pit-sawing at the Gang Mills, near Painted Post, Steuben County, N. Y. The large, square stick of timber, which rested on high trestles, was being sawed into long planks for the sides of a canal boat. The man underneath—the human pitman —

had a handkerchief tied over his head to keep the sawdust out of his eyes.

The First bumber Shipments.

The lumbermen of New Amsterdam colony were not confined to the home market afforded by their fast growing town. They shipped part of their product to England; for, as already stated, there were at that time no sawmills in Great Britain, all of the lumber in that country being brought from Holland, or made by hand-sawyers at home. In fact, the colonists had sent some lumber to Holland in 1626, three years after the first ship load of emigrants arrived. At first, it was their only article of export besides furs. This consignment in 1626 consisted of “considerable oak timber and hickory,’ and was sent over in the good ship Arms of Amsterdam. In 1675 the ship Castle carried a cargo of timber valued at £400 from New York to England. In 1686 Governor Dongan, in a report to the home government, offered to ‘send over boards of what dimensions you please,” adding that “three-inch planks for the batteries cost me fifteen shillings the hundred feet.” Surely, the lumbermen of New York belong to an honorable as well as ancient guild.

For the hundred years next after the founding of the colonies at New Amster- dam and Fort Orange (Albany) the settlement of the State was confined to the region of the Hudson and Mohawk valleys. The development of the country and the growth of the lumber industry were slow as compared with that which succeeded the Revolution and the establishment of the State as a member of the new republic.

There being no means of transportation except in the river districts, the lumber-

*In 1804 James Perkins built the first framed house in the town of Conquest, Cayuga County, saw- ing out all the lumber with a whip saw.

246 REPORT OF THE

men, after supplying local demands, had to depend on the export business, which was confined largely to the English trade. There was a market for large white pine masts and ship timber, which gave employment to axemen and raftsmen to some extent. But four-fifths of the State was still an unbroken wilderness at the close of the Revolutionary war, and where the large and populous city of Rochester now stands there was not a house or a white man to be seen one hundred years ago. i

By referring to the appendix and map published herewith, it will be seen that, aside from the Hudson and Mohawk counties, the settlement of the various districts of the State, together with the commencement of various lumbering operations, all occurred within the last one hundred and twenty-five years, while throughout a very large area nothing was attempted until a much later date. But it is interesting to notice, as at New Amsterdam, for instance, how soon the sawmill everywhere followed the erection of the first cabin, how quickly the lumber industry was established in connection with each pioneer settlement, and how closely this

industry was associated with the development of the country.

The Lamber Market a Centary Ago.

In 1801, according to notes made by the younger Michaux, the white pine that was cut along the shores of Lake Champlain was carried to Quebec by the Sorel and St. Lawrence rivers. He further states that “What is furnished by the southern part of the lake is sawn. at Skenesborough,* transported seventy miles in the winter on sledges to Albany, and, with all the lumber of the North River, brought down in the spring to New York in sloops of 80 or 100 tons, to be after wards exported in great part to Europe, the West Indies, and the Southern States.”

The same author, in writing about the lumber market at that time, says:

“The white pine is found there in the following forms: In square pieces from 12 to 25 ft. long, and of different diameters ; in scantling, or square pieces 6 inches in diameter, for the lighter part of frames; and in boards, which are divided into merchantable or common, and into clear or picked+ boards. The merchantable boards are three-fourths of an inch thick, from 10 to 15 inches wide, from 10 to 15 feet long, and frequently deformed with knots; at New York they are called Albany boards, and are sold at the same price as at Boston. The clear boards, formed from

the largest stocks of the Pumpkin Pines, are of the same length and thickness as

* Whitehall. + It may be interesting to note that ‘‘ pickings” still forms one of the well-known grades made by

the lumber inspectors in the Albany market.

‘AON ‘ALNONOO UANWINUMAH ‘SNOT DNIGCINY

“OLOHd ‘NOSIX 'H "D

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 247

the first, and 20, 24 and 30 inches wide. They should be perfectly clear, but they are admitted if they have only two knots small enough to be covered with the thumb. This wood is also formed into clap-boards and shingles.”

There were foresters in those days as well as lumbermen. In 1770 Adolphus Benzel, son of Archbishop Eric Benzel, of Sweden, was appointed inspector of his majesty’s woods and forests in the vicinity of Lake Champlain at a salary of £300 per annum. His residence was at Crown Point.* As early as 1700 Lord Bello- mont, Governor of New York, recommended that each person who removed a tree should pay for planting “four or five young trees;” that no tree should be cut “that is marked for the use of the Navy;” and that no tree or trees be cut “but

when the sap is in the root.’

Primitive Methods.

Tt is well to consider here the conditions and limitations under which the lumber business was carried on years ago, at the beginning of the last century, for instance.

There was a lack of the tools and labor-saving appliances which are considered indispensable to-day. Even the axe of the chopper was home made, the rude handiwork of the nearest blacksmith; for the axe factories, with their keen, brightly polished product, were yet to come. The double-bitted axe had not been invented, and so the woodsman used a single bit with a curved hickory handle. Cross-cut saws, which had to be imported from England, were scarce and costly; hence the tree trunks were cut into logs by chopping instead of sawing. The millwrights were not much better off for tools. The first mill in Rensselaer County was built in 1792 by a man named Cross, who “had no tools but an axe, saw and augur.”

After the logs were cut they were seldom skidded, but were hauled direct to the mill. Skidways were rarely made, except where a surplus stock of logs was left lying in the woods.

Oxen were used for the most part in logging, the same teams being employed on farm work part of the year; for the lumberman was obliged to combine farming with his business in order to make a living. In those days the oxen did not wait for the teamster to swear at them before starting a load. It was not until later years that the oxen got that idea.

There was no river driving then. The great white pines stood close around the

mill itself, and so thickly that the logs were quickly and easily ‘“‘snaked”’ there. As

* History of the Town of Queensbury. By A. W. Holden, M. D. + Colonial Documents. Vol. IV, p. 675.

248 REPORT OF THE

the old-fashioned mill had only one saw, it did not require much timber to stock it, and hence several years would elapse before the haul became too long to be profit- able. Then the lumberman would move his mill into another tract of timber and resume logging. It was not until years later that the Fox Brothers, the pioneer lumbermen of Warren County, conceived the plan of driving the logs to the mill instead of moving the mill to the logs, and so sent the first log drive down the Schroon River branch of the Upper Hudson.

For the first two hundred years the mills were of rude, primitive construction and of small capacity, being limited to a single upright saw. At first the saw was attached direct to the pitman, the blade being steadied by a side pressure from guide blocks. Then an improvement was made by straining the saw between stir- rups in a frame or “ gate,” the pitman being attached to the latter. As the turbine was then unknown, the power was obtained from a single overshot water wheel.

Many of the first sawmills were built in combination with a gristmill, the power being used to drive them both or singly as needed from time to time; and in most instances both were under the same roof.

There were timber thieves in those old days as well as now. Mr. Nathan Ford, the pioneer of Ogdensburg, in a letter to Samuel Ogden, December 27, 1799, wrote: “There are several persons now cutting timber upon the two upper townships. Mr. Wilkins took down the names of several who pretended to settle; their motive was only stealing off the timber. If something is not done about this business great destruction will arise. An example ought to be made, and this cannot be done without sending an officer from Fort Stanwix. They have got the timber so

boldly that they say there is no law that can be executed upon them here.”

A Dangerous Life.

The life of the pioneer woodsmen or lumbermen was always beset with dangers peculiar to their work. The early town records make frequent mention of the fatal accidents which befell them. It is remarkable how often the first death ina settle- ment was that of some man who was killed by the falling of a tree* which he was cut- ting ; of one who was crushed by a load of logs; or of one who was killed in his saw- mill. Not only the pioneers, but their successors have contributed to the same death

roll every year. The causes are various; a heavy limb falls, broken by the wind; a

*In the foot notes appended to the town histories in Hough’s Gazetteer of New York there are twenty-one different instances mentioned in which the first death among the settlers was that of

some man who was killed by the falling of a tree.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 249

tree “lodges,” and, springing back at the stump, kills the axeman; a load of logs ‘““Shoves” the team down some grade in the road, and the driver is thrown under- neath or dashed against a roadside tree; a tier of logs starts suddenly, and a man is crushed to death; a jam on the log drive breaks without warning, and a man is lost; another, while fighting a forest fire, finds his retreat cut off and is burned; another disappears in the current of the spring flood; while in the mills there is the gruesome sight of men killed by falling on the saws.

Painful wounds and frightful accidents, also, were incidental to pioneer life in the lumber woods. In the records of the town of Middlebury, Wyoming County, we find that “In May, 1817, Artemas Shattuck went into the woods to chop. While cutting off a log that had been partially split open, his foot was caught in the crack, and he hung for a long time suspended by his foot and partly supported by one hand. Despairing of receiving aid, he finally unjointed his ankle with his pocket- knife, made a crutch of a crooked stick and started for the house.”

Their privations had a pathetic side also. We read in the history of the town of Verona, Oneida County, that “the first death in the settlement was that of a

child who was buried in its cradle for want of a coffin.”

Rafting.

It should be remembered too that there were no canals or railroads in those days; no loading of boats or cars. The local market of each mill was limited by the distance to which the sawed lumber could be transported on wagons, over soft, newly-built roads; the greater outside market could be reached only by raft- ing the product and floating it down to the towns and cities which then were always located on some waterway. Hence, the mills were erected on the upper waters of the creeks or rivers, not only to utilize the water power, but to secure an outlet to their market. Each lumberman was a raftsman as well as a log-jobber and mill owner.

Passing by the lumbering operations during the first century of colonial life, of which there is very little record now, we come to a period in the history of the industry when, for a lack of canal or railway transportation, its beginning in each

county was marked by the running of the first rafts.

Pioneer Raftsmea.

Arthur Noble, proprietor of the Arthurboro and Nobleboro Patents, Herkimer County, built the first mill in that county in 1790. The first lot of lumber sawed

250 REPORT OF THE

in this mill was shipped to Ireland. He rafted it down the West Canada Creek, thence down the Mohawk to the Cohoes Falls, and then carted it to the Hudson at Albany, where it was loaded in sloops for the old country.

In Broome County, 1796, Edward Edwards built a sawmill on the Onondaga stream, at a place which is now in the town of Lisle. He was the first man to run a raft down the Chenango River. For sixty years after the first settlements the staple product of this county was white pine lumber, which was rafted down the Susque- hanna, sometimes to Norfolk, Va. The young men had not seen the world until they made this trip. It was a life of adventure. The river journey brought to their view whatever there was of civilization at that period; and running the dams was perilous work that furnished material for thrilling narratives on their return. Other business as well as the lumber industry was dependent on the success of the raftsmen, and notes were made payable when “the rafts got back.” *

In Delaware County, Jesse Dickinson, who built a mill about 1788 on Trout Creek, in the town of Tompkins, ran the first raft that went down the west branch of the Delaware River, the lumber being floated all the way to Philadelphia.

In Chautauqua County, the first lumber floated down the Allegany River was_ sawed at the mill owned by Dr. Thomas R. Kennedy, on the Conewango Creek; in the town of Poland, near Jamestown. This mill was erected in 1805, and by rafting the boards in the Conewango, a tributary of the Upper Allegany, the product was taken to Pittsburg, the nearest market at that time.

In Cattaraugus County, the first lumber was rafted down the Allegany River in 1807. The rafts were owned by Bibbins Follett, Jedediah Strong and Dr. Bradley. The first sawmill in this county was built in 1801 at South Valley by the Quaker colony, and the lumber for the first raft may have been put in the river there, although in 1807 there were mills at Olean and Portville.

Every river in the State was utilized at one time or another by the lumber- men. Board rafts, bound for tidewater, or “tide,” could be seen on the Chemung and Tioga rivers as late as in the sixties; and on the Upper Allegany they were a prominent feature of the lumber business until the construction of the railroad along the river shore, from Pittsburg to its headwaters in Cattaraugus county, N. Y., made this method of transportation no longer necessary. The last of them

went down the river about 1880.

*Tn the town of Franklin, Delaware County, a large willow tree, which formerly stood in the high- way near the house of Judge Wattles, grew from a cane which he walked home with from Philadelphia after ‘‘ going down the river” upon a raft in the spring, and stuck into the ground after his return.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 25a

Rafting on the Upper Hadson.

The Hudson River was never used by raftsmen below Albany; for a raft could make no progress unless both wind and tide were favorable. So, the lumber was loaded into sailing vessels at Albany, and thus carried to New York or to the old country.

Mrs. Grant,* in describing some rafting on the Upper Hudson, as she saw it in 1768, says: “Tt so happened that the river had been higher than usual that spring, and, in consequence, exhibited a succession of very amusing scenes. The settlers, whose increase towards Stillwater had been for three years past incredibly great, set up sawmills on every stream, for the purpose of turning to account the fine timber which they cleared in great quantities off the new lands. The planks they drew in sledges to the side of the great river; and when the season arrived that swelled the stream to its greatest height, a whole neighborhood assembled, and made their joint stock into a large raft, which was floated down the river with a man or two on it, who with long poles were always ready to steer it clear of those islands or shallows which might impede its course. There is something serenely majestic in the easy progress of those large bodies on the full stream of this copious river. Sometimes one sees a whole family transported on this simple conveyance ; the mother calmly spinning, the children sporting about her, and the father fishing at one end, and watching its safety at the same time. These rafts were taken down to Albany, and put on board vessels there, for conveyance to New York; sometimes, however, it happened that, as they proceeded very slowly, dry weather came on by the time they reached the Flats, and it became impossible to carry them further; in that case they were deposited in great triangular piles opposite our door.”

The greater portion of the pine on the slopes along Lake Champlain was sent to market in rafts which were taken through the lake and down its outlet — the Sorel River— to Canada, from where it was exported to England. .

In 1808, owing to international disputes, Congress laid an embargo on. all trade or commercial intercourse with Canada. This restriction bore heavily on the lum- bermen of Clinton County, who were dependent on the Canadian market, their lumber being sent there by way of Lake Champlain and the Sorel River. That year, a large timber raft, said to have been a quarter of a mile long, lay at Isle la Motte waiting for a favorable wind to carry it over the line. The United States revenue

officer, supported by a company of militia, was watching it under orders to prevent

* Memoirs of an American Lady. By Mrs. Anne Grant. 1876. Albany: Joel Munsell.

252 REPORT OF THE

any export of that kind. The bold raftsmen, undaunted by the display of mili- tary, pushed out into the stream, the soldiers following along the shore. After a brief exchange of musketry and rifle shots, in which no one was injured, the lum-

bermen crossed the line and proceeded on their way without further hindrance.

Constraction of Rafts.

Rafting formed such an important branch of the lumber business for many years that some description of the methods employed seems proper here; in fact, no his- tory of the lumber business in this State would be complete without it. In 1865, and for several years subsequent, the writer was engaged in rafting lumber on the Upper Allegany, both boards and square timber, putting in his rafts at Olean, Weston’s and Portville, in Cattaraugus County, N. Y., and running them to Oil City, Pittsburg and Cincinnati. The details of the business, its varied scenes and incidents, are easily recalled to mind.

Board rafts, pine or hemlock, were from twenty-four to thirty courses deep, a “course ’ consisting of inch “ stuff,” or its equivalent in plank or joist. The number of courses varied according to the height of the “fresh,” and the judgment of the pilot, on whose ability to handle the raft amid bars and shoals the owner was dependent for a successful and profitable trip. In that part of the State all logs were cut sixteen feet long, except a small proportion of twelves which were cut to save timber when necessary. Hence the platforms of a board raft were sixteen feet square. They were built up in successive layers, the boards in each course being laid at right angles to the ones just below, thus binding them together securely.

At the corners of each platform, and at intervals along the four sides, round wooden stakes, about two inches in diameter, extended from the under side of the raft to the top, passing through augur holes in some of the boards. These “ grub stakes,” as they were called, were cut from sapling trees, the bark peeled, and the roots cut away until only a knob remained at the lower end, a little larger than the auger hole inthe boards above it. These stakes were then passed through the over- lying courses and were wedged solidly at the augur holes in the binding boards of the top course so that they could not pull out. Five platforms thus constructed were connected closely, forming a “ five-platform piece.’ The larger rafts were made up by coupling three of these five-platform pieces side by side, and fastening three more behind them. <A raft of this size would then be 48 feet wide and 160 feet long; and if it had twenty-five courses it would contain over 180,000 feet of

lumber, board measure.

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 25

(SS)

The greater part of this floating mass was submerged, the top course being from six to eight inches above the water. Occasionally a “deck load” of shingles or dressed lumber was carried on top; but the latter was not taken unless the owner intended to peddle it out along the river at places where there were no planing mills.

At the forward end of each five-platform piece was a large oar. On a raft, such as just described, there were three oars in front and three behind —not on the sides, but at the ends, projecting forward and backward. The oar blade was a six- teen-foot plank, fourteen inches wide, thin on the lower edge; the oar, made from a small tree, was about eighteen feet long and eight or ten inches in diameter at the large end where it was attached to the blade. It was hewed tapering to the small end or handle at which the men stood. So large and clumsy were these rafting oars that two, and often three, men were necessary in handling them. When not in use the oars rested on the raft with their projecting blades just clear of the water. At the command of the pilot the blades were dipped by raising the handles high, and then the men, grasping the oar, with hands high lifted above their heads tramped across the platform, bracing their feet against cleats nailed on the pathway for that purpose. The men pushed, not pulled, on the oars. As the raft had no motion of its own the oars were used to move it sideways and keep it in the current; on, in turning sharp bends in the river, to swing it on its center by “ crosspulling,” in. which the oars at one end were worked ina direction contrary to that of the oars at the other. The work of the men was directed by a pilot, whose many trips down the river had made him acquainted with every rock, reef, shoal, and bar, and whose long experience had taught him how to take advantage of the swirling cur- rent or to avoid its treacherous force.

As a large raft had six oars,—three in front and three behind,—a full crew required from twelve to eighteen men, not including the pilot and cook on one of the forward platforms. A shanty was built in which there were bunks in triple tiers around the sides. For bedding there was plenty of clean straw and coarse, warm blankets. A fireplace, on which the cooking was done, was made just outside the cabin by placing four short boards on edge and filling the square inclosure with earth.

Rafting on the Allegany.

On an ordinary flood the rafts would run from forty to fifty miles each day. At nightfall the pilot would always tie up in some eddy, swinging in to the bank, where

a cable was thrown ashore and, by taking a turn or two around some large tree, the

254 REPORT OF THE

raft was “snubbed” until its momentum was slowly overcome. Yielding to the importunities of the crew, the pilot generally tied up in an eddy near some town or village, in which case there were plenty of other rafts in the same place, and the men repaired quickly to the tavern, where the question as to who was the best man and all other disputes were duly fought out. The Allegheny raftsmen were a stal- wart type, many of them Indians from the Salamanca reservation; and among them were not a few ‘‘bad”’ men, as they are termed in modern slang. Having been paid off at Pittsburg, they generally walked home to Cattaraugus County, some of them doing easily forty miles or more a day.

It was a pleasant, jolly, outdoor life, floating down the river through the forest- covered hills and mountains of the Alleghanies, gliding past the clearings and cabins of pioneer farmers, and running through villages or cities where the bridges were lined with people waiting to see the rafts go by.

Sometimes the raft carried one cr more passengers — friends of the owner or pilot — people who were content with the plain fare and food provided. The writer remembers one trip — about 1868 — when, just after passing Corydon Dam, he swung in to the bank in response to an urgent hail, whereupon a stout young fellow accom- panied by a buxom girl sprang aboard. He told me that he had been married that morning, was on his “ weddin’ tower,” and wanted to go to Franklin. He did good work on one of the forward oars, while the bride assisted in peeling potatoes and washing the tin ware.

But rafting, as well as other branches of the lumber business, had its trials and perplexities. Although the river dams were built with a chute or apron to facili- tate the passage of rafts, sometimes the long floating mass would swing in the wind

’

or current so that it would ‘‘ saddle-bag” on the head of the bar below the dam. Then the boards had to be “ rafted over,” occasioning a delay which, on a fast-fall- ing freshet, often resulted in getting “stuck” again on some shoal farther down the river, where the raft would lie all summer, the lower courses filled with mud and the top course warping in the sun.

Bridge piers were also a source of danger, especially where there were three or four in close succession, as at Oil City and Pittsburg. Years ago raftsmen delighted in telling the story of a Susquehanna pilot who said that there were

thirty piers in the Columbia bridge, and he “run ’em all but one.” The Susque-

hanna was a much more difficult river for rafting than the Allegany — higher dams more bridges, larger rocks and more shoal water. It was claimed by many of the old time lumbermen that rafted lumber was

better than any other, because the soaking of the boards diluted the sap and resi-

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 255

J

nous matter so that when piled again in the yards it would season better and quicker. But whatever the advantage thus gained it was more than offset by the wet, muddy condition of the boards as they were taken out of the river. Each course had to be scrubbed with a broom; and even then the front of each pile in the lumber yard was plastered with the mud that was scraped off as the boards were drawn up over the top edge. Then, again, when the dried lumber was sent to the planing mill the boards were covered with a thin coating of dirt and grit that dulled the planer knives and filled the mill with a cloud of fine dust. And such was rafting in the old times before the railroads paralleled our rivers.

Hewed timber, as well as boards, was floated to market in rafts. Fifty years ago most of the long timber was hewed instead of sawed; for the mills had no appli- ances then for sawing long sticks. Moreover, the hewed timber was thought to be more valuable; it was stronger and would last longer than sawed timber wherever it was used. The sticks were of white pine, ranging from thirty to seventy feet long and from twelve to twenty-four inches square. At one time considerable “square” timber, as it was called, was sent to the Albany and New York market by

’

canal, the rafts being made up into “‘lockbands” corresponding in size to the

canal locks.

Log Driving.

Log driving on the Upper Hudson commenced about 1813. This method of bringing logs to a mill by floating them down a stream was first used by the Fox Brothers, Norman and Alanson, who took this means to get their timber from the Brant Lake Tract to the mills at Glens Falls, which had previously been stocked by hauling the logs direct to the mill. Their example was quickly followed, and for seventy-five years the great sawmills at Glens Falls, Sandy Hill and Fort Edward obtained their stock this way, thereby concentrating the entire manufacturing business of the Upper Hudson and its tributaries in that one locality.

In time the large number of logs coming down the Hudson on each freshet made it necessary that a sorting boom should be established at some convenient place, where the logs of the various lumber companies could be separated in accord- ance with the “‘log-marks”’ or characters which had been stamped or indented on the end of each log with a “marking hammer.” This necessity, together with the frequent loss of stock by the breaking of poorly constructed booms in time of high water, caused the organization, in 1849, of the Hudson River Boom Association

and the construction of the “big boom” at Glens Falls, where suitable arrange-

256 REPORT OF THE

ments were made for holding and sorting the logs belonging to all the mills located at or below that place.

From the books of this company it appears that in 1851 there were 132,500 “market ’’* logs, 19-inch standard, equivalent to 26,500,000 feet, B. M., received at this boom. The next year 69,080,000 ft. of logs passed through; and these figures may be assumed as showing approximately the amount of the lumber business on the Upper Hudson at that time.

The business increased yearly until the maximum was reached in 1872, when 1,069,000 markets, or 213,800,000 ft. were handled at this point At thatytimesthe lumbermen were not cutting below twelve inches on the stump, or nothing less than “two-log’’ trees. Hence the logs in the boom ran, on an average, about two to the standard, and so the 1,069,000 markets delivered at the boom that year represented over two million separate logs or “ pieces.”

After 1872 the business declined steadily until 1900, when the books of the Boom Company showed that 282,771 markets, or 56,554,200 ft., were received that year. These figures tell briefly the story of the rise and fall of the lumber

business on the Hudson watershed.

Streams Declared Navigable.

But to return to the story of the early log driving. At first, the people living along the rivers objected strenuously to the use of the streams for floating logs to the mills. The first law declaring any river in this State a “public highway” was passed in 1806. This act provided that the Salmon River in Franklin County could be used for rafts and boats below Malone, and it enacted further that if any person shall ‘cut or fell any trees into the said river such person shall forfeit one dollar for. each tree so felled and suffered to remain in the said river twenty-four hours.” This same law — chapter 139 — forbids any person from “rolling any log or logs into the Schroon River, in Essex County, or doing anything to obstruct said river,” under a penalty of five dollars for each offense; but provides that nothing in the act shall “prevent any person from rafting any lumber down said river they may think proper.” The restrictions in this law as to obstructions will be read with interest by those who in recent years have noticed how often some Adirondack river is filled at times for a long distance with a solid mass of floating logs through

which no boat can pass.

* The market or standard log is Ig inches in diameter at the small end and 13 feet long, and is

generally referred to as a ‘‘market” by the lumbermen of the Eastern Adirondacks.

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, D9)

But industrial interests are always recognized in time, and so, in 1854, the Legis- lature delared the Salmon River “a public highway for the purpose of floating saw- logs and timber.” In fact a portion of the river was so used before the passage of this law.

In 1804 the Legislature passed a law, chapter 103, to punish any one who stole timber or lumber that was floating down the river or lying along the shore. This act refers to “any timber, hewed, sawed or riven,” terms which do not seem to include saw-logs, and which would indicate that only long timber, spars and masts were floated down the stream at that time. Section 2 of this law provides a severe penalty for persons who shall “ deface or alter any mark, or put a false mark on any such timber,” from which it appears that “log marks” were in use then, even if short logs were not driven down the stream. Nine years later a law was passed — chapter 34, Laws of 1813 —requiring all log marks to be recorded in the office of the town clerk of Queensbury, and the phraseology of this act shows that log driving had commenced already on the Hudson and “its branches to the northwest of Baker’s Falls” (Sandy Hill.) In 1825 a similar act was passed for the protection of log marks on the Au Sable River.

In 1810 the Legislature declared the Raquette River a public highway from its

mouth to the falls; but the text of the act specifies “rafts or boats” only. The same law opens up a portion of the St. Regis River, and provides that dams shall be constructed so as to permit the passage of “timber, masts and spars.” In 1850, chapter 249 provided for the passage of saw-logs and appropriated money for “clearing and improving ’”’ the channel.

The Black River was first declared a highway in 1821, the law providing for “rafting timber or lumber.”” The Grasse River was made a highway in 1824; and

”

in 1854 an act was passed ‘“‘to improve” this stream “for floating timber and saw logs.” The years in which other rivers were declared public highways for floating logs

are as follows:

Genesee River, * - : = = : - z = A - 1818 Delaware River, = - = z - : 2 z 2 2 x 1823 Saranac River, - - = : = z : 2 : : 3 aT S46 Moose River, - : = 2 : : = : 2 = : i 1851 Chateaugay River, - - - ~ = : 2 = : : See Sr Beaver River, - E = = é : Z i z : 2 1853

* In 1828 the Genesee River was declared a public highway from Rochester to the Pennsylvania line.

17

258 REPORT OF THE

St. Regis — West Branch, - - - - - - - ate - 1854

: East Branch, - = E - s : 2 a 1860 West Canada Creek, - = : - : : : 2 = = Sai Oswegatchie River, - - - - = : z e 1854 Sacandaga River, - - - = = - é 2 4 Z 2 eA Great Chazy River, - - : : : : 4 : : 1857 Deer River, - : : : “ 4 2 = BS a 5 - 1867

After the merchantable timber along the main rivers had been cut, the lumber- men turned their attention to the more remote and inaccessible tracts on moun- tain slopes, where the streams were narrow, rocky and rapid. Then commenced the erection of ‘‘splash”’ or “ flooding’ dams, which were used to drive the logs out of the small streams, on the temporary, artificial floods caused by opening the gates; and, also, to reinforce the subsiding waters of the main streams.

These flooding dams seldom did any damage to standing timber, because the ponds were always drawn down in the early spring when water was needed for log driving, the gates being left open until the next winter. There was no backflow during the period of vegetation; and the temporary flooding of the roots of trees does not kill the timber. Trees are killed by water only where it is allowed to cover the ground for two or more successive summers.

There is a general impression, however, to the contrary; and it is commonly believed that the lumbermen with their flooding dams are responsible for the killing of live timber and the destruction of forest scenery. But, in nearly every instance, the dead timber in the flowed lands of the Adirondacks is the result of some dam or reservoir which was built in the interest of State canals, local steamboat lines or manufactories on the lower waters. The lumbermen had little or nothing to do with them. |

In the southern and western portions of New York the lumbermen rarely built . these small flooding dams to assist them in their river driving. The country was not so mountainous; the streams were not so rapid or violent as in the Adirondack forests; the spring floods held up longer by reason of a less rapid flow; the log

driving was easier in every respect.

bog Drivers and Their Work.

The beginning of log driving was coincident with the sudden increase in the development of the country at the commencement of the last century. As there were no canals or railroads, and as logs could no longer be supplied under the former primitive methods of hauling from the forest to the mill, some such method became

necessary owing to the corresponding demands for lumber. The haul had become

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 259

too long, forcing the manufacturers either to move their sawmills up stream or to flood the logs down to some place where they could be sawed.

In a few years log drivers were at work on every large river in the State. The logs, which were cut and skidded in the fall, were hauled during the winter to the banks of the streams, where they were piled in huge tiers on the ‘“ banking ground,” as it was called on the Susquehanna, or “ rolling bank”’ in Northern New York. With the first spring freshet, often while the ice was still running, the block- ing was knocked loose, allowing the great piles of logs to roll down the sloping ground, over the edge of the bank, in a swiftly moving, tumbling, splashing mass, into the cold, turbid stream. In some places the logs were unloaded from the sleighs directly on the ice which covered some lake, pond or stream, with the inten- tion of allowing the logs to go out with the ice on the first spring flood.

In the lake region of the Adirondacks, on the Saranacs and neighboring waters, the river drivers had the additional task of moving their logs through the lakes, where there was no current to assist their progress, and, too often, contrary winds that drove their logs back or scattered them. In passing through these lakes the lumbermen generally rafted the logs or inclosed the floating mass within strongly connected booms, and then “warped” their way through the open water by using an anchor, a long heavy cable and an upright windlass which stood on the forward end of the raft. This work was often done at night when the lake was still and free from the strong winds that are so prevalent in early spring. There are old river drivers living to-day who, in their stories of early log drives on Floodwood and the Upper Saranac, describe how, through the long hours and darkness, they leaned wearily against the capstan bars as they tramped round and round the platform while “‘kedging” their way down the lake.

The work of the river drivers was a perilous one. Scarcely a season passed with- out some one being drowned or killed on some stream. Men were crushed under swift rolling logs at the banking grounds; chilled to death in the icy waters; drowned while working at the rapids; or killed in breaking the great jams which formed at every obstruction in the river. The most dangerous work was often done by volunteers, and could all the tales of the river drivers be collected there would be found stories of unrecorded heroism that would equal anything in fire and flood and battlefield. They were necessarily men of stalwart build and superb physique. Possessed of a surprising agility, they would leap from log to log in the rapid, swirl. ing current, and with nothing but a pike pole for a paddle would ride a small log, standing upright and guiding their treacherous craft as skillfully as an Indian his

canoe.

260 REPORT OF THE

But the river driver is passing. Other methods of getting logs to the mill are fast coming into use. And now when the hunter or fisherman makes temporary quarters in some old abandoned logging camp he looks thoughtfully at the punch- eon floor, thickly pitted with the marks made by the spikes in the river drivers’ shoes, and thinks of the old days of the big log drives, or listens to the guide as he tells the story of some “‘good man” who met death bravely in the foaming rapids or on the head of the jam.

On the larger streams the owners of the various mills generally arranged for a “union drive,’ in which expenses were shared according to the number of logs each one had in the drive, a proportion which was easily ascertained from the tally at

the sorting boom or from the books of the log scalers.

Log Marks.

Each lumberman on the river had his own peculiar log mark, which was stamped with a marking hammer on the ends of his logs while piled in the woods on skidways, or before they were put into the stream. There were so many different firms operating on the Upper Hudson that the ingenuity of the lumbermen was greatly taxed to devise new and distinctive characters to mark their floating property.

Some of the principal marks used, from 1851 to 1900, on the Upper Hudson and

its tributaries — the Sacandaga, Schroon and Boreas rivers — were as follows:

A. Wing & Co.

A. N. Cheney

Teffit & Russell Morgan Lumber Company James Morgan & Co. Finch, Pruyn & Co. Morgan & McEchron W. H. Bloomingdale D. W. Sherman

A. Sherman

George H. Freeman

Bradley & Underwood

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 261

Kenyon Lumber Company : A Orson Richards CO Van Dusen & Crandall we Freeman & Van Dusen el Cheney & Armes oe} Lemon Thomson NG Thomson, Douglas & Dix f) Union Bag and Paper Company ee International Paper Company 1H

On the Tioga River, the following marks were used to distinguish the logs com-

ing from various timber tracts:

Fox, Weston & Bronson [Oo] © I Gy ets)

Ballard & Co. B Cameron & Co. Gs

On the Oswegatchie River the logs of the principal firms were stamped as follows: Starbuck & McCarty S Weston, Dean & Aldrich @)

On the Indian River (Lewis Co.), Roberts & Brooks used this mark: HE

On the Raquette River the log marks recorded in the town clerk’s office at

Potsdam since 1851,* included, among others, the following:

Ransom Jenkins a A. M. Adsit & Co. +Y Henry Hewett H Hewett & Townsend EH Parmenter & Hitchings simi

* The law requiring that the log marks on the Raquette River should be recorded was passed in 1851. It allowed the town clerk twenty-five cents for recording each mark. Many of these marks had been in use on the Raquette River prior to 1851. Since then 102 different marks were recorded, the: last entry having been made December 4, 1900, by the Raquette River Paper Company.

262 REPORT OF THE

George L. Stanton

Morgan, Rosekrans & Adsit S. Chamberlain & Co. Hitchings & Hall

N. Pratt & Son

‘Ralph Pomeroy

Om SE ke

Archibald Robertson Ralph & Co.

AK S)

George W. Sisson

Sherman Lumber Company

Gi

GoOGHSYSAK]

Augustus Sherman Burnham, Loveless & Co. M. S. Ballard

W. A. Griswold

Foster & Boswell Harmon & Rice

Norwood Manufacturing Company

Watkins, Turner & Co. NY; Export Lumber Company SAX Export Lumber Company XPT

In addition to the foregoing there were a large number of log marks on the Raquette in which letters or numerals were used.

On the Saranac River there were: Maine Company Christopher F. Norton co Ol Ac mletit JH sake @ Baker Everitt C. Baker

XX & ob ©) L

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 263

Loren Ellis Fo Thomas & Hammond i Patrick Hanlon COO D. H. & W. Parsons Sf

As these firms went out of business from time to time, their marks were used by other lumbermen, the original owners having no further use for them.

To reprint here all the marks used on the many logging streams of New York would occupy too much space. The ones shown here will give some idea of what constitutes a good log mark. The characters were usually about an inch and a quarter in length or width. In some instances numerals were used. Jones Ordway, one of the pioneer lumbermen of Northern New York, stamped his logs with a 34; and Harris, Finch & Co. used a 15.

The river drivers and men at the sorting booms had their own names for the various log marks, designations which were suggested by some real or fancied resem- blance. Hence, in speaking of log marks we hear the river drivers use the names crow’s foot, double O, wine cup, triangle, hawk eye, devil’s head, deer’s foot, etc.

In making the design for a mark care was taken to select one that would be quickly recognized as the log passed through the opening at the sorting boom; and the man who used the marking hammer always hit the end of a log in several places so that whatever side might be up as it floated, some one of the marks would be in sight. These marks were also of use in the mill yard or piling ground, as showing the job or firm to which a pile of lumber belonged, a part or all of the

stamp showing here and there on the ends of a board or plank.

Log Rattroads.

But with railroads, logging cars, steam log loaders and jack-works for lifting logs from a lake or stream onto the cars, lumbermen are no longer dependent on river driving in order to get their stock to the mill. A railroad has the great advantage of being available any month of the year. The mill does not have to shut down in a dry season for lack of stock. There is no loss by having a drive “hung up” for many months, the logs decaying or deteriorating in the meantime. With the railroad the stock is brought to the mill in perfect condition— no faster than wanted, but just as fast as it is wanted.

The first railroad for hauling logs was built in 1860 by Fox, Weston & Bronson,

in the town of Lindley, Steuben county, N. Y. It was constructed of wooden rails,

264 REPORT OF THE

and was equipped with platform cars and a locomotive which bore on its cab the name “ Bull of the Woods.” This railroad was not used as a substitute for log driving, but for hauling logs to the bank of the Tioga River, where they were rolled into the stream and driven to the large gang mills at Painted Post.

Railroads were utilized more and more, improvements were made in the mechan- ical appliances for loading logs on cars, and in time it became evident that railroad- ing was more economical in the end than river driving. Our Adirondack lumbermen have been quick to perceive the many advantages of this new system of bringing stock to their mills, and now there are several timber tracts in Northern New York from which all the logs are taken out by rail. A central line is built through the forest, with branch tracks and switches in place of log roads. The tourist on our Adirondack trunk lines may see any day long trains of flat cars loaded high with logs bound for some sawmill or pulpmill.

The use of railroads in the transportation of logs enables the lumbermen to get out their hardwood timber, which otherwise would be inaccessible and worthless because it cannot be floated down the streams. The logs are too heavy; they would sink. The hardwoods— birch, maple, beech, ash and cherry — constitute on an average over sixty-five per cent of our northern forests. In the Catskills these species form a still larger proportion. As this class of timber becomes accessible under improved methods of logging, the value of such timber lands is greatly enhanced.

The increasing use of railroads by our lumbermen and consequent rise in the price of hardwood lands will have a direct influence on the forest policy of the State. Hitherto the State has been purchasing forest lands at a low price, because the lumbermen, having removed the small proportion of conifers — spruce, pine and hemlock — were willing to sell at a low figure. The remaining hardwoods could not be marketed, and the taxes were burdensome. But now that the hardwoods, as well as the others, will probably be cut, there arises an imperative necessity for more prompt and liberal action on the part of the State Legislature if our forests are to be preserved. Hitherto lumbering has meant a culling or thinning process,

the removal of the evergreens only; it soon may mean denudation.

Length of Logs.

The lumbermen of Southern and Western New York cut their logs mostly

into lengths of sixteen feet to supply the market demand for sixteen-foot boards.

They cut some twelve-foot logs in order to save timber, and there was generally

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 265

enough of these short logs to supply the call for boards of that length. On some jobs fourteens were cut to save timber; but boards of this length were somewhat unsalable.

In the Adirondack forests all logs, with scarcely an exception, are cut thirteen feet long. The reason for adopting this odd length is not known now. For nearly a hundred years the lumbermen of Northern New York have cut thirteen-foot logs sawed thirteen-foot boards, and sold thirteen-foot lumber in the Albany and New - York markets, although logs everywhere else in the United States are cut into lengths of sixteen feet or some other even number. Fifty years ago the ten-inch boards, thirteen feet long, from the Glens Falls mills, were known in these markets as “tally-boards,” and were sold by count instead of measure. It may be that, originally, the liberal-minded lumbermen of that region considered their logs as twelve feet long with an extra foot added for good measure. However this may

be, the boards are now measured at their full contents.

Log Rates.

Throughout the entire State, with the exception of the Adirondack country, the lumbermen bought or sold logs by one of two rules— Doyle’s or Scribner’s. Many years ago, prior to 1850, Edward Doyle and J. M. Scribner each published an original tabulation of figures — called a log rule —showing, according to the careful calcu- lation of the author, the number of feet, board measure, which a log of any given size would yield when sawed into inch lumber. For half a century or more the relative merits of these two log rules have been a source of frequent discussion, there being a material difference in the figures given by these authorities.

It may seem strange that there. need be any dispute over a mathematical prob- lem of this kind. Certainly if saws were of the same thickness and sawyers equally skillful there could be no variation in the results. But logs are not cylin- drical; they are tapering, sometimes crooked, often rotten in spots, and apt to be defective in various ways. Hence, in formulating a log rule for general use a ques- tion arises as to the proper ailowance for slabs, sawkerf, waste and the various defects that may be found in almost any large lots of logs. It was on this matter of allowance that Doyle and Scribner differed.

_ The Doyle rule is based on a fixed, arbitrary formula which is fairly correct as to medium-sized logs, but is inaccurate, necessarily so, as to others. The formula is this: Subtract four from the diameter in inches; square one-fourth of the remainder, and multiply the product by the length in feet. Hence, for a 24 inch log 12 feet long the process is as follows: 24—4—20; 20+4=—5; 5x5 —=25; 25x 12 (length in feet) — 300, the number of feet in the log. The same result can be obtained by

266 REPORT OF THE

another method. Starting with the sixteen-feet lengths, the number of feet, board measure, in a log of any diameter, is found by deducting four inches from the diameter and then taking the square of the difference. For instance: in finding the contents of a log sixteen feet long, twenty inches in diameter, use this formula, (20” — 4") X 16 = 256 ft. Having determined the contents of the sixteen-feet logs, all other lengths are computed proportionately. Hence, a log twelve feet long and twenty inches in diameter would contain 192 feet, or three-fourths of 256.

Scribner arrived at his table of contents by platting circular diagrams showing the number of square edged boards in a log properly sawed.* From these diagrams the amount of lumber was computed for each diameter, after which a fixed per- centage was deducted for the imperfections which are common to an ordinary lot of logs.

Doyle’s figures for the contents of small logs are much below those given by Scribner; while in large logs he allows more than Scribner. Both rules agree substantially on logs of 24 inches in diameter, the lines crossing at this point and

diverging in opposite directions. For instance:

DIAMETER. LENGTH. DOYLE. SCRIBNER. ro inches. momteet: 29 41 2A Tyan « 325 328 B65 aR 832 750 Lone roy 36 54: BAN Ome 400 404 BO TO ; 1,024 923

As the greater part of the trees, and all the top logs, were less than twenty-four inches in diameter, the sawmill owners, being the purchasers, naturally favored the Doyle rule. The logs were bought or contracted for with jobbers, at a fixed price per thousand feet; and. under the Doyle rule the stock cost less money. In letting log contracts to their jobbers, or in purchasing from outside parties, the sawmill companies insisted on buying, contracting, and measuring by the Doyle rule. As a result, the old Scribner rule was gradually abandoned, and is rarely used at present. In fact, Scribner himself discarded it adopting the other and publishing it under his name as the new Scribner or Doyle-Scribner rule. The publishers claim that over one million copies of this book have been sold, it being in general use by lumbermen throughout the entire continent.t+

On a lot of straight, sound white pine logs, ten to twenty inches in diameter, Doyle’s rule would be too severe; the contents as shown by the “saw-bill”’ would

* See diagram, p. 70, Scribner’s Lumber and Log Book. Rochester, N. Y. Geo. W. Fisher, 1893. + Published by George W. Fisher, Rochester, N. Y., 1893.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 267

overrun the log measurement. But witha lot of hemlock logs which, when sawed, run largely into culls and waste because of shaky timber and other defects, the Doyle rule is necessary if the purchaser expects his saw-bill to hold out, and to have a million feet of lumber for each million feet of logs bought, or delivered by his . jobbers. The writer has had several opportunities to test this matter on a large scale.

In the Adirondack forests there is no log rule in use which gives the contents of a log, like the Doyle or Scribner. Throughout this entire region logs are bought and sold by count, a certain size called the standard being adopted as the unit. Logs of a smaller size are counted as a proportionate fraction, and the larger logs as one and a fraction, two and a fraction, or more. The standard of count in general use is a log 13 feet long and 19 inches in diameter at the top or small end. The logs are all measured, and in counting them each log is reckoned according to the ratio which the square of its diameter bears to the square of the diameter of the standard or nineteen-inch log. This is obtained by dividing the square of the diameter of each log by the square of the diameter of the standard, the divisor in each case being 361, which is the square of Io.

For instance: the square of 16 is 256, which divided by 361, the square of the standard, gives .709. Hence, a sixteen-inch log is counted as .709 of a standard. A nineteen-inch log counts, of course, as one. A twenty-eight inch log counts as 2.17 standards (784+ 361=2.17).

This is what is called the Standard Rule, although it is not a log rule in the same sense as Doyle’s or Scribner’s; for it does not give the contents of logs, but is merely a method of counting that can be done by anyone. Printed tabulations showing the fractional amount of each diameter are now largely in use, and the log

,

scaler no longer works at night in the “ men’s room” of the shanty extending the figures in his tally-book by the light of a lantern.

If one wants to know the contents of a log, board measure, he must still turn to some log rule. Doyle gives the contents (board measure) of a Ig-inch log, 13 feet long, as 183 feet; while the old Scribner rule allows 195 feet. A sound, straight log of this size, under a band saw and a good sawyer, will yield 200 feet of straight edged boards. :

On the Saranac River, also, the lumbermen buy and sell their logs by count, but use a 22-inch diameter as a standard. This is known as the Saranac standard; the 19-inch log is called the Glens Falls standard. Lumbermen often use the word market in place of standard, and speak of “market” logs; of twenty thousand

“markets” in a drive; or of letting a log job of fifty thousand “ markets.”

268 REPORT OF THE

Adirondack lumbermen always estimate five markets as equal to one thousand feet of logs; and so a log job, or drive, of fifty thousand markets may be accepted as equivalent to ten million feet, figures which are more easily understood by an outside lumberman.

The idea of buying and selling logs by count, using some fixed size as a standard unit, originated with Norman Fox, a pioneer lumberman of Warren County. For several years he represented that district in the State Legislature, where, by reason of natural ability and a collegiate education, he attained prominence in council and debate. Subsequently, in his lumber operations in Upper Canada, he adopted a twenty-inch standard, the square of which makes a more convenient divisor.

The methods or rules of measurement were never made the subject of any legislation, neither for logs or sawed lumber. There were laws providing for the appointment of inspectors and defining the number that might be appointed in each of the various districts into which the State was divided for this purpose. In 1805 an act was passed for the inspection of lumber, rafts, timber and spars, which allowed the inspectors to charge 37% cents per 1,000 ft. B. M., and 14 cents per forty cubic feet. The inspectors were required by this law to mark all lumber or timber, which they had inspected, with a “ marking iron,” showing the number of feet in

each piece. Sawmills.

As already described, the first sawmills in each locality throughout the State or Colony were of primitive character, containing one upright saw for which the power was furnished by an overshot water wheel. In time it followed naturally that an additional saw was inserted in the gate, and so on until the modern gang was evolved.

The first gang mill was built on the Hudson River at Fort Edward; just when, the records do not show. It is claimed that the next one was erected in 1848 by Hinckley & Ballou, on the West Canada Creek, in the town of Russia, Herkimer County. But prior to this year there were gangs running in the mills at Glens Falls, Sandy Hill, and Painted Post.

In 1848 Henry S. Shedd and Marshall Shedd, Jr., erected a gang mill in Lewis County at the lower falls of the Moose River, about one mile from its junction with the Black River. The gang in this mill contained thirty-two saws.

The first gang mill on the Raquette River was built at Norwood, in 1851, by Morgan, Rosekrans & Adsit.

For many years after their introduction gang sawmills were operated by water

power exclusively. Their owners, having secured the best mill sites on our rivers,

¢

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 269

did not need to run their mills by steam. Water power was cheaper; and many of the largest gang mills in New York use it to-day.

The large mills have not changed materially in the last forty years. In 1860 there were several in this State that ran five or six gates; say, three gangs, a slabbing gang, and two English mills.* Some used a Yankee gang instead of a slabber; and in the large mills, where two or more stock gangs were in use, one of them would contain about thirty-six saws, set for inch boards, while another would be hung with a smaller number, set for plank. Such a mill— six gates—would cut about fifteen million feet per year, running night and day, with an occasional shut down for low water.

Steam mills as a class used a large circular saw, although there are now mills in New York, as elsewhere, which run both circulars and gangs, and of late years band saws, also. It is difficult to find any records showing when the first steam sawmill was built in this State. A sawmill driven by steam power was built in 1830, in the town of Newark Valley, Tioga County, by Chester Patterson and Jonathan Day, which employed about thirty men. The engine had a walking beam, such as is used on steamboats.

In 1833 George Kirby erected a steam sawmill in the town of Nichols, Tioga County. In 1842 Dexter and Daniel Davis built one in the town of Caton, Steuben County; in 1844 a steam sawmill was erected in the town of Hammond, St. Law- rence County, by James E. Lyon; the first steam mill in Erie County was built at Tonawanda, in 1847, by Col. L.S. Payne; and in 1849 one was started by Kitts &

Broadway in the town of Denmark, Lewis County.

Tanneries.

Although the lumberman has little in common with the tanner, yet the demands of the latter had a material ‘nfluence on that part of the lumber industry which included the hemlock trade. To-day hemlock lumber finds a ready market, and at a price cqual to that paid for spruce not many years ago. Buta large portion of the hemlock in this State was cut by lumbermen to supply the demand for bark only, the logs being left in the woods to decay and waste. This was particularly the case in the Catskill counties, where this species was more abundant than else- : where in the State; only the most accessible of the timber was hauled to the mills.

Bark peeling in the Catskills ceased prior to 1870, and the great tanneries at Pheenicia, Woodland, Shandaken, Big Indian, and Prattsville had to abandon their

* The English mill is an ordinary square gate or frame containing one or two upright saws, with a

sixteen-foot carriage that gigs back.

270 REPORT OF THE

business for lack of bark. The tannery at Prattsville, owned by Zadoc Pratt, was one of the largest in the State. Here, 60,000 sides of sole leather were tanned and 6,000 cords of bark consumed annually for twenty-five years. Over six million feet of hemlock was cut each year to furnish bark for this tannery alone, the greater part of the logs being left to rot after they were peeled.

The principal men in the tannery business in the Catskill region were: Col. ‘A. D. Snyder, Phoenicia ; James Simpson, Phoenicia; Pratt & Sampson, Shandaken, and Zadoc Pratt, Prattsville. In 1865, according to the State census, there were

820 tanneries in New York; to-day there are not a dozen all told.

Methods of Lambering.

The system employed at present in logging and lumbering is substantially the same as that used by the pioneers; it is based on the methods which evolved from the trials, failures, successes, and general experience incidental to the early years of this industry. Of course, improvements have been made in tools and mechanical appliances; and the men are better housed, fed and paid. But the general principles on which the business is conducted to-day remain the same, and so some information as to the details of the work at the present time may give some idea of how it was carried on a century or more ago.*

When the lumberman, landowner, or sawmill man, as the case may be, decides to lumber some certain tract, he lets a contract to cut the logs of a particular species and deliver them on the banks of the stream or lake, whence they are to be floated to the mill. This is called letting a log job, and the man who con- tracts to do the work is called a jobber. In some places the contract is let by. the thousand feet; but in the Adirondacks it generally calls forso many thousand standards or markets. The agreement is written out in duplicate and signed by both parties. Having let the contract, the principal generally goes to some bank, where, by getting his notes discounted, provision is made for meeting the expenses of the business and making the advances in cash which the jobber is very apt to ask for.

The jobber commences operations by the erection of his logging’ camps, which are located on the tract and as near as possible to the timber which is to be cut.

The buildings or “ camps” are made of logs, the cracks being well “ chinked” with

* A good description of life in the lumber camps as it existed many years ago may be found in the interesting volume, Forest Life and Forest Trees, by John S. Springer. 1856. New York, Harper & Brothers.

‘dWNVO MHaNNT MOVANOUIGV NV

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 271

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sticks and moss to keep out the wind and cold. A “tote” road in the meanwhile is cut through the woods, over which are hauled loads of boards for use in the con- struction of buildings, and the making of the necessary partitions, doors, floors, bunks, and the long tables at which the men eat. In old times no floors were laid, the earth being leveled off to serve the purpose; but now most of the camps have floors made of boards or flattened logs. Shingles and window sashes are also hauled in, and the camps are made ready for their occupants. On the larger jobs they are built to accommodate from eighty to one hundred men.

There is generally one large low building, with an attic fitted up with tiers of bunks for a sleeping room, the ground floor containing a large room filled with long rough tables on which the meals are served. The front end of this room is parti- tioned off for a “men’s room,” where the crew sit evenings, smoking, reading, singing or card playing, preparatory to climbing the ladder to their night’s rest in the attic. Of late years women are often employed in the lumber camps as cooks. Hence the name “men’s room;”’ for the crew are not allowed in the eating room or kitchen except at meal time. A violation of this rule is apt to evoke the displeas- ure of the cooks, and a dipperful of hot water as a penalty for “snoopin’” around the kitchen and talking to the women folks. In most of the Adirondack camps, however, a French Canadian officiates as cook, with another man for an assistant who is known in some camps as the ‘“ cookee.”

Another log building, one story only, is built for a barn, in which the numerous teams of horses employed on the job are warmly and comfortably cared for, and where a stock of hay and oats is stored for their maintenance. The blacksmith being an indispensable man in a logging camp, a log building of suitable size is put up for his use, in which there is a forge and all the toois for shoeing horses, mending chains and repairing sleds. In the larger camps, where a big job is being carried on, an additional building, known as the office, is erected for the convenience of the boss, the log scaler, and the timekeeper, who have their rude desks there at which they work evenings. Sometimes, also, there is kept on hand a small stock of necessary articles for sale to the men, such as shoes, stockings, mittens, tobacco, etc.

The “tote” road having been put in a fairly passable condition, the jobber hauls in his stock of provisions, tools, and feed for his teams, followed by straggling groups of hardy looking men, most of whom, having spent their previous earnings in some metropolis of the wilderness, have no alternative from another long sojourn in the lumber camps.

If the contract of the jobber includes hemlock and bark peeling, work opens

in the early summer, for the bark will peel only from May 2oth to August 2oth, or

272 REPORT OF THE

thereabouts. For this work the crews are divided, each man having his particular task assigned him. The best axemen are detailed for the felling of the large hem- locks. Others with their axes girdle the fallen tree trunks at intervals of four feet, and these are followed by men with “spuds,” an iron tool with which they peel or pry loose the bark. The first “ring,” the one at the base of the tree, is taken off before the tree is felled; otherwise, the cutting at the stump would spoil this piece of bark. Another gang works as ‘‘swampers,”’ or in piling and ranking the bark ready for hauling.

With the approach of autumn the sap ceases to flow; the bark consequently sticks to the tree, and the work of peeling is ended for that year. The axemen now turn their attention to the spruce, pine and balsam, and the forest echoes with the constant crashing of falling trees. As before, the fastest choppers are detailed for 3 cutting down the trees; they set the pace for the whole job. These men show wonderful expertness in cutting a stump so that the tree will fall exactly where it is wanted, some of them being able to set up a stake as a mark and drive it into the ground with the falling tree trunks. Some such skill is necessary to the work in order to prevent a tree from “lodging” in another one as it falls, to avoid piling it on other down timber, and to protect as far as practicable any young growth of saplings which may be standing near.

While the axemen are busy dropping the trees others are employed in lopping off the limbs from the fallen trunk, and these are followed by men with long cross- cut saws who divide it into logs of the specified length. Then come the men with teams who haul the logs to the skidways and pile them up there in huge tiers, ready to be loaded on sleighs when snow comes. The skidways were formerly made of spruce or balsam and left in the woods to decay. But now, owing to improved methods, and the increased value of the timber, hardwood skids are in common use. If it becomes necessary to use softwood skids they are cut up into logs and taken out at the end of the job. While on the skidways the logs are measured, or scaled as it is termed, the scaler taking the diameter of each log, “within the bark at the top or smallest end, and jotting it down in his book, after which a man with a marking hammer stamps the logs on both ends with the owner’s mark. The scaler generally has an assistant; for the logs in the iarge piles must be measured at both ends in order to determine which is the top, the body of the log being out of sight. Crooked or rotten logs are “docked” in measurement enough to offset the defects.

While the cutting and skidding is going on, the jobber, aided by another crew, is busy with the work of building roads leading from the skidways to the main

PHOTO,

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TREES

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 273

road, which in turn leads to the lake or river bank where the logs are to be unloaded. A diagram of the log roads on a big lumber job would resemble a tree with subdividing branches, although a somewhat crooked one owing to the curves and windings of the ravines or depressions down which the roads must go. This laying out of the roads is an important part of the work, for upon the skill and judgment exercised in it much of the profit in the job depends. All necessary roads must be built, but unnecessary ones must be avoided. The jobber must exercise no little engineering skill in selecting a line that will reach all his skidways, and at the same time preserve a practicable grade. It must be down hill all the way from the starting point, so that large loads can be hauled, and yet not so steep as to shove a team over the bank. Skill and experience are also called for in the construction of side hill or dugway roads, in bridge building, and in corduroying swamps.

The camps have been built, the bark peeled and ranked, the skidways piled high with logs, and on the first deep snow the hauling commences. The roads, having been scraped smooth, are sprinkled each night from a large water tank, drawn on a sleigh, until a good ice bottom is formed. Brush, straw, or sawdust has been strewn on the. steep grades to retard the speed of the loaded sleighs, and the banking or rolling ground soon becomes a scene of activity as the teams drive up in quick succession to be unloaded. The binding chains are quickly unfastened by ready hands, and the huge pile rolls off the sleigh with a bumping, thumping noise as the logs rebound from the frozen earth.

The teamsters vie with each other in the size of their loads; and, with the wide ‘‘bunks” now in use, iced roads, and heavy teams, a pyramid of logs is rolled up on the sleigh at the skidways until the driver, astride of the top log, is perched ten feet or more above the ground. Some of the “champion” loads contain from five to six thousand feet, although much smaller ones are the gen- eral rule. A teamster is expected to make a specified number of trips each day, according to the length of the haul, which varies in most jobs from one to four miles. He needs go to sleep early, for he must be up long before daylight, feed his team, get his breakfast, and be off on the road while the stars are still shining clear in the cold winter sky.

The wages paid in the lumber camps of Northern New York run about $28 per month, including board, with a distinction in favor of first class men, to whom higher wages are paid. The jobbers are quick to recognize a good hand, and a man is paid what he can earn. :

18

274 REPORT OF THE

With the delivery of the stipulated number of logs at the river bank the

”

jobber has finished his contract, and he “goes to town” to settle up with his employer. The men have been paid off and have taken their way to their homes or to some village, where too many of them soon part with their hard earned wages in whiskey drinking and riotous scenes. Old grudges are fought out, and, not infrequently, some luckless hero of the camp spends his vacation in the county jail. Asa class, however, they are honest, brave, and industrious, reflecting credit on the great industry with which their life and labors are so closely identified.

But the winter is soon past, and the spring thaw with its warm south winds and rains is rapidly loosening the ice in the upland streams and lakes. The boss river driver collects his crew of stalwart, daring men, and they again betake them- selves to the woods, where the great piles of logs, thousands on thousands, are ready for the spring flood. Before the ice has fairly ceased running, the logs are rolled into the water and the log drive is on its way. Some of the men are stationed along the shores to prevent the logs from lodging there, or floating into the bays or set-backs; some stand at the head of the bars or islands, where, with pike poles, they shove off the logs that might stop there and form a jam; others follow at the tail of the drive and clear up the shore of such pieces as may have drifted out of the current and been left behind. Then there is the cook, the most indispensable of all, who follows along the bank, pitching his tent from time to time in convenient places where the hungry crew can get their meals. When the freshet is subsiding, and the water falling so rapidly that the logs stick on every bar and along the shore, a splash dam is opened, and with the oncoming flood the work is resumed with all its interesting active scenes.

At times, in some crooked, rocky stream, a jam is formed, and thousands of logs are wedged fast in the channel, held back by some one log firmly braced against - an impediment. Then occurs a thrilling scene, as the boss calls for volunteers to break the jam. There is always a prompt response. One or more daring fellows, impelled by pride in their work and love of applause, take their lives in their hands, as with axe and handspike they leap over the treacherous logs and place themselves at the head of the jam. Behind them are the thousands of logs, filling the angry stream from bank to bank, piled thickly to the bottom, some of them tossing, tumbling and leaping in air as the dammed up torrent forces them about in wild confusion. Beneath them is the swaying, rocking, unstable mass, in which is seen the log that forms the key to the position. The crew of drivers gather on the banks below the jam, where they watch with intense eagerness and anxiety the

man who volunteers to cut or loosen this log. They note every stroke of the axe

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 2S

wielded by the hero as, coolly and undaunted, he proceeds with his work. The critical moment is close at hand. There is some more prying with the handspike, a few more blows with the axe, and the huge threatening mass begins to move. Above the sound of the foaming waters a loud shout of warning comes from the men below, and then, leaping from log to log as the jam breaks, the brave fellow reaches the shore in safety amid the applauding cheers of his comrades; or, as a cry of horror breaks from the watching crew, he loses his footing and disappears beneath the terrible grinding mass. Crushed and torn, a mere semblance of humanity, a man’s body is found in the river later on, and in the camps next winter another chapter is added to the unwritten story of heroism as the men relate in quiet tones the story of the man who lost his life on the company’s drive that spring. And so, amid scenes of toil and danger the work is done, the drive is safely inclosed in the big boom at the mills, and the job is completed.

There is probably no industry which involves so many varied details as the business of lumbering; none which requires so close attention at every stage of the work, and in which intelligence, strict economy, and, above all, thorough experi- ence, are so necessary to profitable results. The failures in it have been so many that no one should undertake it who has not within him-these specified requisites

to success. Modern Improvements.

It may be interesting to note here some of the more important changes that have taken place in the methods of lumbering since the Dutchman first set up his sawmill on Manhattan Island, most of which have occurred within the last century.

The chopper no longer uses a single bitted axe. In cutting down the tree a crosscut saw is used instead of an axe. The trunk of the fallen tree is sawed, not chopped, into logs of the required length. The forester in charge of a job insists that all trees shall be cut as close to the ground as possible, to save the timber which is lost in a high stump. On some of the jobs logs are skidded by wire ropes and steam power. Iced roads, easy grades, wide bunks and attention to details enable a team to haul a much larger load of logs. In some places water slides, miles in length, render log hauling unnecessary. Logs are placed on cars by steam loaders, lifted from the lake or stream by steam jack-works, and taken to the mill on a railroad instead of driving them down the river. The introduction of the planing mill* built up a new and distinct branch of the lumber business. In

modern sawmills we find the oscillating gang, circular saws with inserted teeth,

* The Woodworth planing machine was patented in 1828, and the patent was extended twice.

276 REPORT OF THE

mechanical appliances for handling logs, live rollers, and that most profitable of all improvements, the band saw.

Until recent years the word forest was seldom heard except as used rhetorically. It belonged to poetry and literature. The lumbermen and the people used the word woods instead. People lived in the backwoods, travelled through the woods, went into the woods, came out of the woods, or were lost in the woods; never, the forest. People spoke of the North woods, the South woods, the ‘“nine-mile”’ woods, and the Shattygee (Chateaugay) woods.

But now we hear the words forest and forestry. And in chronicling the changes and improvements in the lumber industry of our State, mention must be made of the intelligent, conservative methods recently introduced in the management of our public and private woodlands by professional foresters whose working plans insure

the preservation of our forests and perpetuation of our timber supply.

“Captains of Indastry.”

In recording the rise and progress of the lumber business it seems proper that some passing tribute, at least, should be paid to the memory of the men who, in ene locality or another, were prominently identified with this important factor in the development of the wealth and resources of our State. They were men of both physical and mental vigor, possessed of sturdy virtues that made them respected not only in the communities where they lived, but wherever they were known. They had a keen sense of honor and _ fair dealing that made them known and described as men whose “word was as good as their bond,” a common, homely expression, but one carrying praise that was well deserved. The grass has been growing on their graves for many years; but their memory is still cherished, their influence for good is still felt, and the world is better for their having lived in it.

Among the men, now dead and gone, who were prominently connected with the lumber business on the Upper Hudson, mention should be made of Abraham Wing,* James D. Weston, John J. Harris, Albert N. Cheney, Lewis L. Armes, Walter Geer, Orlin Mead, George Sanford, Orson Richards, Augustus Sherman,

James Morgan, Charles H. Faxon, and Lemon Thomson.

*“« Mr, Wing, born in 1791, had the foresight and judgment requisite for improving the golden chance by bringing to market the splendid pines with which the great Brant Lake Tract abounded. This rich and extensive lumber region, previously operated by the Fox Brothers, Alanson and Norman, had come into the possession of parties in Troy, who intrusted its management to Mr. Wing.”

(History of Queensbury. By A. W. Holden, M.D., Glens Falls, 1849.)

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On the Raquette River: Edward King, Ralph Pomeroy, Charles Pearson, George Richards, Matthias Vickery, James H. Carpenter, Edward W. Hutchings, Lyman H. Wilcox, Harrison Plummer, A. M. Adsit, and E. H. Rosekrans.

On the Tioga River: Deacon Simeon Hammond, Abijah Weston, William C. Bronson, William B. Stevens, and Julius Tremaine.

On the Saranac River: Senator Christopher F. Norton, Almon Thomas, James Hammond, David H. Parsons, Wales Parsons, Hartwell Brothers, C. A. Tefft, and Worm) Ellis.

In Western New York: John D. Mersereau, of’ Portville, and the Weston Brothers, of Olean.

Woodpatp.

Within twenty years the logging industry in Northern New York has been materially affected by the demand for material necessary in the manufacture of woodpulp, an industry of comparatively recent development. Ground pulp, obtained by holding blocks of wood against a grindstone, was first made in this country in 1867, at Stockbridge, Mass. Chemical mills, in which the fibre is reduced by the action of acids under steam pressure, were introduced about the same time. Now, there are 293 mills, mechanical and chemical, in the United States, of which 102 are located in New York. Wisconsin comes next with 37; and Maine, with 30.

At first the New York mills used poplar only. This was deemed a desirable condition by our foresters, because this species does not appear to be available for any other purpose, while, at the same time, it is the one kind of tree with which Nature quickly reforests the burned areas in the Adirondacks. But poplar was soon discarded in favor of spruce, to which have been added within the last five years some of the other conifers, the process of manufacture having been so improved that a satisfactory fibre is now obtained from hemlock, pine, and balsam.

The effect on the timber cutting was soon evident. While the lumbermen formerly took nothing less than two-log trees, leaving nearly all that were twelve inches or less in diameter on the stump, the woodpulp men cut all the trees of . certain species, large and small. This close cutting of the spruce.and other kinds

left no provision for future growth, and thinned the forest so severely in places

* For interesting and valuable facts relating to the history of lumbering operations in the Saranac Valley, see paper read by Hon. Everitt C. Baker before the Plattsburgh Institute, Jan. 14, rg01, and

printed in the Plattsburgh Sentinel, Jan. 18, Igor.

278 REPORT OF THE

that further damage was inflicted by winds and ice storms. The river drives which were composed formerly of fair sized logs were mixed thickly with slender butts; and on some streams where pulpwood only was running the drives were made up of four-foot lengths entirely.

The methods employed in a job for cutting pulp timber differ somewhat from those used in lumbering or getting out logs for sawmills. Very small trees as well as the large ones are cut, and when down are sawed into short lengths only four feet long, making the work of skidding, hauling, and river driving much easier. At first only the small trees were cut for pulpwood, the large timber being reserved for the sawmills and cut into logs of the usual length. But as the demand for woodpulp increased, the stumpage became more valuable for that purpose; all the spruce timber, both large and small, was cut. The largest spruce tree in the Adirondacks so far as known (41 inches in diameter on the stump) was cut for pulpwood, the shaft having being sawed into 22 short logs, each four feet long.

On some of the pulp jobs the timber is peeled in the woods before shipment, in order to save freight. The bark has no commercial value and is left in the woods where the peeling or “rossing”’ is done, the mass of dry bark strippings, which covers the ground thickly in places, increasing greatly the danger from fire. Much of the pulp timber in the Adirondacks is hauled direct to some railway station, and from there shipped to the mills, as under present market prices it will bear transportation a long distance. In other places the short pulp logs are driven down some stream and thence into a lake or pond near a railroad, where, by means of jack-works or conveyers, the sticks are lifted from the water and loaded on cars. In other localities a long haul by teams is avoided by the construction of water slides or wooden troughs, several miles in length, through which a shallow stream of water carries the sticks to the railroad, or to some river whence they are driven to the pulp mills, in the same manner as in a log drive.

In the vicinity of Benson Mines, St. Lawrence County, there is a water slide three miles long for conveying pulpwood to the railroad. This trough is 24 inches wide at the top and 1o at the bottom, with a depth of 20 inches. It is capable of moving 60 cords per hour. The company operating this slide had at one time a pile of pulpwood 1,000 ft. long, 26 ft. high, and 4o ft. wide, all of which had been transported from the woods to the railroad by this novel methed. They had, also, an additional trough or slide in which sawed lumber was transported from the mill to the railroad by the same method. The J. & J. Rogers Pulp Company, of Ausable Forks, Essex County, N. Y., have on one of their jobs a water slide seven and one- half miles long, by which their pulp stock is carried to the Ausable River, and from

there driven to their mills.

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 279

In 1898 the total cut of logs in the Adirondack forests amounted to 544,234,207 ft., of which 229,581,918 ft. were consumed in the pulp mills.

A peculiar effect of the woodpulp industry is the rise in value of spruce stumpage, which has increased beyond what the market value of the sawed lumber will warrant. Spruce stumpage is now worth so much more for woodpulp than for lumber that the sawmill men are unable to pay the price demanded for the standing timber; and unless there is some change in market conditions this species will not enter so largely hereafter into building operations, its place being taken to a

great extent by hemlock or cheap pine.

Volame of Basiness.

The lumber industry of New York attained its maximum development at some time prior to 1865, when there were, according to the State census of that year, 3,963 sawmills. These included the little mills equipped with one saw only, none of which cut over 100,000 ft. in a year, and which composed perhaps three-fourths of the entire number.

From the tenth U.S. census, 1880, it appears that there were then 2,822 mills in New York, with an invested capital of $13,230,934, giving employment to 17,509 men, and paying out annually $2,162,972 in wages. The combined lumber product of these mills amounted in 1880 to 1,148,220,000 ft., board measure, not including lath, shingles, and staves.

Within the next twenty years there was a great decrease ia the production, the timber supply having been exhausted with the exception of the Adirondack and Catskill forests. There are not 150 mills in the State to-day with an annual output of over 100,000 ft. The production is now confined almost wholly to the Adi- rondack region, the mills which are stocked from there having sawed in 1899 the

following amounts:

FEET B. M. Spruce, - - - - - - - - 7 - - 148,203,491 Hemlock, - z - - = . - ; - - 46,545,772 Pine, - - - - - - = - - = - 33,132,807 Hardwood, - - - - - - - - - - 24,296,554

252,178,624 Shingles, - ; = - - - - - - - - 33,619,000

10 OY gS hel ie eae a EY opr) eter Nig cc ea es 49,329,090

280 REPORT OF THE

To the amount of sawed lumber should be added 196,568,623 ft. of logs that went to the pulp mills, making the total forest output of Northern New York that year 447,747,247 it.

There are several small sawmills in the Catskill counties, with a few others scattered through the western part of the State, their combined product not exceeding sixty million feet. The advocates of forest preservation and protection of our economic resources need no better argument than is contained in the figures

showing the great decline in this industry within the last twenty years.

Lamber Markets of New Uork.

In addition to the ordinary lumber business connected with forest and sawmill there were in the State of New York great lumber markets or distributing points where the lumber was sold, not only the product of the State but immense ship- ments from Canada and the Northwest as well. The two principal markets were at Albany and Tonawanda.

Albany was the centre of a great lumber trade sixty years ago, and at one time surpassed all other points in the amount handled and volume of business. In 1872 there were forty-three wholesale firms, whose yards were grouped in the “lumber district,’ and who handled in the aggregate 660,000,000 ft. that year, their total sales amounting to over $15,090,000. Over 1,509 men were employed on the yards unloading and loading vessels, or in piling lumber, their total annual wages exceeding $600,000. But, owing to increased facilities for making direct, through shipments from the mills to the retailers, combined with unfavorable discriminations in freight rates, the business at Albany has declined so largely that the amount of lumber handled this year will not exceed 200,000,000 ft. The principal points of distribution for white pine are New York City, Long Island, Boston, New England, Newport, Fall River, Nantucket, Hudson River towns, West Indies, South America, Africa, Azores, and Australia. The shipments of spruce are confined mostly to Greater New York, Long Island and Hartford.

Tonawanda, unlike Albany, is a market in which all the lumber handled comes from outside the State —from the great pineries of the Northwestern States and Ontario. Still, some mention of it seems pertinent to this history on account of the immense lumber business carried on there. Next to Chicago and New York City it is the greatest lumber market in the United States or Canada. The entire stock received at this port is reshipped by rail or canal to other places, wherein it differs from Chicago and Greater New York, the latter places consuming a large

proportion of their lumber receipts within their own limits.

TERMINUS OF WATER SLIDE.

LOGS FALLING INTO THE AUSABLE RIVER.

F. A. VAN SANT, PHOTO.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 281

The business at Tonawanda commenced in 1857. The first cargo of lumber was shipped then from Canada by Brunson & Co. In 1865 it had become an important point in the general lumber business of the country, and its trade increased steadily until 1890, when it attained its maximum volume. In the latter year the receipts of lumber from the Great Lakes at this port amounted to 718,650,900 ft., to which may be added 13,039,600 lath and 52,232,300 shingles. Their combined values— lumber, lath and shingles — indicate a business that year of over $16,000,000. The number of persons employed — yardmen, planing mill hands, stevedores, and office men-—is estimated at over 3,000, their annual wages exceeding in the aggregate $1,500,000. But the shipments have declined materially within the last ten years, the receipts in 1900 being reported at 396,429,483 ft. This decrease is due to through shipments from the West of carload lots direct to the retail yards in the Eastern States, and to disadvantages in freight rates. Still, the lumber business at Tonawanda is immense, employing a great many men, distrib- uting a large amount of money annually in wages, and, as a distributing point for New England and the Middle States, contributing materially to the commercial supremacy of New York.

Oswego was also an important distributing point, where a large amount of Canadian lumber was handled and reshipped by canal. In 1870 the receipts of lumber at this port amounted to 289,315,329 ft.

The city of New York, owing to its export trade and large local demand, is also the centre of an immense lumber trade. In the year 1900 the total receipts of lumber from ocean, canal, river and railroad aggregated 1,246,014,604 ft.

The lumber industry in this State has been affected to some extent at different times by the tariff laws relating to Caandian imports. New York is not only a border State, but its closer proximity to most of the sawmills in Canada, combined with a larger number of entry ports and greater facilities for shipments, made its lumber markets more susceptible to foreign competition than those of any other State in the Union. Until recently the amount of lumber imported from Canada equaled or exceeded that produced in this State; and, owing to the number of lake ports, the Champlain route, and railroad transportation at various points on the border, the bulk of the importation found its way to the New York markets. In. 1854, Hon. William L. Marcy, then Secretary of State at Washington, made a reciprocity treaty with Canada, under which lumber was admitted into the United States free of duty for ten years. Since 1865 the custom duties on sawed lumber have varied at times, and in some years were withdrawn altogether. The present

tariff imposes a tax of $2.00 per M. on sawed lumber, which is equivalent, on an

282 REPORT OF THE

average, to an ad valorem duty of about thirteen per cent.* Under this impost the Canadian lumber imports have fallen off one-half within the last two years.

Such, in brief, is the history of lumbering operations and the lumber industry in the State of New York as brought down to the present time. It may be interesting to note here that, with the closing years of the century, improved methods of lum- bering and a conservative system of forestry have been introduced in the woodlands of our State, which mark a distinct epoch ia the history of this industry and promise to make the management of our forests a still more important and beneficent factor in the political economy of the State. Already some of the largest timber tracts belonging to private ownership in Northern New York are being lumbered under a system that not only insures immediate profit, but makes ample provision for forest preservation and a perpetual timber supply. The cutting is restricted not only to certain species, but to a fixed diameter that leaves a good proportion of the same species as the basis of another crop. Further provision for the future growth of merchantable timber is made by leaving at suitable intervals healthy specimens to serve as seed trees that will propagate a wind sown crop of seedlings in every opening. Economical methods of felling trees have been introduced which protect the young growth and, in addition, yield more timber per tree. New industries have arisen that are dependent on forest products, and utilize much of the material which heretofore has gone to waste.

The work is placed in charge of skilled foresters who mark each tree that is to be cut, and allow nothing cut that is not marked. The protective functions of the forest are carefully guarded, and no trees whatever are allowed to be cut on steep side hills or wherever a cutting might result in windfalls, soil erosion, or denudation.

The great primeval forests owned by the State have been carefully examined by competent foresters, who have made intelligent working plans under which the matured timber may be removed from time to time and a permanent, annual revenue secured to the State whenever the present constitutional restrictions are removed. And so, profiting by the lessons of the past, and encouraged by the successes of the present, the great lumber industry of the State enters upon another century of its existence with every promise that it will continne to add its full share

to the honor and prosperity of the Commonwealth.

*The present tariff, enacted in 1897, puts a duty of $2.00 per M. feet on sawed pine, spruce, hem- lock, balsam, maple, birch, beech, elm, ash, and walnut; and a duty of $1.00 per M. feet on whitewood, sycamore and basswood. Cedar, when sawed, is admitted at 15 per cent ad valorem. On planed lumber an additional charge is made of 50 cents per M. feet for each side dressed; and 50 cents more

per M. for tongued and grooved boards of flooring.

F. A. VAN SANT, PHOTO,

NAPPING.

CAUGHT

Appendix.

The Roll of Pioneer Lambermen.

T may fairly be assumed that in each locality throughout the State the com-

| mencement of the lumber industry was coincident with the erection of the

first sawmill, all work before that being confined to individuals who labored

to supply their personal needs only. But with the building of a mill there would

ensue a combination of labor to supply a general demand, which constituted to some extent what is known as lumbering operations.

In the statistics appended here there will be found the year when the first settler located in each town mentioned, the list including the greater part of the State; also, the year in which the first sawmill was built in that town, together with the name of the pioneer who built it. It is understood that most of these towns had no existence then as such, but were set off or constituted subse- quently ; and the date here given means that the first settlement or erection of a sawmill occurred at that time in a locality which to-day is within the town named.

The historical facts thus given were compiled by the author from the various town and county records in the State Library at Albany. Much valuable infor- mation relating to the first settlement of each town was found in Hough’s Gazeteer of the State of New York; and some interesting facts connected with colonial times were obtained from Dr. O’Callaghan’s Documentary History of New York.

As this part of the work-necessitated a careful examination of the early history of each one of the 977 towns in the State, it will be seen that the task required no small amount of time and patience. But the information thus obtained and set forth here will be of little interest to the general reader; and so the question may arise as to whether the result is worth the cost. In answer it should be said that any history of the lumber industry must properly commence with the beginning of that industry; and that there was no other way to determine definitely when it commenced in the various localities throughout the State except by ascertaining the date when the first sawmills were put in operation.

It may be noticed that the list is incomplete as regards some of the towns in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. An exhaustive examination was made of the town and colonial records relating to that region, but with only partial success, as but little mention is made in them of the erection of sawmills, or of the lumber

industry. 285

286 REPORT OF THE

These valleys, however, contained the oldest settlements, and from their borders the wave of civilization spread outward through the State, its advance being marked everywhere by the advent of the lumberman and his mill. Next, came

the church and the schoolhouse.

The Beginnings of the Lomber Indastry in the State of

New YUork. couNTY. TOWN, bas Ne eo BUILT BY, Albany, Albany, 1630 1654 Jacob Janse Flodder, Albany, Berne, 1750 1755 Jacob Weidman. Albany, Coeymans, 1673 OW Hans Jansen, Albany, Knox, 1789 1800 Amos Crary. Albany, New Scotland, | 1700 1760 | Uziah Conger. Albany, Watervhet, 1700 7S Shaker Colony. Albany, Westerlo, 1763 1795 Lobdell & Baker, Allegany, Alfred, 1807 PS 2n Hes. Davis, Allegany, Allen, 1820 1820 Moses Treat. Allegany, Alma, 1833 1343 John W. Post. Allegany, Almond, 1796 1806 Phineas Stevens. Allegany, Amity, 1804 1806 | Philip Church. Allegany, Andover, 1795 1819 | Luther Strong. Allegany, Angelica, 1802 1803 | Philip Church, Allegany, Belfast, 1803 180g | David Sanford. Allegany, Birdsall, 1816 1823 | Hull & Peterson. Allegany, Bolivar, 1819 1822 | Cowles Brothers. Allegany, Burns,t 1805 1813 | David McCardy. Allegany, Caneadea, 1803 1816 John Hoyt. Allegany, Centerville, 1808 1813 Blanchard & Hotchkiss. Allegany, Clarksville, 1822 1832 | Samuel King. Allegany, Cuba, 1814 1815 | William Downer.

* The sawmill was built before there was any settlement in this town. } The first deaths among the settlers in this town were those of Jeremiah Gregory, who was killed

by the fall of a tree, April 4, 1812, and his twin brother, killed in the same manner on Sept. 17, same

year.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ContTInvep.

287

COUNTY. TOWN. Da fase BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Allegany, Friendship, 1806 1815 Ebenezer Steenrod. Allegany, Genesee, 1823 1820 Newman Crabtree. Allegany, Granger, 1816 1819 Isaac Van Nostrand. Allegany, Grove, 1818 - - John S. Culver. Allegany, Hume, 1807 1807 Roger Mills. Allegany, Independence, 1798 1800 John Cryder. Allegany, New Hudson, 1820 1829 James Davidson. Allegany, Rushford, 1808 1815 Matthew P. Cady. Allegany, Scio, 1805 1822 | Benjamin Palmer. Allegang, Ward, 1817 1818 Stephen Easton. Allegany, Wellsville, 1801 1803 Nathaniel Dyke. Allegany, West Almond, 1816 1833 Enoch Hawks. Allegany, Willing, 1825 1829 | Elijah Robinson. Allegany, Wirt, 1812 1824 Alvin Richardson. Broome, Barker, nox | 1801 Simeon Rogers. Broome, Chenango, 1784 1788 Henry French. Broome, Colesville, 1785 1792 Robert Harper. Broome, Conkhn, 1788 1808 Robert Corbett. Broome, Fenton, 1788 1797 Elisha Pease. Broome, Lisle, 1791 1796 Edward Edwards. Broome, Sanford, 1787 1791 Nathan Dean. Broome, Vestal, 1785 1795 Bethias Du Bois. Broome, Windsor, 1786 1797 Nathan Lane. Cattaraugus, Allegany, 1820 1826 | Reuben Lamberton. Cattaraugus, Carrollton, 1814 1826 | Marcus Leonard. Cattaraugus, Cold Spring, 1820 1820 Crook & Basson. Cattaraugus, Conewango, 1816 181g | Sampson Crooker.* Cattaraugus, Dayton, 1810 1817 Silas Nash. Cattaraugus, | East Otto, 1812 1823 Moses T. Beach, Cattaraugus, Ellicottville, 1815 1821 Orin Pitcher.

* Mrs. Crooker, wife of Sampson Crooker, killed a wildcat in her roost with a pair of tongs in the

winter of 1819.

i) ee) Co

RELORMOR Ss iEGk

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ContTinueEp.

COUNTY. TOWN. pee oe BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Cattaraugus, Farmersville, 1817 1824 | James Worden. Cattaraugus, Franklinville, 1806 1809 | Henry Conrad. Cattaraugus, Freedom, ISII 1821 Enoch Howlett. Cattaraugus, Great Valley, 1812 1812 James Green. Cattaraugus, Hinsdale, 1806 1815 | Lewis Wood. Cattaraugus, Humphrey, 1815 5 - | Foster B. Salisbury. Cattaraugus, Tschua, 1812 1814 | A. M. Farwell. Cattaraugus, Leon, 1819 1824 | Ebenezer Collar. Cattaraugus, Little Valley, 1807 1809 _ | David Powers. Cattaraugus, Lyndon, 1808 1843 Jason Sherman. Cattaraugus, Machias, 1813 1822 Andrew McBuzzell. Cattaraugus, Mansfield, 1817 1837 Clark Brothers. Cattaraugus, Napoli, 1818 1829 | James Wait. Cattaraugus, New Albion, 1818 1836 Mathew Nealy. Cattaraugus, Olean, 1804 1807 Sheperd & Thrall. Cattaraugus, Otto, 1816 1822 Isaac W. Sherman. Cattaraugus, Perrysburgh, 1815 - - | Isaac Balcom. Cattaraugus, Persia, 1811 1814 | Ahaz Allen. Cattaraugus, Portville, 1805 1807 | Green & Dodge. Cattaraugus, Randolph, 1820 1823 | Thomas Harvey. Cattaraugus, South Valley,* 1798 r8or | Quaker Colony, Cattaraugus, Yorkshire, 1810 1814 | Isaac Williams. Cayuga, Brutus, 1800 1808 Lewis Putnam. Cayaga, Conquest,t 1800 1808 Twitcnell. Cayuga, Sterling, 1805 1817 John Cooper. Cayuga, Throop, 1790 1798 | Prentice Palmer. Chautauqua, Arkwright, 1807 1818 | Benjamin Orton. Chautauqua, Carroll, 1807 1811 John Frew.

* The mills did work for the white settlers on the usual terms, and furnished lumber for the Indians free. +In 1804 James Perkins built the first framed house, sawing out the whole lumber with a whipsaw.

The building was still standing in 1859, a monument of persevering industry.

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

289

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ConTINuEp.

COUNTY. TOWN. ae panes | BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Chautauqua, | Charlotte, 1809 1810 Samuel Sinclair. Chautauqua, Cherry Creek, 1812 1824 | William Kilbourn. Chautauqua, Ellery, 1806 1808 | William Bemus. Chautauqua, Ellicott, 1806 1808 | Edward Works. Chautauqua, Gerry, 1811 1819 | Hines & Newton. Chautauqua, Hanover, 1797 1804 Abel Cleveland. Chautauqua, Harmony, 1805 1810 Reuben Slayton. Chautauqua, Kiantone, 1807 = - Robert Russell. Chautauqua, Mina, 1816 1824 | Alex. Finley. Chautauqua, Poland, 1805 1805 | Dr. Thos. R. Kennedy. Chautauqua, Pomfret, 1804 1807 Baker, Berry & Co. Chautauqua, Villenova, 1810 1815 | John Kent. Chautauqua, Westfield, 1801 1804 | John McMahan. Chemung, Ashland, 1788 1800 | Isaac Baldwin. Chemung, | Baldwin, 1813 1828 | Elisha Hammond. Chemung, | Big Flats, 1787 1795 William Miller. Chemung, Catlin, 1816 1827 James Wheeler. Chemung, Chemung, 1786 1790 Major Wm. Wynkoop.* Chemung, Erin, 1815 1824 McMillan Brothers. Chemung, Horseheads, 1787 1805 Nathan Teal. Chemung, Southport, 1788 1798 | Col. Abraham Miller. Chemung, Van Etten, 1795 1800 Isaac Swartwood. Chemung, Veteran, 1775 1805 Teal. Chenango, Afton, 1786 - - | Cooper & Miner. Chenango, Columbus, 1791 1794 | Job Vail. Chenango, Greene, 1792 1795 Conrad Sharp. Chenango, Lincklaen, 1796 = : Catlin & Shipman. Chenango, Macdonough, 1795 1798 Henry Ludlow. Chenango, ‘New Berlin, 1790 - =) | obmVvianl! Chenango, Norwich, 1788 - Elisha Smith.

* Major Wynkoop built the first frame house in this town, the boards and timbers for which were

sawed out with a whipsaw. 19

290

BEGINNINGS OF

REPORT OF THE

THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ContTinu_Ep.

COUNTY. TOWN. Cee Sunnie | BUILT BY Chenango, Otselic, 1800 - - | James Rush. Chenango, Smithville, 1797 1805 Timothy Scoville. Clinton, Altona, 1800 1819 | Benjamin Mooers. Clinton, Ausable, 1794 1806 | Thaddeus Mason. Clinton, Black Brook, 1823 1825 Burt & Vanderwarker. Clinton, Champlain, 1789 1787 Lieut. Pliny Moore. Clinton, Chazy, 1783 1801 Atwood Brothers. Clinton, Clinton, 1818 1850 | John McCoy. Clinton, Ellenburgh, 1800 1824 | John R. Murray. Clinton, Mooers, 1796 1804 George Perry. Clinton, Peru, 1785 1810 | John Cochran. Clinton, Plattsburgh, 1765 1769 | Count de Freydenburgh. Clinton, Saranac, 1802 1806 Isaiah Ferris. Clinton, Schuyler Fails, 1794 1801 | Ezra ‘Turner. Columbia, Canaan, 1766 1774 | Col. Wm. B. Whiting. Columbia, Kinderhook, 1661 1665 | Frank Pieters Clavers. Columbia, Livingston, 1708 1710 | Robert Livingston. Cortland, Marathon, 1794 - | John Hunt. Cortland, Taylor, 1794 1816 Rockwell Brothers. Cortland, Virgil, 1792 1801 | Daniel Edward. Cortland, Willett, 1793 - - | Benjamin Wilson. Delaware, Andes, 1770 1811 John Vaughan. Delaware, Bovina, 1792 1802 | Matthew Russell. Delaware, Colchester, 1774 1790 | William Rose. Delaware, Davenport, 1786 1792 Daniel Prentice. Delaware, Delhi, 1784 1800 | Oliver Peake. Delaware, Franklin, 1784 1806 Samuel Hutchinson. Delaware, Hamden, 1779 1799 | Peake & Ward. Delaware, Harpersfield, 1776 = +) \sColsjohneblanpen, Delaware, Kortright, 1773 1780 | Ezekiel Johnson. Delaware, Masonville, 1792 1799 | Joseph Bushnell. Delaware, Middletown, 1763 1790 Benjamin Akerly.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 291

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY —ContTINUED.

COUNTY. TOWN. ana area BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Delaware, | Roxbury, 1789 nBOS | === era, Delaware, Sidney, 1772 L7OO | ==> Cane, Delaware, Stamford, 1790 1795 Joseph Warn. Delaware, Tompkins, 1780 1786 | Jesse Dickinson.* Delaware, Walton, 17,85 ||| += - | M. Goodrich. Dutchess, Rhinebeck, 1700 1740 | Jacob Rutsen. Erie, Alden, 1810 1814 | John C. Rogers. Erie, Amherst, 1800 1r8o1 .| John Thompson. Erie, Aurora, . 1804 1806 Phineas Stephens. Erie, Brant, 1818 1822 Samuel Butts. Erie, Cheektowaga, 1808 1810 | Samuel Le Suer. Erie, Clarence, 1799 1804 | Asa Ransom. Erie, Colden, 1810 1811 Richard Buftum. Erie, Collins, 1808 1809 Quaker Colony. Brie, Concord, 1807 1812 Rufus Eaton. Erie, East Hamburgh, 1804 1803 | David Eddy. Erie, Eden, 1808 1811 | Elisha Welch. Erie, Elma, 1829 1932) Goo Lista pDhook, Erie, Evans, 1804 1815 Brie, Holland, 1807 1815 Ephraim Woodruff. Erie, Marilla, 1829 1828 | Jesse Barton. Erie, Sardinia, : 1809 1812 | Sumner Warren. Essex, Chesterfield, 1792 | 1802 | Robert Hoyle. Essex, Crown Point, 1804 1810 | Allen Penfield. Essex, Elizabethtown, 1792 1814. | Amos Rice. Essex, | Essex, 1783 1784 Daniel Ross. Essex, | Jay,t 1796 1798 | William Mallory.

“This mill, soon after its erection, was carried away by the famous ‘‘ punkin flood” that inundated the valleys of the Susquehanna and its tributaries in the fall of 1787. The corn fields were swept bare, and the yellow pumpkins that thickly dotted the surface of the swollen streams were so con- spicuous that the descriptive name just mentioned still survives among the household words in Southern New York.

+ *‘In the vicinity of Upper Jay the lumber business was killed as early as 1820 by the girdling of all the trees to facilitate the clearing of the land.” (Hist. Essex Co. by H. P. Smith, 1885. Syracuse: D. Mason & Co.)

292 REPORT OF THE BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ConTINUvED. COUNTY. TOWN. ace Soon BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT’. | SAWMIL.

Essex, Lewis, 1798 1809 Asa Farnsworth. Essex, Minerva, 1804 1807 Wilham Hill. ~ Essex, Moriah, 1785 1810 | Alexander Spencer. Essex, North Hudson, 1802 1812 Elihu Phelps. Essex, Schroon, 1797 1814 | Joseph Richards. Essex, Ticonderoga,* 1769 1772 Fox & Huntington. Essex, Willsborough, 1765 1767 William Gilliland. Essex, Wilmington, 1803 1812 Reuben Sanford. Franklin, Bellmont, 1816 1825 | Roswell A. Weed. Franklin, Chateaugay, 1796 1797 David Mallory. Franklin, Constable, 1800 1803 James Welch. Franklin, Dickinson, 1810 “836 Warren Ives. Franklin, Duane, 1823 1823 James Duane. Franklin, Fort Covington, 1794 1796 | William Gray. Franklin, Franklin, 1827 1827 McLenatham & Wells. Franklin, Malone, 1802 1804 N. & J. Wood. Franklin, Moira, 1803 1803 Appleton Foote. Franklin, Westville, 1800 1801 Amos Welch. Fulton, Broadalbin, 1783 1810 Duncan Mc Martin. Fulton, Caroga, 1785 1790 Cornelius Van Allen. Fulton, Ephratah, 1743 1808 Henry Yanney. Fulton, Johnstown, 1760 1762 Sir Wm. Johnson. Fulton, Mayfield, 1761 1773 Sir Wm. Johnson. Fulton, Oppenheim, 1791 1806 Henry Cline. Fulton, Stratford, 1799 1806 Martin Nichols. Genesee, Alabama, 1806 1824 Samuel Whitcomb. Genesee, Alexander, 1802 1804 Rea & Fellows. Genesee, Batavia, 1801 1801 Joseph Ellicott. Genesee, Bergen, 1805 1811 Jared Merrill. Genesee, Byron, 1807 1813 | William Shepherd. .

* The French troops, while engaged in the construction of Fort Carillon, built a sawmill at the

outlet of Trout Brook; but it was destroyed soon after.

‘

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

208

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ConTINvuED.

COUNTY.

Genesee, Genesee, Genesee, Genesee, Genesee, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Greene, Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton, Herkimer,

Herkimer,

TOWN.

Darien, Elba, Oakfield, Pembroke, Stafford, Ashland, Cairo, Catskill,* Coxsackie, ' Durham, Greenville, Halcott, Hunter, Jewett, Lexington, New Baltimore, Prattsville, Windham, Arietta, Benscn, Hope, Indian Lake, Lake Pleasant, Long Lake, Morehouse, Wells. Danube, Fairfield,

Dirk Tenisse Van Vechten.

FIRST FIRST SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL. eer

* A grist and sawmill combined.

little mill at Catskill grinds so coarse it cannot be bolted.”

Robert Livingston, in a letter written by him in 1712, says, ‘A

+He built it for alandowner named Hammond, receiving in payment a stated sum of money and

five lots of land (800 acres ?).

comb to Long Lake.

Under the terms of the contract he also cut out the first road from New-

204

REPORT OF THE BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ContTinuep. COUNTY. TOWN. ee on BUILT BY SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Herkimer, Frankfort, 1775 1794 | John Hollister. Herkimer, Litchfield, 1789 1806 Talcott. Herkimer, Newport, 1791 1793 Benjamin Bowen. Herkimer, Norway, 1786 1793 | Capt. David Hinman. Herkimer, Russia, 1792 1797 Benjamin Hinman, Herkimer, Stark, 1775 1776 Abraham Van Horne. Herkimer, Webb,* 1799 1800 Goy. John Brown. Herkimer, Wilmurt, 1790 1790 | Arthur Noble. Herkimer, Winfield, 1792 1795 Joseph Walker. Jefferson, Adams, 1800 1802 David Smith. Jefferson, Antwerp, 1803 1806 | Silas Ward. Jefferson, Brownville, 1799 1800 Gen. Jacob Brown. Jefferson, Champion, 1797 1799 | Joel Mix. Jefferson, Clayton, 1802 1804. | Smith & Delamater. Jefferson, Ellisburg, 1797 1797 Lyman Ellis. Jefferson, Henderson, 1799 1807 Willis Fellows. Jefferson, Hounsfield, 1800 1802 Augustus Sacket. Jefferson, Le Ray, 1801 1802 Benjamin Brown. Jefferson, Lorraine, 1802 1804 Frost. Jefferson, Lyme, 1801 1803 === Jefferson, Orleans, 1806 1816 Dr. Andrus. Jefferson, Philadelphia, 1804 1805 Thomas and John Townsend. Jefferson, Rodman, 1801 1804 | William Rice. Jefferson, Rutland, 1799 1802 David Coffeen. Jefferson, Theresa, 1810 1810 James D. Le Ray. Lewis, Croghan, 1828 1830 Somerville Stewart. Lewis, Denmark, 1800 1801 Nathan Munger. Lewis, Diana, 1830 1833 | Faskit Harris. Lewis, High Market, 1814 - - James McVicker. Lewis, Lewis, 1799 1800 Joel Jenks.

* This mill was built at Old Forge by Goy. John Brown, of Providence, R. I., the owner of Brown’s

Tract in the Adirondacks.

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — Continuep. .

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

29)5)

FIRST

COUNTY. TOWN. | eee BUILT BY. | SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Lewis, Leyden, | 1794 1795 | Bela Butterfield. Lewis, | Lowville, | 1797 1798 Daniel Kelley. Lewis, Martinsburgh, 1801 1803 Walter Martin. Lewis, Montague, 1846 1848 SuRy Sears: Lewis, New Bremen, 1821 1826 | Charles Dayan. Lewis, Osceola, 1838 | 1841 | William Roberts. Lewis, Turin, 1797 1799 Eleazer House. Lewis, Watson, 1800 1801 Isaac Puffer. Lewis, West Turin, 1795 1796 Nathaniel Shaler. ‘Livingston, Avon, 1785 1790 | Timothy Hosmer. Livingston, Conesus, 1794 1804 Livingston, Leicester, 1789 1792 Ebenezer Allen. Livingston, Lima, 1788 1796 Reuben Thayer. Livingston, | Livonia, 1792 1795 Higby. Livingston, North Dansville, 1795 1796 David Scholl. Livingston, Nunda, 1806 1818 | Willoughby Lovell. Livingston, Ossian, 1804 1809 | Nathaniel Porter. Livingston, Portage, 1810 1816 Russell Messenger. Livingston, Springwater, 1807 1809 | Samuel Hines. Madison, Cazenovia, 1793 1794 | John Lincklaen. Madison, De Ruyter, 1793 1807 | Joseph Rich. Madison, Eaton, 1793 1795 Joshua Leland. Madison, Georgetown, 1804 1806 Mitchell Atwood. Madison, Lebanon, 1792 - - | Elisha Wheeler. Madison, Madison, 1793 1793 Henry W. Bond. Madison, Nelson, 1794 1800 Jeremiah Clark. Madison, Smithville, 1795 1801 Peter Smith. Madison, Stockbridge, 1791 1794 | Stockbridge Indians. Madison, Sullivan, 1790 - - John G. Moyer. Monroe, Greece, 1792 1810 Nathaniel Jones. Monroe, Henrietta, 1806 - - | Jonathan Smith. Monroe, Ogden, noe ) |) ren William H. Spencer.

296

BEGINNINGS OF

REPORT OF THE

THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ContTiNu_Ep.

Piss ae oe Sea Senne Monroe, Parma. 1794 1811 Monroe, Penfield, 1801 - - Monroe, | Riga, 1805 1808 Monroe, | Webster, 1805 1806 Monroe, Wheatland, 1789 1810 Montgomery, | Amsterdam, 1716 1742 Montgomery. | Canajoharie, 1770 1770 Montgomery, | Charleston, 0735) 1785 Montgomery, | Florida, 1710 1750 Montgomery, | Glen, 1705 1790 Montgomery, | Minden, 1750 1740 Montgomery, | Root, 1770 Spo New York, | Manhattan, 1614 1633 Niagara, | Cambria, 1800 1806 Niagara, Lewiston, 1800 1808 Niagara, Newfane, 1807 1811 Niagara, Porter, 1803 1816 Niagara, Royalton, 1803 1817 Niagara, Somerset, 1810 1822 Niagara, Wheatfield, 1802 1825 Niagara, Wilson, 1810 1815 Oneida, Augusta, 1793 1795 Oneida, Ava, 1798 1801 Oneida, Boonville, 1795 1796 Oneida, Bridgewater, 1788 - - Oneida, Camden, 1796 1798 Oneida, | ILee, 1790 1796 Oneida, Manchester, 1787 1788 Oneida, Marcy, 1793 1825 Oneida, Vienna,* 1798 | 1801

BUILT BY.

Jonathan Whitney. Daniel Penfield. Samuel Church.

Caleb Lyon.

| Peter Shaeffer, Jr.

| Sir William Johnson.

Col. Hendrick Frey. Judah Burton.

| ‘Philip Frederick.

| Peter Quackenboss.

Fox.

Solomon Hamilton. West India Company. Joseph Hewett. Joseph Howell. James Van Horn. John Clapsaddle. Gad Warner.

John Randolph.

Col. John Sweeney.

Daniel Sheldon.

T. Cassaty. Benjamin Jones. Holland Land Co. Major Farwell. Jesse Curtis. David Smith, Captain Casey. John F. Allen.

Ambrose Jones.

* The first death in the town occurred by an accident in a sawmill, in I8oI, whereby Alex.

was killed.

Graves

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ContinueEp.

297)

COUNTY. TOWN. ae feos BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Oneida, Westmoreland, 1786 1790 |} Jonathan Dean.* Onondaga, Camillus, 1790 1806 | Munro & Wheeler. Onondaga, Cicero, 1790 1823 | Freeman Hotchkiss. Onondaga, Clay, 1793 1811 | Abraham Young. Onondaga, | Dewitt, 1789 1792 Asa Danforth. Onondaga, Elbridge, 1793 1797 | William Stevens. Onondaga, Fabius, 1794 1800 | Thomas Miles. Onondaga, | Geddes, 1794 1825 Noah Smith. Onondaga, | Lafayette, 1791 1795 James Sherman. Onondaga, Lysander, 1793 1807 | Dr. Jonas C. Baldwin. Onondaga, Manlius, 1790 1793 | Elijah Phillips. Onondaga, Marcellus, 1794 1796 | Bradley & Rice. Onondaga, Onondaga, 1787 1793 Turner Fenner. Onondaga, Pompey Hill, 1792 1796 | Pratt & Smith. Onondaga, Skaneateles, 1793 1796 | Jedediah Sanger. Onondaga, Spafford, 1794 1810 Josiah Walker. - Onondaga, Tully, 1795 1810 _,; Peter Van Camp. Onondaga, Van Buren, 1792 - - | Skeels & Paddock. Ontario, Canadice, 1807 - - | John Algur. Ontario, East Bloomfield, 1789 1790 | Gen. Fellows. Ontario, Farmington, 1789 1795 | Smith Brothers. Ontario, Gorham, 1789 1807 | Buckley & Craft. Ontario, Naples, 1790 1792 | Clark & Metcalf. Ontario, Phelps, 1789 1795 | seth Dean. Ontario, Richmond, 1789 1795 | Thomas Morris. Ontario, Seneca, 1787 sO | de, 18h. \iusrnere. Ontario, South Bristol, 1789 1795 Gamaliel Wilder. Ontario, Victor, 1789 1792 | EB. & J. Boughton. Ontario, - West Bloomfield, 1789 1798 | Ebenezer Curtis. Orange, Chester, 1751 1810 (| Richard Bull. .

*A MSS. account of Indian mythology written by Mr. Dean is in the State Library, Albany, N. Y.

REPORT OF THE

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY W— Continuep.

COUNTY. TOWN. ear pitas BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Orange, Crawford, 1740 1751 Johannes Snyder. Orange, Montgomery, 1722 .1768 | Robert Milliken. Orange, Newburgh, 1709 1784 | Capt. Thos. Machin. Orange, New Windsor, 1685 1728 Samuel Hazard. Orange, Wallkill, 1767 1776. Carpenter. Orange, Warwick, 1719 1760 Daniel Burt. Orange, Wawayanda, 1738 1760 | Isaac Finch. Orleans, Barre, 1811 1816 | Wilham White. Orleans, Clarendon, 1811 1811 | Eldridge Farwell. Orleans, Gaines, 1808 1813 Henry Drake. Orleans, Kendall, 1812 1819 | Auger & Boyden. Orleans, Ridgeway, 1809 1805 Holland Land Company. Orleans, Shelby, 1810 1812 | Joseph Ellicott. Oswego, Albion, 1812 1813 Tilly Brothers. Oswego, Amboy, 1805 1822 | Joseph Murphy. Oswego, Boylston, 1810 1822 Reuben Snyder. Oswego, Constantia, 1790 1795 George Scriba. Oswego, Granby, 1792 18i4 | Schenck & Wilson. Oswego, Hannibal, 1802 r8i1zr | Silas Crandell. . Oswego, Mexico, 1798 - - | George Scriba. Oswego, New Haven, 1798 1805 | Ira Foot. Oswego, Orwell, 1806 1810 | Joseph Watson. Oswego, Palermo, 1806 1812. | Phineas Chapin. Oswego, Parish, 1804 1807 | Way & Allen. Oswego, Redfield, 1798 TSO |) Sa Oswego, Richland, 1801 1806 | John Hoar. Oswego, Sandy Creek, 1804 1805 | William Skinner. Oswego, Schroeppel, 1800 1819 | H.W. Schroeppel. Oswego, Volney, 1793 1796 Goodell. Oswego, Williamstown, 1801 1803 | Isaac Alden. Otsego, Maryland, 1793 1795 Jotham Boughton. Otsego, | Middlefield, 1775 Alexander McCollum.

1776

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

299.

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ConTINUED.

eighteen inches,’

and were to saw for the town

ce

* Joseph Carpenter and Caleb Carman entered into an agreement with the town, whereby they were permitted to use timber from the common lands, ‘‘except clapboard and rayle trees under

twelve pens in the hundred cheaper than any other

person of any other town;” and for citizens of the town “‘that bringeth the timber, one halfe of the

sawn stuff for their laboure, provided that it is only for their owne use.”

+ For building this mill the town granted to Townsend, and his heirs forever, the right to cut and

use timber from any part of the town he should choose; also, the right to sell such timber, either in

the town or out of it.

300 REPORT OF THE

BEGINNINGS. OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY .— ContTinuep.

COUNTY. TOWN. care eae BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

*TIn an official report made to the Canadian Parliament in 1851, entitled ‘‘ Titles and documents relating to the seignorial tenure,” there is a copy of the grant made to Abbe Picquet giving permission to build a sawmill, This concession, signed by Francois Bigot, the intendant at Quebec, states ‘that for the usefulness of the said mill, it is necessary that there should be attached thereto a tract of land and grants for this purpose

’

on which to receive the saw logs as well as the boards and other lumber,’ ‘land of one arpent and a half in front, by the same depth.” This land now forms part of the city of Ogdensburg.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

301

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ConTINvu_ED.

COUNTY. TOWN. oe ne BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL. Saratoga, Wilton, 1774 1784 John Laing. Schenectady,* ; - - : Schoharie, Broome, 1791 1794 | Griswold & Wells. Schoharie, Cobleskill, 1750 1774 | Christian Brown. Schoharie, Jefferson, 1794 1796 Stephen Judd. Schoharie, Richmondville, 1770 - | Company of settlers. Schoharie, Seward, 1754 1773. | William Hynds. Schoharie, Sharon, 1771 1784 | John Hutt. Schoharie, Summit, 1794 1798 Van Buren. Schoharie, Wright, 1771 1783 Zimmer & Becker. Schuyler, Catharine, 1788 1791 Phineas Bowers. Schuyler, Cayuta, 1798 1816 Jesse D. White. Schuyler, Dix, 1798 1828 Col. Green Bennett. Schuyler, Hector, 1790 1795 Reuben Smith. Schuyler, Orange, 1802 - | Wm. Conlogue. Schuyler, Reading, 1790 - | Eliadia Parker. Schuyler, Tyrone, — 1799 1801 Seneca, Fayette, 1789 1797 Samuel Bear. Seneca, Seneca Falls, 1787 1795 Wilhelmus Mynderse. Seneca, Tyre, 1794 1807 Nicholas Traver. Steuben, Addison, 1791 1793 George Goodhue. Steuben, Avoca, 1800 1809 Henry Kennedy. Steuben, Bath, 1793 1793 | Chas. Williamson. Steuben, Bradford, 1793, 1795 Frederick Bartles. Steuben, Cameron, 1800 1808 | Richard Hadley. Steuben, ‘Campbell, 1800 1807 | Campbell & Stephens. Steuben, Caton, 1819 1822 Abner Gilbert. - Steuben, Cohocton, 1796 1808 | Jonas Cleland.

Steuben, Corning, 1788 1793 | Ichabod Patterson.

* The colonial patent of 1684, embracing lands in this county and the present site of the city of

Schenectady, refers to sawmills which had already been built within the territory granted ; but nothing

appears now in the town or county records to show when or by whom they were erected.

302 REPORT OF THE BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ConTINUuUED. COUNTY. TOWN. ee epi BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL.

Steuben, Dansville, 1804 1816 Robert Fuller. Steuben, Erwin, 1787 1820 Samuel Erwin. Steuben, Fremont, 1812 1816 | Daniel Upson. Steuben, Hartsville, 1809 1827 Daniel P. Carpenter. Steuben, Hornby, 1814 1824 Levi Nash. Steuben, Hornellsville, 1792 1795 George Hornell. Steuben, Howard, 1806 1810 | Henry Kennedy. Steuben, Jasper, 1807 1811 Nicholas Prutsman. Stenben, Lindley, 1790 1793 | Eleazer Lindley. Steuben, Puliney: 1802 1810 Melchoir Wagener. Steuben, Rathbone, 2794 1812 Isaac Tracy. Steuben, Thurston, 1813 1814 Paris Wheelock. Steuben, Tuscarora, 1801 1806 William Wombaugh. Steuben, Urbana, 1793 1795 John Shether. Steuben, Wayland, 1806 1815 Benjamin Perkins. Steuben, West Union, 1822 1849 | John Wiley. Steuben, Wheeler, 1799 1802 | Silas Wheeler. Steuben, Woodhull, 1805 1806 Caleb Smith. Suffolk, Hyntington, 1653 1688 | Jonathan Rogers.* Suffolk, Riverhead, 1690 1659 | John Tucker.t Suffolk, Smithtown, 1650 1789 | George Phillips. Suffolk, Southold, 1640 1659 John Tucker. Sulhvan, Bethel, 1798 1805 John K. Beeman. Sullivan, Callicoon, 1814 - - Jacob Quick. Sullivan, | Fallsburgh,f 1788 1795 William A. Thompson. Sullivan, Forestburgh, 1793 1783 Capt. A. Cuddeback.

* Rogers was granted permission to build a sawmill at Cold Spring on condition that he furnish

lumber at a certain price

“e

and deliver up the stream when the town wants it for a gristmill.”

+ In 1659 John Tucker ‘‘ propounded for liberty to sett up a sawmill neere the head of the river,

and liberty to cut all sorts of timber, but noe more of oak than fell in the common track of getting

pine and cedar which were the chief inducements of getting a mill there to saw.’

,

¢{ Charles Webb, who made a survey of the Minnisink Patent in 1762, makes mention in his field

notes of Reeves’s sawmill.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 303

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ConTINvueEp.

COUNTY. TOWN EER pase BUILT BY. SETTLEMENT. , SAWMILL.

Tioga, _| Barton, 1787 1803 | George W. Buttson. Tioga, Berkshire, 1791 1810} Bull & Brown. Tioga, Candor, 1785 1829 | Orange F. Booth. Tioga, Newark Valley, 1791 1830+ | Patterson & Day. Tioga, Nicholsi | 1787 1833 | George Kirby. Tioga, Owego, 1785 1826 | Willard Foster. Tioga, Richford, 1809 1818 | Caleb Arnold. Tioga, Spenccr, 1794 1800 | Edmund Hobart. Tioga, Tioga, 1789 |} 1792 | Major Wm. Ransom. Tompkins, Caroline, 1795 1800 | Gen. John Cantine. Tompkins, Danby, 1795 be 1797 Dumond & Yaple. Tompkins, Dryden, 1797 | 1800 | Ruluff Whiting. Tompkins, Enfield, 1804 1812 Benjamin Ferris. Tompkins, Groton, 1798 1811 Jonas Williams. Tompkins, Ithaca, 1789 | 1813 Phineas Bennett. Tompkins, Newfield, 1801 1809 Eliakim Dean. Tompkins, Ulysses, 179t | 1796 | David Atwater. Ulster, Denning, 1821 | 1827 Dewitt & Reynolds. Ulster, Gardiner, 1724 1794 | James Jenkins. Ulster, ; Hardenburgh, 1800 1860 | Hiram Seager. Ulster, Kingston, 1650 1847 Peter J. DuBois. _ Ulster, Marlborough, 1772 1780 | James Hallock.

*This mill, which stood on the outlet of Brodhead Pond, was built wholly of logs and hewed

timber. The race was constructed from large hemlock trees, ‘‘ with much labor and ingenuity.”

+Steam mill. There may have been a water mill in the town before this one was built; but if so, there is nothing in the town records to indicate it.

304 REPORT OF THE

BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — ContTinu_ep.

COUNTY. TOWN. ee eas _ BUILT. BY. SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL. Ulster, Olive, 1740 1765 | Lemuel Winchell. Ulster, Plattekill, 1780 1800 | Andrew Garrison. Ulster, Rochester, NOSS me ne alos SS Ulster, Saugerties, 1710 1800 Hendrick Schoonmaker. Ulster, Shandaken, 1800 1860 DAC, Dutcher Ulster, Shawangunk, 1680 - - Harris. Ulster, Woodstock, 1770 1820 | Robert Livingston. Warren, Bolton, 1792 1813 | William H. Oglesva. Warren, Chester, 1789 1790 | Jabez Mead. Warren, Hague, 1796 1833 | John Patchen. Warren, Horicon, 1802 1839 | William Gardner. Warren, Johnsburg, 1784 1790 John Thurman. Warren, Luzerne, | 1797 1815 Jeremiah Rockwell. Warren, Queensbury, | 1762 1764 Moses Clements. Warren, Stony Creek, 1795 1825 James McDonald. Warren, Thurman, 1799 1815 Caleb Reynolds. Warren, Warrensburgh, 1784 1794 Jonathan Vowers. | Washington, Cambridge, 1762 | - - Philip Van Ness. Washington, Dresden, 1784 1815 Amos Collins. Washington, | Easton, 1762 1768 Nathan Tefft. Washington, Fort Ann, | 1781 1788 Jacob Van Wormer. Washington, Fort Edward, | 1764 - - | William Duer. Washington, Granville, | 1772 1787 Nathaniel Spring. Washington, Greenwich, 1766) | 1778 Daniel Rose. Washington, Hebron, | 1770 | - - | William ‘Lytle. Washington, Kingsbury, | 1764 | 1768 | Albert Baker. Washington, Putnam, 1784 1802 Robert Cummings. Washington, White Creek, L705 wh: 1790) 4). ElercullessRice: Washington, Whitehall, 1761 1766 | Col. Philip Skene. Wayne, Arcadia, 1791 180i | Joseph Caldwell. Wayne, Butler, 1803...| *18r0.. | Jacob's. Waele: Wayne, Galen, 1800 1810 | Thomas Beadle.

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BEGINNINGS OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY — Conc rupep. |

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

395

FIRST FIRST ea ache SETTLEMENT. | SAWMILL. Ste a Wayne, Huron, 1796 1809 Elihu Spencer. Wayne, Lyons, 1789 1800 John Perrine. Wayne, Ontario, 1806 I811 Freeman Hopkins. Wayne, Palmyra, 1790 1795 Joel Foster. Wayne, Rose, 1805 1811 Elijah Howe. Wayne, Savannah,* 1808 1824 | Royal Torrey. Wayne, Sodus, 1795 1800 Captain Williamson. Wayne, Williamson, 1803 1806 | Jeremiah Selby. Wayne, Wolcott, 1807 1813. | Elisha Plank. V estchester, Scarsdale, 1701 1668 William Saxton. Wyoming, Arcade, 1808 1811 | Maj. Moses Smith. Wyoming, Bennington, 1802 1808 | Chauncey Loomis. Wyoming, Castile, 1808 1811 Robert Whalley. Wyoming, Covington, 1807 1812 Sprague & Spaulding. Wyoming, Eagle, 1808 1811 Amos Huntley. Wyoming, Gainesville, 1805 1809 | Wheelock Wood. Wyoming, Genesee Falls, 1804 1815 Mumford, Smith & McKay. Wyoming, Middlebury, 1802 180g | A. Worden. Wyoming, Orangeville, 1805 1810 | Robert Hopkins. Wyoming, Pike, 1806 180g _ | Eh Griffith. Wyoming, Sheldon, 1804 1806 | William Vary. Wyoming, Wethersfield, 1810 1812 Calvin Clifford. Yates, Barrington, 1800 1806 Wilham Cummins. Yates, Benton, 1789 1790 Dr. Caleb Benton. Yates, Italy, 1793 1795 Asahel Stone, Jr. Yates, Jerusalem, 1789 1795 Daniel Brown. Yates, Middlesex, 1789 - - | John Walford, Jr. , WaneS, Potter, 1788 1792 Arnold Potter. Yates, Starkey, 1800 1807 Timothy Hurd.

* The stream, Crusol Creek, upon which the first sawmill was built, diminished, as the forests about

its sources disappeared, so that in about twenty years the mill lost its power.

power afforded by any stream in the town.

20

There is now no water

Batt Minnows.

By Dr. BARTON WARREN EVERMANN

ICHTHYOLOGIST, U. S. FISH COMMISSION.

HE great majority of the *‘ bait minnows” used by anglers in America belong to the Cyprinzde, which is the Carp or Minnow family proper. Two or three are catfishes, three or four are darters, one or more species of killifish

are used to some extent, the skipjack (Labidesthes sicculus) is used in some places for certain kinds of fishing, and the young of several species of suckers are seen

in the live-box of the dealer in “ minnows” or in the bucket of

the amateur angler. The mud minnow (Umora limi), which,

of course, is no minnow at all, any more than that it is

a young dogfish (Ama calva), as many a fisherman

will assure you, may also be found among the species

offered for sale. And all these have their advan-

tages,— that of Umbra being that it will live

and remain vigorous under any kind of

treatment; even the game fish will let it severely alone.

Even young bass, perch and blobs may now and then be seen in the live-boxes, and unsophisticated anglers may be _ inveigled into paying a good round price for them upon the recommendation of the conscience- less dealer who asseverates that they are “just the thing.”

With a few exceptions, however, all the

A GOOD STRING.

niinnows used for bait belong to a single family, the Cyprinide, an exceeding large family of fishes, usually small in size, found throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The number of species found in each of these three continents is very great, and the total number of known species in the family is very large. In North America alone the family is represented by

about 40 genera and 130 species. There is scarcely a stream or lake which has not 307

308 REPORT OF THE

from 2 or 3 to 30 or more species of this family. The streams of the Upper Missis- sippi basin are most abundantly supplied ; not only are ‘there numerous species, but individuals abound. In the Wabash basin alone not fewer than 30 different species are found.

Though most of the minnows are species whose individuals attain oaly a small | size, this is not true of all members of the family. While our largest minnows in the Eastern States rarely reach a length of more than a foot or 18 inches, there are species in the West, particularly in the Colorado and Columbia rivers, which attain.a length of 4 to 5 feet and a weight of many pounds. And they are as true minnows as are any of our small species. The term “minnow” does not meana small fish ora young fish, but it means a member of the Cyprzuzd@ family of fishes, whatever may be its size. The proper name for young fish is fry.

It is not difficult to determine whether a fish belongs to the Cyfrznzd@ or not. The characters of the family may be briefly stated as follows:

Head naked, body covered with smooth, cycloid scales; 2 or 4 barbels present in a few genera, absent in most of our species, and not large in any; belly usually rounded, never serrated; no adipose fin; dorsal fin short in all American species ; ventral fins abdominal; air-bladder usually large, usually. divided into 2 parts; stomach without appendages, appearing as a simple enlargement of the intestines.

Our genera are mostly very closely related and are separated by characters which, although reasonably constant, are often of slight structural importance. All the species spawn in the spring and early summer and the spring or breeding dress of the male is often peculiar. The top of the head, and often the fins and other parts of the body are covered with small tubercles, outgrowths from the epidermis. The fins and lower portions of the body are often charged with bright pigment, the pre- vailing color of which is red, although in some genera it is satin-white, yellow, or even black.

Young Cyprinid@ are usually more slender than adults of the same species, and the eye is always much larger. The young also frequently show a black lateral stripe and caudal spot which the adult may not possess. The fins and scales are often, especially in individuals living in small brooks or in stagnant water, covered with round black specks, which are immature trematodes and should not be mis- taken for true color markings.

No progress can be made in the identification of minnows without very careful attention to the teeth, as the genera are largely based on dental characters. The

minnows have no teeth in the mouth, the jaws, tongue, vomer and palatines being

FOREST, FISH, AND GAME COMMISSION. 309

entirely toothless. The only teeth which they possess are on the pharyngeal bones, and are known as pharyngeal teeth.

The pharyngeal bones can be removed by inserting a pin or small hook through the gill-opening, under the shoulder-girdle. The bone may then be carefully cleaned with a tooth-brush, and when dry, examined with a hand-lens and the teeth easily made out. In most cases the teeth will be found to be in two rows, the principal row containing 4 or 5 teeth, and the other row having but one or two, which are usually smaller. There is, of course, a pharyngeal bone on each side, and both must usually be examined. The 2 sides are usually, but not always, symmetrical. Thus, ‘teeth. 2,4-5,1’ indicates two rows of teeth on each side, on the one side 4 in the principal row and 2 in the lesser row; on the other side 5 in the main row and 1 in the other. ‘ Teeth 4-4” means a single row of 4 teeth on each pharyngeal bone.

In many of our minnows the teeth, or the principal ones, are “ raptatorial,’—— that is, hooked inward at the tips. A grinding or masticatory surface is an excavated space or groove, usually at the base of the hook. Sometimes the grinding surface is very narrow and confined to I or 2 teeth. Sometimes a beveled or flattened edge looks so much like a grinding surface as to mislead a superficial observer. In some cases the edge of the tooth is serrate or crenate.

Minnows are found in all sorts of places. Certain species, as the Spot-tailed Shiner, are confined chiefly to lakes; others, as the Fall-fish, are found in the larger streams; still others, as the Creek Chub, are found in the smaller streams. In any given stream certain species will be found to frequent the swiftly-flowing waters or the riffles and gravel-bars; others seek the deeper, quiet pools ; while yet others will be found among the patches of aquatic vegetation.

Though there are more than a hundred species of minnows in America and nearly all of them are used to some extent as bait, not more than a dozen or fourteen are usually regarded as bait minnows. In the present article only the most important species have been included. It is hoped that the descriptions have been so far divested of purely technical terms as to make it easy for any one who really wishes to know to identify the species mentioned. In addition to the descriptions the habits of each species are discussed and as much of its life history is given as seems of general interest.

While the relative values of the different species vary greatly with the locality, nevertheless certain species are recognized by all anglers as particularly suitable for certain game fishes and others for other game fishes, and an effort has been made to point out the desirable features of the various ‘‘ bait minnows”’ treated.

The order of treatment is as follows:

310 REPORT OF THE

First of all, the important bait minnows belonging to the Cyprgnzde, or true min- now family, are considered, the species being taken up in regular order beginning with the lowest forms, those most closely related to the suckers, and ending with the highest developed forms. Then the miscellaneous bait minnows are considered. These include certain species of the smaller catfishes, several species of suckers, and — such others as are sometimes used as live bait.

Collecting bait minnows: VYhere are, of course, all sorts of ways for collecting or securing bait minnows. The great majority of anglers are doubtless in the habit of depending upon local dealers in bait. Every important fishing resort has one or more persons who are in the business and from whom live minnows may be obtained at prices varying from 25 cents to $2.00 a dozen. And there are dealers who keep nothing but desirable minnows, but the average man who handles live bait is not so particular, and in his live-box may be found all sorts of small fish, and some that are not small, which he recommends in the highest terms to the inexperienced angler.

But many anglers, either by preference or from necessity, collect their own bait minnows, and this custom has much to recommend it; for one can usually secure better minnows. He can make his own selections as to species and size, his min- nows will be fresher and more vigorous than those from the Saproleguia-infested live-box, and, moreover, he who collects his own minnows learns much about their habits and much of nature, which will be no disadvantage to any man.

The best and most satisfactory manner of collecting minnows for bait is by means of the Baird collecting seine. These seines can be had of any desired length from H. & G. W. Lord, Boston, but the angler will, of course, keep within the lawful limit of minnow seines. The peculiarity of the Baird seine is that the middle por- tion is made with finer mesh than the ends and is made into a bag 2 or 3 feet in length. Seines without the bag, but with the finer mesh in the bunt may be had.

Various other kinds of nets are used, with varying success, but a Baird seine 15 to 25 feet long will prove most satisfactory.

Minnows suitable for live bait can be found in almost any stream or lake that has not been overfished or whose waters are not polluted or made unsuitable for fish by milling, mining, logging or sewage operations. Different species will be found in different streams, some preferring those with colder water, rocky bottom, and swiftly- flowing current, while others have chosen the streams whose waters flow more slowly and are warmer, and whose bottom is of mud or sand or fine gravel. And in the same stream different species will seek out different parts; some prefer the quiet

reaches, some the patches of aquatic vegetation, while others delight to dwell in the

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Zyl

shallows of the riffles upon the gravel-bars where the water flows swiftly and is well aerated. A similar distribution of species will be noticed in the lakes and ponds.

Generally speaking, the species of minnows in New York will be most numerous and individuals most abundant in the warmer streams and lakes.

In the experience of many anglers, creek or river minnows are preferable to those from lakes or ponds, particularly if one is fishing for black bass or Wall-eyed Pike. The best bait species are those that are found in the swiftly-flowing water of the rifles. Not only are the species better, but the fish are more vigorous and active, and more tenacious of life, as well as more silvery or brightly colored, which are the points chiefly determining the excellence of a bait minnow, as such. To be effective, a bait minnow must be bright or silvery enough to attract the attention of the fish, it must be active to show that it is alive, albeit in distress or under restraint, and its tenacity of life must be great to enable it to withstand the changed and constantly changing environment and the slight physical injury incident to its being impaled upon the hook. The size of the minnows selected will of course be determined by the kind of fishing the angler wishes to do.

In seining for bait minnows a great many small fish will be caught which are not wanted. It would seem that it ought not to be necessary to urge that these should all be returned to the water, but entirely too many bait-gatherers and anglers fail to doso. The seine is hauled out upon the shore, the minnows that are wanted are put into the live-bucket, and the rest of the catch is dumped upon the shore to die. Among the fishes allowed to perish miserably in this way will be found young of many food-and-game-species such as both species of black bass, the Rock Bass, Blue- gill and Yellow Perch, as well as many other species that are either valuable as food or which serve as food for our game-fishes. The great scarcity of fish in many streams and small lakes is undoubtedly due in large measure to this wholly inexcus- able carelessness and the criminal indifference of those seining for bait.

Various sorts of traps are used for catching minnows. The most common and perhaps the most effective is made of wire and constructed after the manner of the ordinary rat-trap, which permits easy entrance but exit from which is difficult. These traps are of course baited, usually with small particles or balls of dough, and are set in places which minnows are known to frequent.

Minnows may be caught also by means of a small dip-net by properly baiting it and allowing it to rest upon the bottom until the minnows are over it in numbers feeding upon the dough with which it has been baited; then by lifting the net quickly the minnows may be secured.

In the absence of all better ways good bait minnows, particularly the Fall-fish,

212 REPORT OF THE '

Creek Chub, River Chub, and Common Silverside may be obtained with hook and line, provided the hook used be very small.

The care of live minnows. More bait minnows die from careless handling and disease than are used in actual fishing, but it should be otherwise. With proper attention there should be but little loss with any of the desirable minnows ; most of them are hardy and will do well in confinement.

In the first place, a large minnow bucket is better than a small one, and too many fish should not be put in it at one time; crowding should always be avoided.

The fish must be handled as little as possible and witn extreme care ; handling or other treatment which results in rubbing off any scales is sure to prove fatal very soon.

The water should be kept cool and well aerated, either by the addition of fresh water, by pouring, or by pumping air into the water with a bicycle pump. Before putting minnows in the bucket it should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, so that no germs‘may be left from'fish which may have died in it. :

If you have a live-box in which you keep on hand a larger supply of minnows, it should receive thé same attention. It must be set in suitable water, watér that’ is cool'and which has a cllrrent, if possible, and must be thoroughly cleaned and disin- fected as often as possible.’ Probably the vast majority of fish which die in live- boxes and aquariums do’s6 ‘from the attacks of different species of a fungus belong- ing to the genus Saprolegnia.' These are plants closely related in structure to the alga; and may be regarded as degraded forms which, because of their saprophytic or parasitic habits, have lost their chlorophyl or green coloring matter.

This fungus may develop on any part of the fish, though perhaps most abun- dantly or more frequently on the tail, fins or head, or where scales have been rubbed off. It may bé limited to’small definite patches, or may spread all over the fish. In general it forms tufts of white, fluffy threads that radiate out from the body. The mycelium of this fungus develops beneath the scales or skin, and by the time it appears on the surface the fish is past recovery. The only way to do then is to destroy all those evidently affected. The others which may be saved should be removed to another tank or vessel and treated to a saltwater bath. The salt solu- tion should not be too strong; ordinarily about one part of salt to a thousand of water will prove sufficiently strong. Before the fish are returned to the live-box it should be carefully cleaned and set in a different place.

It is of course much more difficult to keep minnows in the summer than at any other time; and as it is also easier to get them then there is no necessity for crowd-

ing the live-box.

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME: COMMISSION. 313

Stone-rolter,— Campostoma anomalum (Rafinesque).

The genus Campostoma contains three or four species, only one of which is found east of the Mississippi, and that species is known variously as Stone-roller, Stone- lugger, Stone-toter, Steel-back Minnow, Mammy, Dough-belly, Rot-gut Minnow, Sucker Minnow, and doubtless by other names. From all other minnows of the eastern United States or the Mississippi Valley it may be known by the small sucker-like mouth and the remarkably long intestine which is wound with many turns around the air-bladder. This last character is unique; no other fish in our waters possesses it. The intestine is exceedingly long, usually from 6 to Io times as long as the fish itself. The air-bladder is suspended in the abdominal cavity and entirely surrounded by many convolutions of the intestine.

The length of the head comprises about one-fourth the standard length of the fish (that is, the length from the tip of the snout to the base of the caudal fin); the

depth is a little greater than the length of the head; there are 8 rays in the dor-

STONE-ROLLER.

sal fin and 7 in the anal; the scales are thin and moderate in size, there being 53 in the lateral line, 7 rows between the lateral line and the base of the dorsal fin, and 8 between the lateral line and base of the anal; these three facts are expressed more concisely by saying scales 7-53-8. The pharyngeal teeth are 4-4, sometimes 1,4-4,0. Body rather stoutish, moderately compressed, the antedorsal region becoming swollen and prominent in the adult; snout moderately decurved; scales deep, and crowded anteriorly; maxillary not reaching to opposite front of eye.

Color, brownish or grayish, with a brassy luster above, the scales more or less mottled with dark brown or blackish; a dusky vertical bar behind the opercle ; dorsal and anal fins each with a dusky cross-bar about half way up, the rest of the fin olivaceous in females, fiery red in the males in the spring; iris orange in the

males; males in spring with the head and often the whole body covered with large

314 IE PO RGIS © Feb ELE

rounded tubercles. In no other Cyprinoid are the nuptial appendages so extensively developed.

This species is extremely variable, the young being very different in appearance from adult males. The Stone-roller attains a length of 5 to 8 inches. It is a species of wide distribution, its range extending from central New York westward through ~ the Great Lakes region to Wyoming, and south to Tennessee and Texas, usually abundant everywhere in deep quiet pools in small streams. It spawns in the spring, when it may be found running up the smallest brooks. It prefers water that is not too cold and will not therefore be found in the coldest mountain streams. In the State of New York it is doubtless common in all the smaller streams except in the mountainous regions.

As a bait minnow the Stone roller does not occupy a high rank. The chief diff- cuity is that it is not a hardy fish and dies too readily when confined in the live-box, the minnow bucket, or on the hook. Its scales come off easily and the fish seems peculiarly susceptible to the attacks of Saprolegnia, a fungus which shows itself in fluffy white masses on the body of the fish. When placed upon the hook its dispo- sition is to bear down toward the bottom and if there is vegetation in the water the minnow is apt to tangle the hook. For still fishing the Stone-roller is therefore not

a very satisfactory bait minnow. It is better used in trolling.

Red-bellied Dace,— Chrosomus erythrogaster Rafinesque.

Three or four species have been described as belonging to the genus Chrosomus, but only one of them, the Red-bellied Dace, occurs in the waters of New York.

In this minnow the air-bladder is above the alimentary canal, as is usual among fishes, the intestine is usually more than twice the length of the body, the teeth are one-rowed, with the grinding surface well developed, and the peritoneum (lining mem- brane of the body cavity) is black or blackish. The head is equal to the depth and each is one-fourth the length of the fish. The body is oblong, little compressed, and tapering each way from the middle; head rather pointed; mouth moderate, ter- minal, oblique, the jaws about equal; fins rather small, the dorsal and anal high and short, 7 rays in the former and 8 in the latter; caudal long; scales quite small, firmly attached, the formula being 16-85-10; lateral line developed for less than half the length of the body.

Color, brownish olive, with a dusky dorsal line and often some blackish spots; 2 black lateral bands nearly parallel, the one from the upper angle of the opercle straight to the caudal, sometimes broken into spots behind, the lower broader,

extending from snout through eye, curved downward along the belly and extending

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 315

to the caudal, where it ends in a black spot; a bright silvery area between these two bands; belly below the lower band abruptly silvery; females obscurely marked. Males in spring with the belly and the interspace between the lateral bands bright scarlet; bases of the vertical fins also scarlet; in high coloration the body is every- where minutely tuberculate and the fins bright yellow or orange.

This beautiful little minnow reaches a length of 2 or 3 inches, and is found in clear cool brooks from Maine and the Adirondacks westward through Ohio and Michigan to the Dakotas and south to Alabama. It is not an abundant fish any- where and prefers the cold water of the smallest creeks and spring brooks.

It is extremely hardy and is therefore one of the most beautiful and attractive fishes for the aquarium. Its tenacity of life, together with its great activity, makes it one of the best of bait minnows. It lives well in the minnow pail, takes food readily, and displays the greatest activity when on the hook. The oniy serious objections to it are its scarcity and its small size. However, for the smaller Black Bass, Rock Bass, Crappie and large Yellow Perch, the Red-bellied Dace is an excel- lent minnow to use.

In the State of New York I have seen this species only in the outlet of Rock

Pond, near Axton.

Blant-nosed Minnow ,— Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque).

The body of this minnow is rather elongate, moderately compressed, and not ele- vated in front; head rather short, the nose convex and blunt; top of head depressed and cheeks vertical; mouth small, inferior and horizontal; fins small, the dorsal with 9 rays, the first being distinct and spine-like in the male but slender in the female; anal with 7 rays; caudal fin short; scales 6-45-4, moderate, deep, closely imbricated, those in front of the dorsal fin small and crowded, in about 23 rows.

Color, olivaceous, little silvery ; side sometimes bluish; a black spot on the dorsal fin in front near its base; a dusky shade at base of caudal, and a dusky band some- times along middle of side; fins often reddish; males in spring with the black on the dorsal more extended and the head wholly black or bluish-black; snout covered with numerous large tubercles.

The genus Pimephales contains but 2 or 3 species, collectively known as Fat-heads. The one here described is the only one of much importance as a bait minnow. It is usually known as the Blunt-nosed Minnow or the Bullhead Minnow. It reaches a length of 4 inches and is found from Quebec to Delaware and west to the Dakotas, Arkansas and Alabama. It is generally abundant in small streams west of the Alleganies and in the small lakes of the upper Mississippi basin it is one of the

most common species. At Lake Maxinkuckee, Indiana, it is the best and most

316 REPORT OF THE

important bait minnow obtained from the lake. It reaches a satisfactory size, lives well in confinement, is tenacious of life and very active on the hook, and is, withal, one of the best of minnows.

From other bait minnows this species may be readily distinguished by the asso- ciation of the blunt nose, a black spot at the base of the dorsal in front, and the dark blotch at the base of the caudal fin.

Falt-fish,— Semotilus corporalis (Mitchill).

The Fall-fish, Silver Chub, Wind-fish, Cousin-trout, or Corporal, as it is variously called, occurs in the region east of the Alleghanies from the St. Lawrence to the James River in Virginia. It is not known from any point west of the Alleghanies. It prefers clear swift streams, rocky pools below cataracts, or clear cool lakes.

The depth equals the head and is contained 4 times in the length of the body; the eye is moderate, being contained 4% times in the length of the head; the dorsal fin, with 8 rays, is slightly behind the middle -of the body, just behind the insertion of the ventrals; the anal has 8 rays. The body is oblons, robust and little com- pressed; head large, convex, the snout bluntly conic; mouth large, terminal, some- what oblique, the lower jaw included; a small barbel on the maxillary just above its extremity, not at its tip as in most American minnows, not always evident in young examples; scales large, 8-45 to 49-4, 22 in front of dorsal, not much crowded ante- riorly ; intestinal canal short; teeth, 2,5-4,2, hooked and without grinding surface.

The Fall-fish is the largest of our eastern Cypriznzde. It reaches a length of a foot to 18 inches, and a weight of 4 or 5 pounds, though individuals of this size are not common. The name “ Fall-fish’’ was doubtless derived from the fact that the species is so often found in the deep pools at the foot of falls or cascades. The name - “Silver Chub” was, of course, applied on account of the color, though it is not especially applicable. Mitchill called it Corporal doubtless because the old Dutch name was Corporaalen.

This important minnow was first described in July, 1817, by Samuel Latham Mitchill, a distinguished citizen of the State of New York, who, for several years represented his State in the United States Senate. Dr. Mitchill based his descrip- tion upon specimens obtained by him from the Wallkill River.

In December of the same year Samuel Constantine Rafinesque again described the fish as new, basing his description upon specimens from the Hudson River and Wood Creek. Then in 1839 Storer described it twice from Massachusetts, and three years later (1842) DeKay, in his New York Fauna, described it twice as new, his type

specimens coming respectively from New York Harbor and Lake Champlain. Cuvier

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Qi 7

and Valenciennes added another synonym in 1844, Storer another in 1845, Professor Baird one in 1861, Cope one in 1861, and finally, Cope another in 1864; and thus it appears that the Fall-fish has been described as new no fewer than Ir times and is

consequently heavily burdened with synonymy.

The Fallfish is one of the few minnows which attains sufficient size to entitle it to rank as a food-fish. Although Thoreau has said that “the chub is a soft fish and tastes like brown paper salted,” the estimate is not altogether just, for there are

worse pan-fish than the chub.

Creek Chab,— Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill).

This fish is known also as the Common Chub, Horned Dace, and, in some locali-

ties, as the Fall-fish. This latter designation, however, should be reserved for the

preceding species.

AW

CREEK CHUB.

The Creek Chub is a fish of wide distribution. It has been found as far east as Freeport, Maine, and in the Housatonic River in Massachusetts, thence westward to Kansas and Wyoming, and from Ontario on the north to Tennessee and southern Missouri on the south. It was originally described by Mitchill from the Wallkill River, New York. It is, in most places where found, one of the most abundant and best known species. In the small streams where it most abounds, it is often the largest and most voracious inhabitant. It rarely occurs in lakes or ponds, but may be found in the larger creeks and rivers, though it prefers the smaller creeks and brooks. During the spring it will be found upon the riffles and coarse gravel bars,

- where it comes to spawn and where it constructs elaborate and conspicuous nests. When the spawning season is over and the water has become warmer, the Creek Chub will more often be found in the deeper and more quiet pools, where it feeds upon angle-worms, insect larvee, and such other small animals as come in its way. It

is extremely voracious, and the small boy with hook baited with grub or angle-worm

318 REPORT OF THE

will seldom fail to add many a good-sized Chub to his string. It takes the hook readily and really makes a good fight, a fight which mightily pleases the young Walton and which he recalls with pleasure and with a quickening of the blood many long years after he has ceased to fish the brooks for Chubs. ‘

As the Chub delights in the cold water of the small brooks, it is frequently met with by the trout fisherman, and there are those who maintain, and not without reason, that the presence of Chub in a trout stream argues ill for the trout, owing to the fondness of the former for the eggs and fry of Salvelinus fontinalis.

Be this as it may, there is no fish of which the Black Bass is more fond than this same Chub, and for bass fishing there is no better bait. It is full of tenacity of life and seldom dies either in the bucket or on the hook. It is active and moves about when on the hook in the most attractive manner. For bass fishing too large a Chub must not be chosen. Of course the size will depend much upon the place and the kind of bass sought, but it is not often worth while to’ use Chubs more than 6 inches in length; those 4 inches or under are apt to prove far more killing.

Head 334; depth 4; eye about 5; dorsal with 7 rays, the anal with 8; scales 9-55-6, those in the lateral line varying from 50 to 60, or even more, the number greatest in northern examples; teeth 2,5-4,2.

The body is moderately stout and little compressed; the dorsal outline is arched in front of the dorsal fin, the body tapering backwards from a point considerably in front of that fin, so that the base of the fin is oblique. The head is large and heavy, broad and rounded above, the snout rather long and broad; mouth broad and cblique, the lower jaw somewhat included, the upper lip a little below the level of the pupil; maxillary barely reaching front of pupil; maxillary barbel small, not evi- dent in examples under 2 or 3 inches in length; eye small; scales small, reduced and crowded anteriorly, about 30 series in front of dorsal fin; lateral line considerably decurved ; fins all small, the dorsal well behind the ventrals, its insertion behind the fifteenth vertebra, its last ray well in advance of the base of the anal.

Color, dusky bluish above, the side with a vague, dusky band, black in the young, but disappearing in the adult; belly creamy white, rosy-tinted in males in spring; dorsal fin always with a conspicuous black spot at the base in front, a char- acter which readily distinguishes this species from the Fall-fish, its nearest rela- tive, and the fish it most resembles; behind the opercle is a dusky bar; the young with a small black spot at base of caudal fin; males with the snout strongly and coarsely tuberculate in spring.

This fish reaches a maximum length of a foot or 15 inches, though examples of that size are not often seen. When kept in a live-box or an aquarium, the Creek

Chub feeds freely upon clams and angle-worms, and will even take young fish.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 319

Red-sided Spimen— Leuciscus elongatus (Kirtland).

This is a rather rare species, occurring in the Great Lakes region and the Upper Mississippi Valley, chiefly from Pennsylvania to Minnesota. It has not until now been reported from the State of New York. In 1894 1 found it in Spring Brook at Pulaski, Three-mile Creek at Oswego, and in Wart Creek. It has been taken in various places in the eastern part of Ohio from streams tributary to Lake Erie, and others in the Ohio basin. It is a brook species inhabiting clear, deep pools of brooks and spring runs,and is one of the most elegant of our Cyprinide. It attains a length of 5 or 6 inches and is a good bait minnow where found.

Head 4; depth 5; eye about 4; the dorsal fin has 8 rays and the anal g; scales MO-70-5); teeth 24-52.

Body rather long and compressed; head long and pointed; mouth very large and oblique; the lower jaw strongly projecting, with a small knob at its tip; upper lip on level of pupil; maxillary extending to middle of eye; posterior angle of opercle acute; scales very small; fins short and high, the dorsal somewhat behind the ventrals; lateral line decurved.

Color, dark bluish, the scales mottled with paler; side with a broad black band, the anterior half of which is bright crimson in males in spring, when the belly and lower fins are more or less reddened; belly at other seasons more or less silvery; a dark vertebral band.

Roach,— 4éramis crysoleucas (Mitchill).

The Roach is still another of the common minnows of New York first described and named by Senator Mitchill. It is also known as Golden Shiner, Deep-bodied Minnow and Bream, the last name being a confusing misnomer, as it is usually restricted to certain species of the Centrarchide or sunfishes.

The Roach is one of our most common minnows and is of wide distribution. It is everywhere abundant in suitable waters from Nova Scotia south to North Caro- lina and westward to the Dakotas, Arkansas and Texas. It prefers still or sluggish waters and is abundant everywhere in sluggish streams, bayous and weedy ponds. It has been recorded from Lake George and elsewhere in New York, and is one of the best known and most characteristic of our Cyprinide. It reaches a foot or more in length, and may often be seen on the small boy’s string.

It is a handsome fish, but is not very hardy, for which reason it is, in most places,

not held in very high esteem as a bait minnow during the summer time; but during

320 REPORT OF THE

the cooler fishing months it is more easily kept, and its silvery color makes it a satis- factory lure.

Head 4%; depth 3; eye about 4; dorsal 8; anal 12 to 14; scales 10-46 to 55-3; teeth 5-5.

Body moderately elongate in the young, deeper in the agli strongly com- pressed; head short, sub-conic, and compressed, the profile somewhat concave; mouth small and oblique, the upper lip on a level with the upper part of the pupil, the maxillary not reaching the eye; fins moderate in size.

Color, clear greenish above, the sides silvery, with bright golden reflections; under parts white; fins yellowish, the tips of the lower ones sometimes orange or |

red in spring males.

ROACH.

The Roach may be readily distinguished from all other minnows that occur in this State by the greatly compressed body, small mouth, and the large anal fin, no

other minnow in our waters possessing this combination of characters.

Batthead Minnow,— C iola vigilax (Baird & Girard).

The Bullhead Minnow attains a length of 3 or 3% inches and, in some localities, possesses some value as a bait minnow. It is hardy and lives well in confinement or on the hook. Its color is sufficiently brilliant and its action sufficiently vigorous to make it attractive to game fishes. In the south, where it is most abundant, it is a good bass minnow. Its range extends from Indiana and New York to the Rio Grande on the south and Nebraska on the west.

Head 4%; depth 4%; eye 3%; dorsal 8; anal 7; scales 8-42-6; teeth 4-4, with grinding surface and slight hook.

Body stout, somewhat compressed, broad and flat above, the caudal peduncle

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 321

deep; head broad and flat, with an angle at the temporal region; muzzle broad and obtuse; mouth rather small, horizontal, terminal, the jaws about equal, the maxillary not reaching eye; dorsal fin inserted above the ventrals, nearer snout than caudal ; scales in front of the dorsal 28, small and crowded.

Color, dusky yellowish; sides silvery, with an obsolete dark lateral band which, ends in a jet-black spot at base of caudal fin; a distinct black spot on anterior dorsal rays about half-way up.

The Bullhead Minnow closely resembles the Blunt-nosed Minnow (Pimephales notatus), but the mouth is rather larger, the muzzle less truncate, and the color is less plumbeous, more silvery, and the black spots on caudal peduncle and dorsal fin

are more sharply defined. The spring males have little, if any, black pigment.

Cayaga Minnow ,— Notropis cayuga Meek.

This little fish was first described in 1888 from specimens obtained in Cayuga Lake at Ithaca. It is now known from various places in northern New York and westward to Assiniboia, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas. It prefers the lakes, though it is not infrequently found in streams. It is fairly abundant in Cayuga Lake and perhaps in all the small lakes of interior New York.

It reaches a length of but 2 or 3 inches, which somewhat militates against its being of much value as a bait minnow. But used singly for Yellow Perch or with 2 or more on the hook for Yellow Pike, it is usually quite effective ; and some anglers find the larger ones very good for the smaller bass, particularly in still fishing for the Small-mouthed Black Bass. For Yellow Perch there is no better minnow if the larger ones are selected.

It may be obtained easily by using a minnow seine in shallow water in the small lakes; it lives fairly weil in the minnow bucket or on the hook, and is active and attractive.

Head about 4; depth 4%; eye 3%; scales, 36 in lateral line, about 14 before the dorsal ; teeth 4-4. Body rather stout, the back a little elevated; mouth very small, anterior, the maxillary not reaching eye; jaws subequal; eye large, equal to snout.

Color, scales above dark-edged, the outlines very sharply defined; side somewhat dusky ; a black lateral stripe across snout and through eye, and a small black caudal spot ; no black on chin.

This species closely resembles Wotropis heterodon, which is frequently found in the same waters, but it may be readily distinguished from that species by the absence

of black on the chin.

2i

322 REPORT OF DHE

Notropis heterodon (Cope).

This is another small species belonging in the same group with the Cayuga Minnow. It not only closely resembles that species, but the two have about the same geographic distribution and may often be taken at the same haul with the collecting seine.

Notropis heterodon, like most of the species of minnows and other inconspicuous fishes, has not received any common name more distinctive than simply ‘“‘ minnow.” It reaches about the same size as Wotropis cayuga and is similar to it in value and use as a bait minnow.

Head 4; depth 4; eye 3; dorsal 83; anal 8; scales 5-36-3; teeth usually 4-4, but sometimes 2,4-4,2, often crenate.

Body moderately stout, the back somewhat elevated; head rather pointed, the muzzle pointed; mouth oblique, the lower jaw projecting ; upper lip on level with upper edge of pupil; maxillary reaching orbit; 13 scales in front of dorsal fin; lateral line incomplete, usually only about half length of body.

Color, olivaceous; a blackish rostral band; side with a plumbeous or dusky band; chin black.

From the Cayuga Minnow, which this species most resembles, it can readily be

distinguished by the black on tip of lower jaw.

Shbiner,— Notropis hudsonius (DeWitt Clinton).

The Empire State is unique in the number of its prominent officials who have taken an active and intelligent interest in natural history. Samuel Latham Mitchill, who represented New York in the United States Senate from 1804 to 1800, was an earnest student of the fishes native to the State and described many new species. DeWitt Clinton, Governor of New York from 1817 to 1823 and from 1825 to 1828, was also an enthusiastic angler who described several supposed new fishes, among them the present species. And President Theodore Roosevelt, Governor of New: York from 1898 to 1900, has written more and better about the big game of America than any other. Governor Clinton described the Shiner in 1824 from specimens obtained in the Hudson River. The Shiner is a species with a wide range. It is found from Vermont westward to the Dakotas and southward to the Carolinas. It is abundant throughout the Great Lakes region and is not rare in certain waters east of the Alleghanies. In Lake Ontario, particularly about Cape Vincent, it is one of the most abundant minnows. It is probably found in most,

if not all, of the interior lakes draining into Lake Ontario, while in Chautauqua

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 323

Lake it is abundant. It isa common species in some of the small lakes of northern Indiana, as for example, Bass Lake, while in others (as Lake Maxinkuckee) it does not occur at all.

Like many other fishes of wide distribution, this species is known in different parts of its habitat by different common names. The names of widest application are, perhaps, Shiner and Spot-tail Minnow, and Spawn-eater is frequently heard. At Cape Vincent and along the St. Lawrence it is usually called Shiner, while at Chautauqua Lake it is known as the Cisco. How this name of a species of SaZ monide ever got transferred to this little minnow is difficult to understand. The Spot-tail Minnow reaches a length of 3 to6 inches. Among a large number recently

examined at Chautauqua Lake the largest were about 5 inches in total length.

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SHINER.

As a bait minnow it holds a high rank. At Cape Vincent and elsewhere on Lake Ontario, as well as among the Thousand Islands, it is regarded as the best lure for bass. At Lake Chautauqua the larger ones are said to be a popular Muskallunge bait; indeed, it is reported to constitute one of the principal articles in the daily menu of the Muskallunge in that famous lake. In northern Indiana it is a good general purpose minnow. The smaller ones are good for Yellow Perch; those of medium size are excellent for bass; while the largest are used for the Common Pike and the Pike Perch. Its bright silvery color makes it an attractive bait and it is active and vigorous on the hook, swimming clear of vegetation and at a good distance above the bottom when possible. It is not so hardy as it should be. _Its scales are rather easy to rub off, thus giving a chance for attacks by Saprolegnia in the live-box. But in the minnow-bucket or on the hook it lives fairly well and is, withal, one of our best bait minnows.

Head 434 ; depth 4; eye 3; dorsal 8; anal 8; scales 5-39-4, 18 before the dorsal; feeth=14-4,04 1 On 2:

324 REPORT OF THE

Body elongate, considerably compressed in the adult; head rather short; snout short, blunt, and decurved, shorter than the rather large eye; mouth moderate, nearly horizontal, the jaws about equal, the maxillary almost reaching the eye; lateral line nearly straight, slightly decurved anteriorly; pectoral fin not reaching the ventrals, the latter not reaching the vent.

Color, silvery, usually with a black or dusky spot at base of caudal fin, especially in the young.

In Lake Superior and elsewhere in the western portion of its range, this species has the head shorter, the maxillary longer, the mouth more oblique, and always with a jet-black caudal spot. This form has been recognized as the subspecies WVotropis hudsonius selene (Jordan). The form in the Delaware, Potomac, and other coastal streams of the Middle States, has the head longer and less obtuse, the eye smaller, and the caudal spot faint or wanting. This form is recognized in the books as Notropis hudsonius amarus (Girard), but probably should be regarded as a distinct species.

In the coastwise streams from the James southward to the Ocmulgee, the repre- sentative of this species has the head still longer, the snout much longer, and the mouth more inferior. This form is recognized as Wotropis hudsonius saludanus (Jordan & Brayton).

Silver-fin — Notropis whippli (Girard).

The Silver-fin, Satin-fin, or Blue Minnow, as it is variously called, is found from central New York west to Minnesota and south to Arkansas and Alabama. It occurs in Cayuga Lake, and the writer has collected it in the St. Lawrence River and in Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Chautauqua, in all of which it is fairly abundant. It is, preferably, a fish of the larger, clearer creeks and rivers, delighting in the rush and - swirl of the waters on the riffles, where it feeds upon the insect larve and small crustaceans which it finds among the stones or adhering to the potamogetons and other water plants which grow in such places. It is a trim, active minnow, and one of the most handsome of the family. Like most other minnows that are used at all for bait, various vernacular names have been applied to it. The three already mentioned are perhaps the ones most frequently heard, but “shiner,” “ blue-back,” “flat minnow ” and “horny-head” are names which one sometimes hears, the last being applied to spring males.

This fish reaches a length of about four inches and is, in many places, regarded as a good bait minnow. It is very active when on the hook, which, with its bright silvery coloration, should make it attractive to Black Bass, It lives well in the live-

box, minnow bucket, and on the hook.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. B25

Head 4%; depth 4 in adult males, 41%4 to 5 in the female and young; eye Au; De eeAe 1S) scales=s-38to 40-3), teeth 1,4-451,) the! edges more) or less distinctly serrate.

Body moderately elongate, considerably compressed, the dorsal and ventral out- lines regularly and gently arched; head rather small, quite oblique, the lower jaw received within the upper when the mouth is closed.

Color, leaden silvery, bluish in the males; edges of scales dusky; a dark verte- bral line; a large black spot on the upper posterior part of the dorsal fin; paired fins

and lower part of belly, as well as tips of anal and caudal, and front and upper parts

SN

SILVER-FIN.

of dorsal fin, charged with clear, satin-white pigment in males in spring; in full breed- ing dress the dorsal has a greenish luster; no creamy band at base of caudal; males

with the head and front covered with small tubercles.

Common Silverside,— Notropis cornutus (Mitchill).

This is one of the minnows first described by Senator Mitchill. His specimens were obtained from the Wallkill River, and Red-fin is the common name by which he mentioned them. Silverside, Shiner and Dace are other names by which it is known.

The Common Silverside is a species of very wide distribution, its habitat embracing the entire region east of the Rocky Mountains excepting the South Atlantic and Gulf States. Throughout its extensive range it is in most streams an abundant and well-known fish.- It prefers the smaller streams, but may be found in the lakes and rivers as well. It is a vigorous, active fish that frequents the rapids and swifter parts of the streams. In all small brooks and in quiet places in every river the young will be found in myriads. It reaches a length of 5 to 10 inches, and is one of the largest and most conspicuous of our eastern Cyprzuzde. It takes

the worm-baited hook with avidity and is one of the minnows most frequently seen

326 REPORT OF THE

on the small boy’s string. Though reaching a considerable size and sometimes used as food, it is not of much value for that purpose, as the flesh is soft and spoils very soon after death, hence the name Rot-gut or Rot-gut Minnow, often heard in southern Ohio, Indiana and southward.

In the State of New York this is probably the most abundant and generally distributed species of minnow. It is commonly known simply as “Shiner” and is one of the species most extensively used for bait. It is usually easy to obtain examples of any desired size up to 6 or 7 inches, for which reason this fish is used in all sorts of freshwater angling where live minnows are employed. The larger ones are thought excellent for muskallunge and pickerel or pike, those of some- what smaller size for the two species of Black Bass, and those of 2 to 2% inches in length are excellent for Yellow Perch. According to Mr. William C. Harris, this minnow is extensively used for baiting trout, bass, pike, pickerel, muskallunge, and eels by anglers who love the sport of catching fish more than the fun of merely casting for them without a rise.

The chief points which recommend the Common Silverside as a bait minnow are its abundance and range in size. Its brilliancy of color, particularly during the spring and early summer, and its activity are also characters which commend it highly. It is not the most hardy of minnows, and, unless handled with care, will not live well either in the live-box or on the hook. The scales rub off rather easily and such injuries are only too apt to prove speedily fatal. At Lake Maxinkuckee, Indiana, a noted angling resort, this species (there called Shiner or Silverside) is held in very high esteem. It is regarded as the finest trolling minnow when the water is not too warm. They will not stand it well when the water is above 70°. They are regarded as the very best lure for Large-mouth Black Bass, for which those 2 to 4 inches in length are preferred, though those up to 6 inches long are taken by the largest bass.

On the whole, however, this fish is probably the most important of all bait min- nows; doubtless more of this species are used and more fish are caught with it than with any other minnow.

Though varying considerably in color and structural characters in different parts of its range, the following description will enable one to identify this species: Head 4%; depth 34%, but varying much with age; eye 4 to 5; D. 8; A. 9; scales 6-41-3; teeth 2,4-4,2, with rather narrow grinding surface. Body long in the young, shorter in the adult, compressed, the anterior dorsal region much swollen and gibbous; head rather heavy, compressed, rounded between the eyes, the snout bluntish;

mouth moderate, nearly horizontal, the jaws nearly equal, the lower somewhat

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 327

included ; eye moderate; maxillary scarcely reaching front of eye, the premaxillaries below level of eye; scales thin, closely imbricated, always deeper than long, especially anteriorly, becoming extremely deep in the adult; lateral line decurved; dorsal fin moderate, inserted directly over the ventrals in the young, but thrown somewhat backward in the adult by the growth of the nuchal region; pectorals barely reaching ventrals, the latter reaching the vent; region in front of the dorsal typically with about 23 scales, the number ranging from 15 to Ao.

Color, dark steel-blue above, the scales with dusky edges and bases; a gilt line along the back and one along each side, these distinct only when the fish is in the water; belly and lower part of sides silvery, bright rosy in spring males; dorsal fin somewhat dusky, other fins plain, the lower fins all rosy in spring males; head dark above; a dark shade behind the shoulder ; lower jaw and region in front of dorsal to tip of snout covered in spring males with numerous small tubercles; females and young plain olivaceous above and silvery below.

The adult Common Silverside may be readily known by the disproportionately great depth of the scales on the sides, the exposed portions being very much higher than long. Specimens from the Great Lakes and the mouths of small streams flow- ing into them have only 13 to 18 scales before the dorsal and have been recognized as a subspecies under the name WVotropis cornutus frontalis (Agassiz), while in northern Michigan occurs a form — Wotropis cornutus cyaneus (Cope) — with the scales in front of dorsal very small, 31 to 40 in number, and the color extremely dark. In the Roanoke River and its mountain tributaries is a closely related species, known as Notropis cerasinus (Cope). This species has the scales 6-37-3, with only 15 before the dorsal, and the color very brilliant steel-blue, the sides always marked with irregular blackish cross-blotches and bars formed by the broad dark edges of some of the scalés. The males in spring are flushed with pink and the fins are all deep red. This species never exceeds 3 or 4 inches in length. In the Roanoke, Neuse, and Tar rivers is another closely related species, Motropzs albeolus (Jordan), which has a sharper snout, longer caudal peduncle, longer fins, and paler coloration than typical

Notropis cornutus, which is not found in coastal streams south of the James.

Stender Silverside,— Notropts atherinoides Rafinesque.

This minnow occurs in the Great Lakes region from New York westward to Win- nipeg, and southward in the Mississippi Valley to Arkansas and Tennessee. It is probably most abundant in the Wabash and Ohio valleys, in the river channels and

larger creeks.

328 REPORT OF THE

This elegant minnow is very common in Lake Erie. It delights in clear lakes and streams, and frequents the deep water at the foot of milldams and waterfalls. Off the wharves on Lake Erie and elsewhere they are often caught by boys with dip- nets, who sell them to fishermen for bait.

It is variously known as Slender Silverside, Lake Silverside, Emerald Minnow, Rosy Minnow and Shiner. It is the most slender minnow occurring in the waters of New York, and may be readily known by its slender form, silvery coloration, and the size of the anal fin. It is a long, slender minnow, reaching alength of 4 to 6 inches. Its scales rub off very easily and the fish does not live well in the bucket or on the hook; but it is a vigorous, attractive minnow, and, with careful handling, it makes a very good bait for either species of Black Bass and the Yellow Perch.

Head 4%; depth 5%; eye 3%; D.8; A. 11; scales 5-38-3, 15 before the dorsal; teeth 2 7e2*

Body long and slender, compressed, the back not elevated; head rather long, conic; mouth moderate, very oblique, the upper lip on a level with upper edge of pupil; maxillary about reaching front of eye; eye large, longer than snout; fins low, the dorsal well behind the ventrals; tips of ventrals reaching beyond middle of dorsal; lateral line decurved.

Color, translucent green above, the sides bright silvery; scales above faintly punctate, but not enough so to render them dark-edged, nor to form blotches along the sides; a faint dark vertebral line; males in spring with snout rosy.

In southern Michigan and southward through Indiana to Green River, Kentucky, occurs Wotropis arge (Cope), a closely related species with much larger eye, longer

snout, and more slender body.

Red-nosed Minnow,— Notropis rubrifrons (Cope).

This elegant little minnow is found from New York and western Pennsylvania westward to southern Michigan, Kansas, and Kentucky. It has been found by the writer in the St. Lawrence, in the Racket River at Norwood, and in Lake Erie. He did not find it in Lake Chautauqua, though it probably occurs there.

The Red-nosed, or Rosy-faced Minnow is one of the prettiest and most dainty of the genus. It does not exceed 3 inches in length and is therefore too small to make a good bait minnow for most kinds of game fishes. For Yellow Perch, Crappie, Calico Bass, Rock Bass, Warmouth, and for the 2 species of Black Bass up to 1% to 2 pounds in weight, there is no better lure than this exquisite little minnow. In

general coloration it is a rich glistening silvery; its scales are firm and the fish

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 329

is difficult of injury; in captivity it feeds freely and is easily kept, and on the hook it is one of the most active of minnows. Q

eadmcdepehnmey ri ey.en Ara) mo) ae A\c TO) SCAleS (5-80-30 D5 tom” before thie dorsal; teeth 2,4-4,2, little hooked, one of them showing a slight grinding surface.

Body slender, the back scarcely elevated, the caudal peduncle rather short; head rather long, the snout pointed; mouth rather large, very oblique, the upper lip above line of middle of pupil; maxillary reaching middle of eye; eye moderate, well forward, usually shorter than the sharp snout.

Color, olivaceous or bluish above, the edges of the scales darker ; sides silvery ; a dark werielbrall line; a row of small dark specks along base of anal fin; males with the snout strongly tuberculate in spring, the forehead, opercular region, and base of dorsal fin flushed with red.

This little minnow resembles Wotropzs athertnoides, but has a larger head, deeper body, more brilliant coloration, and is a much smaller species. In the breeding

season it is a very handsome little fish.

Red-fin,— Notropis umbratits (Girard).

The Red-fin occurs from central New York (Cayuga Lake) to Minnesota and south to Kansas, Alabama and North Carolina. Though of wide distribution, it is not found in ali streams within its range. It seems to prefer the smaller, clear streams. It reaches 2% to 3% inches in length and is a very ornate and exceed- ingly variable little fish, of which several subspecies have been described.

As a bait minnow this fish does not take high rank. It is not very abundant, nor is it brightly colored except during its breeding season. Its small size is also against it, and it does not live well in captivity. It is, however, a fairly good minnow for the Yellow Perch and other small game fishes.

Head 4%; depth 4 to 4%; eye 3 to 4; D. 7; A. 11; scales 9-40 to 52-3; teeth 2,4-4,2.

Body compressed, the caudal peduncle long; head long, conic, pointed; mouth large, moderately oblique, the premaxillaries on level of pupil, the maxillary reach- ing opposite the eye; lower jaw somewhat projecting; eye moderate, about equal to snout; scales closely imbricated, crowded anteriorly, about 30 before the dorsal; dorsal fin high, inserted about midway between ventrals and anal; pectoral not reaching ventrals, the latter reaching the vent ; caudal fin long.

Color, dark steel-blue above, pale or silvery below; a more or less evident black

spot at base of dorsal in front, the fins otherwise plain; back and sides more or less

330 REPORT OF; THE dusted with fine dark punctulations; males with the anterior dorsal region and the head profusely covered with small whitish tubercles, the belly and lower fins being a

bright brick-red in spring; females very pale olive, sometimes almost colorless.

Sitver-jawed Minnow,— Ericymba buccata (Cope).

The genus Zvzcymba contains but a single known species and is characterized by having the interopercle and bones of the mandible with externally visible mucous chambers. The single species is found from western New York and Pennsylvania to Michigan and Kansas and southward to Florida. It prefers clear streams, often ascending small brooks, but rarely occurring in lakes. It is locally common and is one of the most remarkable and interesting of minnows. It attains a length of 3 to 4 inches, but is not of much value as a bait minnow. It lives fairly well, but is not bright in color nor very active when on the hook. In lieu of better bait it does

fairly well for the smaller game fishes.

SILVER-JAWED MINNOW.

Head: 4 depth 5; eye 44" DD: 33 Alsi sealles: 5=32-3°aas Wbetore sshemsdonsale: teethen A-Avo:

Body fusiform, rather elongate, not much compressed, the back not elevated ; head rather long, somewhat depressed above, with broad and prominent muzzle; mouth rather small, horizontal, subinferior, the lower jaw considerably shorter than the upper; upper lip below level of pupil; maxillary not reaching eye; dentary bones dilated, the mucous channels conspicuous; suborbital very broad, silvery, with an elevated longitudinal ridge and conspicuous crosslines; opercle small ; fins small, the dorsal over the ventrals; scales moderate, lateral line nearly straight, breast scaleless.

Color, rather pale olivaceous above, the sides bright silvery with bluish reflec- tions; a dark dorsal line, conspicuous posteriorly; fins plain; males without tuber-

cles or bright colors.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 331

This species is known at once from all other minnows by the cavernous character

of the bones of the lower jaw.

Long-nosed Dace,— Rhinichthys cataracte (Cuvier & Valenciennes).

The genus Rhinichthys contains some 6 or 7 species and subspecies of small minnows, only 2 of which occur in the eastern United States. The genus is characterized by the small, inferior mouth, the non-protractile upper jaw, the very small scales, and the presence of a small barbel on the maxillary.

The Long-nosed Dace, which was originally described from Niagara Falls (hence the specific name cataract@), ranges from New England west to Wisconsin and south to Virginia. It inhabits clear, cold, and boisterous streams and rock pools, and is frequent about waterfalls and cataracts. It reaches a length of 4 or 5 inches, and is an active, hardy minnow, somber and unattractive in color, but easily caught and living well in the live-box or on the hook. When on the hook it has a tendency to bear down and conceal itself among the bottom vegetation, and is therefore not a good minnow for still fishing. It is much better when used in trolling, but even then its dull coloration keeps it from ranking high as a lure. Its chief recommenda- tion is its great tenacity of life.

Head 4; depth 5; eye 5; snout 2%; D. 8; A. 7; scales 14-62 to 68-8; teeth BAAD:

Body elongate, little compressed, and not elevated; head long, the muzzle flat- tened, narrowed, and extremely prominent, the mouth being entirely inferior and horizontal; eye about median; isthmus wide; barbel evident; pectoral fins enlarged in males; insertion of dorsal nearly median.

Color, olivaceous above, paler below, with numerous dusky punctulations, the back often almost black; some of the scales usually irregularly darker, producing a mottled appearance; no distinct black lateral band; young with a dusky lateral shade ; a blackish spot on opercle; males in spring with the lips, cheeks, and lower fins crimson or orange.

In the Rocky Mountain region this species is represented by a closely related

species, Rhznichthys dulcis (Girard).

lack-nosed Dace,— Rhinichthys atronasus (Mitchill). ’ a; \

The Black-nosed Dace is found from New Brunswick to Minnesota and south to Virginia and Alabama. It frequents clear brooks and mountain streams and is

usually abundant in such waters in New York. It reaches a length of about 3

332 REPORT OF THE

inches and, as a bait minnow, does not differ materially from the preceding species.

Head 4; depth 4%; eye 4%; snout 3; D.7; A.7; scales about 64; teeth 2,4-4,2.

Body moderately elongate, scarcely compressed ; head moderate, rather broad and flattish above; snout moderate; mouth small, subterminal, horizontal, the lower jaw included; barbel minute but probably always present; upper lip on level of lower line of pupil; maxillary not nearly reaching eye; eye small, nearly median ; fins rather small, the dorsal well back, its insertion about midway between nostril and base of caudal fin; scales small, somewhat embedded.

Color, blackish above, some of the scales irregularly darker; a black band pass- ing from snout through eye and along side of body, a paler streak below it; belly silvery; males in spring with the lateral band scarlet or orange, the red color growing fainter later in the season.

This species is excessively variable, but can always be distinguished from the

preceding by its shorter snout and different coloration.

Spotted Spine Hybopsis dissimilis (Kirtland).

The genus /ybopsis is distinguished from all other genera of Cyprinzde by the protractile premaxillaries, the presence of a terminal maxillary barbel, and the large scales.

It contains some I8 or 20 species, each of which is of more or less value for bait in the region where found. Four of these species are known to occur in the State of New York. The Spotted Shiner is one of these. Its range includes the region from western New York in the Lake Erie and Alleghany River basins westward to Iowa and southward to Arkansas and Tennessee. It is a fish which frequents lakes and river channels, where it is usually not uncommon. It reaches a length of 3 or 4 inches or even more, takes the hook readily, and may often be seen on the small boy’s string. It isa pretty fair bait minnow for still-fishing tor Small-mouth Black Bass and is fairly good trolling for the large-mouth species.

Head 4%; depth 5; D. 8; A.7: scales 6-40 to 47-5; teeth 4-4, often with a slight grinding surface. Body long and slender, little compressed, with long caudal peduncle; head long, rather flat above, the snout somewhat bluntly decurved and projecting slightly beyond the rather small, horizontal mouth; lower jaw included ; each jaw with the skin hard in front, forming a sort of lip laterally; barbels con- siderably shorter than the pupil; maxillary not nearly reaching orbit; eye very

large, high up, somewhat directed upward, rather behind middle of head, forming

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 353

more than one-third its length; caudal well forked; dorsal rather large, its posterior border oblique; anal small; pectoral rather long; scales large, 16 to 18 in front of dorsal; lateral line nearly straight.

Color, olivaceous; back irregularly mottled; sides silvery, with a bluish lateral band which widens into several dusky spots formed by dark punctulations, and

most distinct posteriorly ; a dusky band on head through eye and snout ; fins plain.

Silver Chab,— Hydopsis amblops (Rafinesque).

This species is found from western New York to Iowa and south to Alabama, and is very common in the Ohio, Wabash and Tennessee valleys. It frequents clear sandy or gravelly streams, and seeks the river channels rather than the small brooks. It reaches a length of 3 or 4 inches and is of considerable value as a bait minnow. It is fairly active, swimming freely and high in the water, lives well on the hook, and is, withal, an attractive bait for bass and the smaller game fishes.

ead 4; depth 5: eye 3; D. 8; A: 7; scales 5-38-4, 16 before the dorsal; teeth 1,4-4,1.

Body rather slender, somewhat heavy anteriorly and not much compressed ; head large, flattened and broad above; eye very large, longer than the snout and longer than the interorbital width; mouth horizontal, subinferior, and rather small ; snout bluntly decurved; upper lip below level of orbit, maxillary not reaching front of orbit; fins moderate; barbel evident; lateral line somewhat decurved.

Color, translucent greenish; scales somewhat dark-edged; side with a bright silvery band which overlies dark pigment, so that sometimes a plumbeous or even blackish band appears; a dark band through eye around snout; males without

tubercles or red coloration in spring.

Storers Chab,— Flybopsis storerianus (Kirtland).

This interesting minnow reaches 5 to Io inches in length and is found from Lake Erie to the Dakotas and Wyoming, and south to Arkansas and Tennessee. It most delights in waters of lakes and is frequent in river channels, but is not often seen in the smaller streams. It is a minnow of considerable size and is often “taken with hook and line. It is abundant in Lake Erie, where it is frequently taken in seines. It is a brilliantly silvery, active fish, easily captured, living well in captivity, active and attractive on the hook, and in many places is regarded with much favor as a bait minnow. Most anglers who have used it prefer to use it in

trolling for Muskallunge, Large-mouth Black Bass, Wall-eyed Pike, and the like.

334 REPORT OF THE

Head 44°; depth 4; eve 3); DH 8; A. 8 scales) 5-42-4\) teeth p47“. ibody, rather long, somewhat compressed, the back a little elevated from the occiput to the base of the dorsal fin, thence rapidly declined to the long and slender caudal peduncle; head short, compressed, the cheeks nearly vertical; interorbital space rather broad and flat, somewhat grooved; eye very large, high up, nearly midway of length of head; preorbital bone large, oblong, conspicuous, and silvery ; mouth rather small, horizontal, the lower jaw included; edge of premaxillary below level of eye; maxillary not reaching orbit; barbel conspicuous; snout boldly and abruptly decurved, much as in //. amdlops, the tip of the snout thickened, forming a sort of pad; lateral line somewhat decurved; rows of scales along back converg- ing behind the dorsal, the upper series running out as in the Common Silverside ; fins rather high and falcate; the dorsal inserted well forward over the ventrals; pec- toral fin pointed, not reaching ventrals; ventrals not reaching vent; caudal long, deeply forked; teeth hooked, without grinding surface; intestine short.

Color, translucent greenish above, sides and below brilliantly silvery; cheek and opercles with a bright silvery luster ; ane plain; a slight plumbeous lateral shade; no caudal spot ; no red at any time.

This handsome minnow may usually be best known by the small size of the

head and the small mouth.

River Gheb— Hybopsis kentuckiensts (Rafinesque).

This interesting and important minnow is a species of wide distribution. It is found from New England and Pennsylvania westward to Wyoming and southward on both sides of the Alleghanies to Alabama. It is everywhere abundant in the larger streams, seldom ascending brooks or entering lakes. It is one of the most widely distributed and best known of American Cyprinide. In different parts of its range it is variously known as Hornyhead, River Chub, Common Chub, Horned Chub, Indian Chub, Jerker, and Red-tailed Chub. It reaches a length of 8 or 10 inches, takes the hook readily, and is of all minnows the one which affords most pleasure to the small boy during his early angling days.

Of the many minnows and other small fishes used as bait, the River Chub is the one which is best known and most highly esteemed. It is par cxcellence the bait minnow for all kinds of American fresh-water game fishes. Those of small size, say 2 to 3 inches in length, can not be surpassed for Crappie, Calico Bass, Rock Bass, and medium-sized Large-mouth and Small-mouth Black Basses. River chubs

of somewhat larger size are not surpassed for the larger basses and Wall-eyed Pike:

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 335

while for him who desires to capture the Great Northern Pike, large Pickerel, and the wily Muskallunge, an 8 or 10 inch River Chub is the lure to use. The Hornyhead is exceedingly tenacious of life and when on the hook fights with a vigor, viciousness and persistency which justly entitle it to rank with the game

fishes. An expert angler, speaking of the Red-tailed Chub, says it is especially fine for

trolling. The best sizes are from 2 to 4 inchesin length. It is tough, wily, and stands much punishment in the water. Its good qualities are its toughness and activity on the hook. It is fine bait for the Wall-eyed Pike and both kinds of bass. For use in trolling for Muskallunge or other large fish there is no better lure than the present species. A dozen River Chubs of assorted sizes are worth more than double that number of any other species.

Another feature which recommends this minnow is the ease with which it may be captured. Not only can it be secured in the usual way with the minnow seine, but it can be easily induced to enter any sort of a minnow trap. And, in the absence of any better way, it can usually be taken in sufficient numbers by means of a small hook and line, baited with angleworm or white grub.

The River Chub often constitutes an important part of the small boy’s string, and when fried is by no means to be despised, the flesh being firm, flaky and sweet.

legal depth Ayn DE iSia Awe 7) Scales. 0-41-45. 13 in) front of idorsall; teeth, 1,4-4,0 or 1,4-4,1, sometimes 4-4.

- Body rather robust, little elevated, not much compressed ; head large, rather broadly rounded above; snout conical, bluntish; mouth rather large, sub-terminal, little oblique, the lower jaw somewhat shorter than the upper; upper lip rather below level of eye; maxillary not reaching eye; eye small, median, high up; barbel well developed ; suborbital very narrow: preorbital large; fins moderate, the dorsal rather posterior, slightly behind insertion of ventrals; caudal: broad, little forked; scales large, crowded anteriorly ; lateral line somewhat decurved.

Color, bluish olive above; sides with bright green and coppery reflections; a curved dusky bar behind opercle; scales above with dark borders; belly pale but not silvery, rosy in spring males; fins all pale orange or even reddish, without black spot; males in spring with a bright crimson spot on each side of head, usually quite distinct ; adults with the top of the head swollen, forming a sort of a crest which is sometimes a third of an inch higher than the level of the neck and is covered with

large tubercles; young with a dark blotch at base of caudal fin.

BA ' REPORT OF THE

Fine-scaled Minnow,— Couesius plumbeus (Agassiz).

This minnow is found locally in lakes and streams from New Brunswick west- ward to Lake Superior, but does not appear to be very common anywhere, except in the eastern part of its range. I have obtained specimens in the Clyde River at Newport, Vermont, and it has been reported from the Adirondacks. It prefers the | clearer, colder, small streams. It does not appear to be very well known to anglers and has no well-established vernacular name. I have never seen it used as bait, but it would doubtless make a good lure for either still-fishing or trolling. It attains alength of 4 to 6 inches, is hardy and active, but its lack of brilliant colors would probably prevent it from being particularly attractive to predaceous fishes.

Head 4%; depth 4%; eye 4; D. 8; A. 8; scales 11-60 to 70-7; teeth 2,4-4,2.

Form very like that of the Creek Chub (Sesmotilus atromaculatus), but more elongate and less compressed; head flattish above, the snout broad, somewhat pro- jecting over the large, oblique mouth; maxillary reaching eye; barbel evident; eye large, as long as snout, 1% in interorbital width; scales small, crowded anteriorly, those on the back smallest; dorsal beginning over last ray of ventrals; height of dorsal fin 1 to 1% in head, free margin of the fin concave, the anterior rays produced and extending beycnd the others when the fin is depressed; longest anal ray 11% to 22’, in head, form of anal fin similar to that of the dorsal.

Color, dusky above, the sides somewhat silvery ; an obscure dusky band through eye around snout; fins plain.

The genus to which this species belongs is related to Hydopszs, from which it is

distinguished by the presence of 2 teeth in the smaller row, and the small scales.

Catlip Minnow,— Exoglossum maxillingua (Le Sueur).

The genus Lvroglossum is one of the most curious and interesting of North American freshwater fishes. It contains but a single species, variously known as Cutlips, Nigger Chub and Nigger Dick, whose range extends from Lake Cham- plain, the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario southward to Virginia. I have seen it in the three waters named and in the Potomac, James, Roanoke and Kanawha. It is reported as being common also in the Hudson, Cayuga Lake and the Susquehanna. It reaches 6 inches in length and is of some value as a bait minnow, for which purpose I have seen it used at various places on the St. Lawrence. It lives well and is an active fish- but rather dull in color. It is

probably best for use in still fishing.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. SB),

Head 4; depth 4%; D.8; A. 7; scales 8-53-5 ; teeth 1,4-4,1. Body rather stout, scarcely compressed ; head large, broad and flattish above, with tumid cheeks; mouth moderate, slightly oblique, maxillary not reaching orbit; upper jaw longer than lower; scales rather crowded anteriorly, those in front of dorsal small.

Color, olivaceous, smoky or dark above; a blackish bar behind opercle, and a dusky shade at base of caudal in the young; fins plain.

This species closes the list of true minnows or Cypfrznzd@ used to any extent as bait in New York or other eastern states. Several other small fishes and the young of a few species of larger fishes are frequently used as bait, of which the following

are pertinent to the present article:

Common Batthead,— Ameturus nebulosus (Le Sueur).

The Common Bullhead, Horned Pout, Small Catfish, or Schuylkill Cat, as it is

variously called, is well known to everyone and needs no detailed description. It

BLACK BULLHEAD.

reaches a length of a foot or more and is a pan-fish of no small importance. When taken from cold-water lakes or streams no sweeter fish can be found. It occurs throughout the entire eastern United States from New Brunswick and the Great Lakes region southward to Florida and Texas, and is abundant in every pond, lake and sluggish stream.

Covering much the same range is the Black Bullhead (Ameiurus melas), much

resembling the Common Bullhead, but somewhat smaller, blacker, and with but 17

to 19 rays in the anal instead of 21 or 22. In many places the young of these two species, 1% to 3 inches long, are used in fishing for Black Bass and Wall-eyed Pike. They are so used quite extensively in

the Potomac and Susquehanna rivers. 22

338 REPORT OF THE

\

Stone Cat Schilbeodes gyrinus (Mitchill).

The genus Schzlbeodes includes those small catfishes, about a dozen species, which have the adipose fin continuous with the caudal fin, which have a poison gland at the base of the pectoral spine, which are of very small size, and which are usually. found in shallow water on rocky or gravelly beds. None of the species exceeds a few inches in length, usually not more than 3 or 4. The pectoral spine is usually strong and strongly serrated, and capable of inflicting a severe wound, which becomes very painful on account of the poison from the gland at the base of the spine.

All the species of the genus are doubtless used to some extent for bait, but the Stone Cat is the only one in New York State which is used for that purpose. This species occurs from the Hudson River westward through the region of the Great Lakes, thence southward in the Mississippi Valley to northern Alabama. It was originally described by Mitchill from the Wallkill River.

This, like other small catfishes, is of but little value in trolling, but it is some- times used in still-fishing for bass.

Head 4 to 5%; depth 3% to 4; A. 13. Body comparatively short and thick; head large, its width 3% to 4% in length of body; spines stout and rather long, that of the pectoral fin straight, not serrated, grooved behind, 2% in the distance from snout to origin of dorsal fin; dorsal higher than long, inserted nearer anal than snout ; jaws nearly equal; humeral process short.

Color, nearly uniform yellowish brown, sometimes blackish, without transverse

blotches; a narrow dark lateral streak and one or more dorsal ones.

Common Fine-scaled Sackeq— Catostomus commersoni (Lacépeéde).

The young of practically all the species of the sucker family (Catostomzd@) are used more or less as bait in angling for freshwater game fishes. This includes not only young suckers proper, but the young of those species known as redhorse, fresh- water mullet, quillbacks, and buffalo. The species most often used is the Common or Fine-scaled Sucker, also known as White Sucker, Black Sucker, and Brook Sucker. This sucker is found in streams, ponds, and lakes from Quebec westward through the Great Lakes to Montana and Colorado, and southward in the Mississippi Valley to Arkansas and Georgia. It is the commonest of the suckers and is exceed- ingly abundant from Massachusetts to Kansas, especially in the smaller streams. It occurs in probably all the waters of New York.

The small “ June Sucker” of the Adirondacks described from Blue Mountain

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 339

Lakes by Fred Mather as Catostomus utawana belongs to this species. It is simply a dwarfed form inhabiting small mountain creeks. ;

The Common Sucker reaches a length of 18 inches or more and a weight of several pounds. The young of 3 or 4 inches in length are considered by many as being excellent for Black Bass and Wall-eyed Pike, while those a little larger are in demand when one goes trolling for Muskallunge or the Great Northern Pike. This sucker is fairly hardy and quite active, but not brightly colored.

Head 4 to 4% (3% to 4 in young); depth 4 to 4%; D. usually 12; A. 6 or 7; scales 10-64 to 70-9.

Body moderately stout, varying with age, subterete, heavy at the shoulders; head rather large and stout, conical, flattish above; snout moderately prominent,

scarcely overpassing the mouth; mouth rather large, the lips strongly papillose,

COMMON FINE-SCALED SUCKER.

the upper moderate, with 2 or 3 rows of papille (4 to 6 in examples from the Upper Missouri basin) ; scales crowded anteriorly, much larger on the sides and below. Color, olivaceous, darkest on back, white below; males in spring with a faint rosy lateral band; young brownish, more or less mottled, often with confluent blackish lateral blotches sometimes forming a band; lateral line

imperfect in the young.

Long-nosed Sacker,— Catostomus catostomus (Forster).

The Long-nosed, Northern, or Red Sucker, is found from New England west- ward in the Great Lakes and the Missouri River basin, northward throughout Canada and northwestward to Alaska. It is the most widely distributed species of the family, and is very abundant northward, but probably does not come south

of the fortieth parallel. It reaches a length of 2 to 2% feet and a weight of

several pounds, and is the largest and most important species of the genus. In

340 REPORT OF THE

Lakes Ontario and Erie it is quite common and is taken in the pound nets in great numbers. The young are used to some extent for bait, along with the preceding species. ; Head 4% to 4%; depth 4% to 434; scales 95 to 114, 26 to 31 in a cross-series; IBY, NiO) Ole Wits

Body elongate, subterete; head long and slender, depressed and flattened above, broad at base, but tapering into a long snout which considerably overhangs the large mouth; lips thick, coarsely tuberculate, the upper lip narrow, with 2 to 4 rows of papillae; lower lip deeply incised, the lobes rather short; lower jaw with a slight cartilaginous sheath ; eye rather small, behind the middle of the head; scales very small, much crowded forward ; males in spring with the head and the anal fin profusely tuberculate, the tubercles on the head small; the side in the breeding season with a broad rosy band.

This species can be distinguished from the preceding by its longer snout and

finer scales.

Hog Sacker,— Catostomus nigricans Le Sueur.

This fish has perhaps more common names than any other sucker. Hog Sucker, Black Sucker, Mottled Sucker, Stone Roller, Stone Toter, Crawl-a-bottom, Hammer- head, Stone Lugger, and Hog Molly, are a few of those which have been applied to it. It reaches a length of about 2 feet and is found from Vermont to the Dakotas and south on both sides of the Alleghanies to Kansas, Arkansas and the Carolinas. It is seldom or never found in muddy, warm or stagnant water, but is abundant in the clear, cold, rocky streams toward whose headwaters it ascends to spawn. It delights in the rather shallow and swift waters of the riffles, where it can be seen resting quietly or moving slowly about upon the gravelly bottom.

The young of this species are used to some extent in still-fishing, but they are not of much value. Though they live well on the hook and are pretty active, thev are too dull in color and are too prone to seek the bottom. They are, however, often seen in the live-boxes of the thrifty dealer in live bait, who will assure the

unsophisticated angler that they are equal to the best.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 341

Chab Sacker,— Erimyszon sucetta (Lacépéde).

This interesting little sucker is found from New England and the Great Lakes southward in the Atlantic slope and the Mississippi Valley to Florida and Texas. It attains a length only of 8 or 10 inches, and is not much valued as a food-fish. It inhabits the smaller, quiet creeks and the smaller lakes, preferring cool water and muck bottom. It is the only species of its genus and may be known from other suckers by the entire absence of the lateral line. As live bait, the young are prob- ably somewhat superior to those of the three preceding species, as the color is more silvery.

Head 4%; depth 3; eye 4%; D. usually 12; A. 7; V.9; scales 36,-15.

Body rather short, compressed, becoming gibbous with age, the antedorsal

CHUB SUCKER.

region more or less elevated in the adult, the depth ranging from 2% in the adult to 4 in the young; head short and stout, the interorbital space wide; scales usually closely imbricated and more or less crowded anteriorly, but often showing irregularities in arrangement.

Color varying much with age; usually showing pale streaks along the rows of scales; young with a broad black lateral band bordered above by paler; in examples from clear water this band is jet-black and very distinct, in others it is duller; later this band becomes broken into a series of blotches which often assume the form of broad transverse bars; in adults these bars disappear and the color is nearly uni-

form brown, dusky above, paler below, everywhere with a coppery or brassy, never

342 REPORT OF THE

silvery, luster; fins dusky or smoky brown, often quite reddish. The sexual dif- ferences are strong; males in spring usually with 3 large tubercles on each side of

the snout, and with the anal fin more or less swollen and emarginate.

Common Redhorse,— Voxostoma aureolum (Le Sueur).

The genus Moxostoma is distinguished from Catostomus, the genus which it closely resembles, by having the air-bladder in 3 parts instead of 2, as in Catostomus, by its larger scales, and more silvery coloration. There are about 20 species of Moxostoma in the United States, and all east of the Rocky Mountains. The only species found in New York, or at least the only species at all common in this state, is the Common Redhorse, which is known also as the White Sucker, Mullet, and Large-scaled Sucker. This species occurs in most streams and large lakes from Vermont west to the Dakotas and south to Arkansas and Georgia. It is particularly abundant in Lakes Ontario and Erie, where it is a food-fish of consid- erable importance. It is taken chiefly in the pound-nets or with haul seines. It reaches a length of 18 inches or 2 feet and a weight of 4 or 5 pounds.

The young of 2 to 4 inches are regarded as pretty fair bait for large bass, Pickerel, Wall-eyed Pike and Muskallunge. They are hardy and live well on the

hook, and their white or silvery coloration makes them a fairly good trolling bait.

Head 4 to 5; depth 3% to 4%; D.12to 14; A. 7; scales 6-45-5. Body stoutish, varying to moderately elongate; head rather long, rather blunt, broad and flattened above; lips rather full, the bluntish snout projecting beyond the large mouth; greatest depth of cheek more than half distance from snout to preopercle; eye rather large; dorsal fin medium, its free edge nearly straight, its longest ray shorter than head; scales large.

Color, light olivaceous above, silvery on sides, belly white ; lower fins in the adult

red or orange.

Alewtfe,— Pomolobus pseudoharengus (Wilson).

This interesting fish is a member of the herring or shad family (C/upezde), a large family with many species, most of which are true salt-water fishes, and several others which are anadromous, that is, fishes which live habitually in salt water but - which run up fresh-water streams to spawn. A single species (the Skipjack or Blue

Herring,— Pomolobus chrysochlorts) is practically a fresh-water fish.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 343

To this family belong the Common Shad, the true Herring, and many other well-known species. The Alewife is one of the anadromous species, and is found on the Atlantic coast of the United States from the Carolinas to Newfoundland in great abundance, and entering fresh-water streams to spawn. In Cayuga Lake, Lake Ontario, and other small lakes in New York tributary to the St. Lawrence, it is found in considerable numbers and appears to be landlocked. In Lake Ontario it is excessively abundant, great multitudes sometimes dying in early summer.

Just how it got into these lakes has never been satisfactorily determined. It is claimed by many that they were introduced into Lake Ontario under the impression that they were young Shad. However that may be, it hardly accounts for their presence in the small interior lakes of New York.

The species is known to be common in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and it is not

at all unlikely that many find their way every spring up the St. Lawrence to Lake

ALEWIFE.

Ontario, though this is by.no means certain. It may be that they are actually landlocked in these various lakes, that they breed there and are able to maintain themselves notwithstanding the dying of many every year.

There is no doubt but that those found in these lakes are very much smaller than those found along the coast, which indicates that they are a dwarfed form, the small size being the result of a restricted environment and an insufficient food supply. This fish is known variously as Alewife, Branch Her- ring, Wall-eyed Herring, Big-eyed Herring, Eelwife, Blear-eyed Herring, Shad and Gaspereau.

In Lake Ontario it rarely exceeds 5 or 6 inches in length, the majority seen

probably not exceeding 3 or 4 inches. Those of 2 to 4 inches in length are often used as bait. Their bright silvery color makes them very attractive to

game fishes, but they are quite delicate and will not stand much punishment.

344 REPORT, OF THE

Head 4%; depth 3%; eye 3%; D. 16; A. 19; scales 50; scutes 21-14; gill: rakers 30 to 40 below angle of arch.

Body rather deep and compressed, heavy forward; head short, nearly as deep as long, the profile somewhat steep and slightly depressed above the nostrils; maxillary extending to posterior margin of pupil; lower jaw projecting; upper jaw emarginate; eye large, somewhat longer than snout; gillrakers shorter and stouter than in the Shad; lower lobe of caudal longer than the upper; dorsal fin a little higher than long, its height 6% in length of body.

Color, bluish above, the sides bright silvery ; indistinct dark stripes along the

rows of scales; a blackish spot behind the opercle; peritoneum pale.

Mad Minnow,— Umbra limi (Kirtland).

The Umébride or Mud Minnows are a small family of 3 or 4 species of little car- nivorous fresh-water fishes, living in mud or among weeds at the bottom of clear, cold, sluggish streams and ponds. They are extremely tenacious of life and will live a long time in damp mud or even entirely out of water. There is but a single genus and two American species, the present one being the more com- mon and better known of the two. The Mud Minnow (or Dogfish, as it is some- times called, under the impression that it is the young of Azza calva), is found from Quebec to Minnesota and southward to Missouri and Kentucky. Northward it is abundant throughout the region of the Great Lakes in weedy streams and ditches. “A locality which, with the water perfectly clear and appearing entirely destitute of fish, will perhaps yield a number of Mudfish on stirring up the mud at the bottom and drawing a seine through it. Ditches in the prairies of Wisconsin, or mere bog-holes, apparently affording lodgment to nothing beyond tadpoles, may thus be found filled with Mudfish.” (Baird.)

The Mudfish reaches a length of 3 or 4 inches and is the hardiest and most tenacious of life of all bait minnows. So persistently do they cling to life that it is really difficult to kill them. In the live-box (for which any old _ barrel answers admirably), minnow-bucket, or on the hook, it will live indefinitely ; indeed, unless seriously bitten or swallowed outright by some game-fish, a single Mudfish can be fished with for several days if not for the. entire season! Its unexcelled tenacity of life is, however, about the only thing it has to recommend it asa bait minnow. Its somber, unattractive color prevents it being readily seen

by game-fishes, and its tendency to pull down or get to the bottom also militates

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 345

against it. But bass and Pickerel and Pike do sometimes take it, and, in spite of its deficiencies, the Mudfish is a good thing to have in one’s minnow pail.

IleadaeAuidepth 7 B16.) Pig 1A Aes Oenscales 35 215.

Body oblong, compressed, covered with cycloid scales of rather large size without radiating striz; no lateral line; head shortish, little depressed; eye rather small; cleft of mouth moderate; ventral fin below or slightly in front of dorsal; anal fin much shorter than dorsal; pectoral rather narrow, rounded, placed low, the rays much articulated; caudal rounded; gillrakers short and thick.

Color, dull olive green, mottled with darker, and with about 14 pale, transverse bars, often obscure in the young; a dark bar at base of caudal; lower jaw pale; fins

plain.

Eastern Madfish,— Umbra pygma@a (De Kay).

This species differs but slightly in structural characters from the preceding and as a bait minnow the two are essentially the same. The one known as the Eastern Mudfish occurs in lowland streams and swamps along the coast from New York to

North Carolina. It reaches 3 or 4 inches in length and is locally abundant.

EASTERN MUDFISH.

Head 4; depth 4%; D. 13; A. 7; scales 35. Body less compressed than in Umbra limi, the head broader, less depressed, and with smaller eye; interorbital space slightly more convex, snout shorter, and the profile more gibbous.

Color, dark greenish, with about 12 narrow, longitudinal pale streaks, the one — beginning at upper angle of opercle twice the width of any other; a distinct dark

bar at base of caudal, covering 1% scales; lower jaw mostly black.

346 REPORT OF THE

Mammichog,— Fundulus heterochtus (Linnzus).

The Pecilliide, or Killifishes, the family to which the Mummichog belongs, is a large one, containing about 20 genera and more than 100 species. They are all relatively small species, most of them living in brackish water, though many

inhabit fresh-water streams and ponds, chiefly of the lowlands. The common Mummichog and several others of the brackish-water species are used to some

extent as bait minnows, and one of the fresh-water species (Fundulus diaphanus) is used quite extensively for that purpose.

The Mummichog, Common Killifish, Mudfish, Cobbler, Mud Dabbler, or Killi- fish, as it is variously called, occurs on our coast from Anticosti Island to the Rio Grande, and is everywhere abundant in brackish waters, often burying itself

in mud in the shallow bays and lagoons. It reaches a length of 3 to 6 or 7.

MUMMICHOG; MALE.

inches, and is an extremely hardy fish. The ease with which it may be taken and its great tenacity of life cause it to be extensively used by anglers on the coast, who find it fairly satisfactory for bass, Pickerel and other species.

Head: 3 to 3% ; depth 3% to 4;\eyes; D. 117. Ay 10 ori; scales) 35 “tomeee 13 to 15. Body thick-set, short, and deep, anteriorly broad, posteriorly compressed, — the back elevated; caudal peduncle stout ; head short, blunt, broad and flat on top; eye moderate, about equal to snout, about 2 in interorbital width; fins moderate, the dorsal in the males inserted midway between snout and tip of caudal, in females farther back; oviduct attached to anterior ray of anal fin for about half its length; teeth in moderate bands, pointed, the outer series enlarged; lower jaw strong, projecting beyond the upper.

Color, dark dull green in males, the belly more or less orange-yellow; sides

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 347

with numerous quite narrow, ill-defined silvery bars, made up of silvery spots ; most distinct posteriorly ; besides these are numerous conspicuous white or yellow spots, irregularly scattered; vertical fins dark, with numerous small, round pale spots; dorsal often with a blackish spot on its last ray; anal and ventrals yellow anteriorly ; under side of head yellow; young males with alternate bars of dark and silvery, the former becoming in time the ground color, and the dorsal ocellus more distinct; female nearly plain olivaceous, lighter below, without spots or bars, the scales finely punctate; side often with about 15 dark crossbars or shades; young, especially young females, with more or less distinct dark crossbands, these always present in the very young, in females narrower than the interspaces, in

males much broader and less numerous.

Grayback,— Fundulus diaphanus (Le Sueur).

The Grayback or Fresh-water Killifish, is found from Maine to the Carolinas, and westward to Minnesota and the Dakotas. It is abundant in most all the small lakes

of New York, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and is a familiar fish to all

GRAYBACK; MALE.

observing persons who frequent any cf those waters. It usually goes in schools of considerable size and is oftenest seen in shallow water near the shore when the bottom is of sand or fine gravel. They swim high in the water, even at the surface, and are, like some of their less abundant relatives, not infrequently called top- minnows. They reach a length of 3 or 4 inches and are a very interesting and attractive little fish.

As a bait minnow they are chiefly valuable on account of the ease with which they may be obtained and their tenacity of life. They live well in confinement, whether in the aquarium, live-box, minnow-pail or on the hook, and are active, ener-

getic little fellows, making up in activity and movement what they lack in attractive

348 REPORT OF THE

coloration. On account of their habit of swimming at or near the surface, they are a particularly desirable lure for both species of Black Bass at times when they are feeding at the surface. As a matter of fact, there are seasons or days, as every observant angler well knows, in the life of every species of fresh-water game-fish when it comes to the surface to feed, and then is when the Grayback shows up to great advantage, whether used in casting, trolling, or still-fishing.

Head 4; depth 4% to 5; eye large, 3%; D.13; A. 11; scales 45-15.

Body rather slender, not elevated, compressed posteriorly ; head moderate, quite

flat above; teeth pointed, the outer row not much enlarged; fins not large, the

GRAYBACK; FEMALE.

dorsal and anal rather low: ventrals scarcely reaching vent in females, somewhat longer in males. General color, olivaceous, sides silvery; female with about 15 or 20 dark vertical bars, shorter than the silvery bars of the male, the interspaces pale; back sometimes spotted ; young always with black bars; fins nearly plain.

In the western part of its range (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin) speci- mens differ somewhat from those further east and are recognized as a distinct

subspecies,— Fundulus diaphanus menona (Jordan & Copeland).

Skipjack, — Labidesthes sicculus (Cope).

The Skipjack belongs to the Atherinide or Silverside family,—a large family with many species, all of which except the Skipjack are inhabitants of salt water. The Skipjack is a beautiful and curious little fish, found from Lake Ontario southward to Florida and west to Minnesota and Missouri. It is essentially an inhabitant of sluggish streams, ponds and lakes, and is locally very abundant. In the small lakes of northern Indiana it is exceedingly abundant. It goes in large

schools which, during the summer, may be seen swimming at the surface out in the

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 349

lake far from shore; while during the spring and late in the fall it comes in near shore, where immense schools may be seen, and where it remains even until after ice begins to form. When the fall storms come on, great numbers of this species and the Grayback are carried ashore by the waves and left stranded.

I have seen the Skipjack at various places in Lake Ontario and in Chau- tauqua Lake, at which latter place it is absurdly believed to be the young of the Muskallunge ! In some places it is called Silverside, Pinhead, or Top Minnow. It isan elegant little fish, reaching a length of 3 or 4 inches, long and slender and almost translucent, and always swimming in large schools and near the surface.

As a bait minnow it is not of high rank. It is exceedingly tender and can not be kept alive. It is therefore not used as live bait, but is often used dead in fishing for Yellow Perch, Bluegills, Crappie and Calico Bass. It is also sometimes used for Wall-eyed Pike. The usual method is to place two or three or even more small-sized Skipjacks upon the hook at once, passing the hook through the body twice and thus doubling them up into a bunch. These, of course, are used only in still-fishing.

Flead 47 - depth O;eye3 32, D2IV-l, 11; AT, 23% scales) 75.

Body very long and slender, and much compressed; head long, flattened above, _ narrow below; snout slender, conic, the jaws greatly prolonged, forming a short, depressed beak; premaxillaries broad posteriorly, very protractile, produced for- ward, the snout longer than the large eye; edge of upper jaw strongly concave; teeth very slender, mostly in one series, forming a narrow band in front; scaies small, thin, with entire edges; spinous dorsal very small; soft dorsal short; anal fin long; caudal forked; pectoral moderate; first dorsal inserted somewhat behind vent.

Color, pale translucent olive-green ; a very distinct silvery lateral band, scarcely broader than the pupil, bounded above by a dark line; back dotted with black. In the black water of lowland swamps the silvery band is underlaid with black.

This little fish may readily be known from any other fresh-water species by its

very slender, almost transparent body, and its long pointed snout.

og Perch,— Percina caprodes (Rafinesque).

The Log Perch is one of the darters and belongs to the family of Perches or Percide, the family to which belong the Wall-eyed Pike, the Sauger, Yellow Perch,

and nearly a hundred species of small, brightly-colored fishes known as darters.

350 REPORT OF THE

All the species are fresh-water fishes and are among our most beautiful and inter- esting inhabitants of fresh-water streams and lakes. They are all spiny-rayed, ctenoid-scaled fishes, with the same general characters as those of the Yellow Perch. The darters are all very small fishes and many of them are exceedingly brilliant in coloration, occupying the same esthetic position among fishes that is’ occupied by the warblers and humming-birds among birds. Nearly all the species prefer clear, moderately cold water, and will be found on the riffles and shallows where there is. gravelly bottom. Many different species of darters are used more or less as live bait, but usually only in the absence of anything better. Two or three species, however, are more commonly used, and only these are treated in detail in this paper.

The Hog Molly, Log Perch, Hogfish, Sand Pike, or Molly-crawi-a-bottom, is

one of the largest and best known of the darters. It gets as large as 6 or 8 inches

SSS ent

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=

LOG PERCH.

in length, though those usually seen are not over 4-or 5 inches long. This species is found from Quebec and New England west through the Great Lakes region and south on both sides of the Alleghanies to Texas. It is abundant in Lakes Erie and Ontario, and in most of the small New York lakes outside the Adirondacks, where it is not socommon. I found it very abundant in Chautauqua Lake, where it is called Sand Pike or Stone Pike. Of all the numerous species of darters it is the one most frequently seen in the lakes.

Head 4 to 434; depth 5 to 6%; eye 4; snout about 3; D. XIII to XVII-12 to 17; A. II, 9 to 12; scales 9-90 to 95-15, 76 to 93 pores; vertebre 23-++-21=44.

Body elongate, little compressed ; head long and pointed, depressed and sloping above; mouth small, quite inferior, the maxillary not reaching eye; cheek, opercles and nape scaly, the breast naked ; fins rather low; middle line of belly with a row of enlarged, caducous scales ; pectoral about as long as head; anal spine feeble,

subequal, or the second the longer; caudal truncate.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Oo

Color, yellow or yellowish-green, with about 15 transverse dark bands from the back to the belly, these usually alternating with shorter and fainter ones which

reach about to the lateral line; a black spot at base of caudal fin; fins barred.

Green-sided Darter,— Diplesion blenniordes (Rafinesque).

The Green-sided Darter is one of the most beautiful and attractive of darters. It is found from New York and Pennsylvania to the Dakotas, Kansas and Alabama. It is a fish of the creeks and smaller rivers, rarely occurring in lakes, and is generally fairly common.

As a bait minnow it is in-many places highly esteemed. In northern Indiana for early spring fishing it is regarded as one of the best. It is long-lived on the hook, but does not keep well in the tank or bucket. This darter is not active on the hook, and must be kept moving. It is not a good bait for fall fishing, but early in the spring it is regarded as the best live bait that can be had for Small-mouth Black Bass.

LE,

War, ty 2

Vi ae 7 JT ia

GREEN-SIDED DARTER.

Head 4 to 47%, depth 43/4 to 6; eye 3%; D: Xi1 to XIv-12 to.15; A. I, 8 or.9; P. 15; scales 6-58 to 78-14; vertebrae 23+4+21=44.

Body stout, rather long, little compressed ; profile very convex; eyes large, high up, close together, a longitudinal furrow between them; mouth small, horizontal, quite inferior; upper jaw concealed in a furrow under the snout; opercular spine strong; distance from mouth to gill-cleft #4 head; scales moderate, those on the _ belly large, not caducous; cheek with fine scales, opercles with larger ones; neck scaly, chest naked; anal papilla very large; anal spines strong; caudal fin emargi- nate; lower rays of the pectoral and the rays of the ventrals and anal enlarged and fleshy in the males; pectoral longer than the head.

Color, olive-green, tessellated above; side with about 8 double transverse bars,

ios) on NO

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

each pair forming a Y-shaped figure, these sometimes joined above, forming a sort of wavy lateral band; in life these markings are of a clear deep green; sides sprinkled with orange dots; head with olive stripes and dark bars; first dorsal dark orange-brown at base, blue above, becoming pale at tip; second dorsal and anal rich blue-green with some reddish; caudal greenish, faintly barred; females and young

more or less dull, but the general coloration pattern the same.

A POACHER.,

The Canadian Red ‘Troat.

By JOHN W. TITCOMB.

HE red trout are found in Lake Saccacomi and three “ Red Lakes” adjacent to Saccacomi, all in the township of St. Alexis, Maskinonge County, Province of Quebec. These four lakes all contain the brook trout, S. foutznalis, and in

Saccacomi the brook trout attains a weight of five or six pounds. In two of the Red Lakes there are also found the yellow perch (not an unusual thing for trout lakes in the Province of Quebec). Lake Saccacomi is not connected with the Red Lakes, although from the topography it might have been connected in some ear- lier age. The Red Lakes are all connected and flow in a different direction from Saccacomi.

Red trout is the local name and as the ichthyologists have not had sufficient specimens of similar fish from other waters for thorough comparison, no other name has as yet been given to them. Evermann says the red trout bears a close resem- blance to the Sa/velinus aureolus, from Little Averill Pond, Vt., and aureolus from Flood’s Pond, Maine, and may be identical with Garman’s S. marstonz. It has also been pronounced identical with a “red trout” from Decalonnes Township, Quebec, and with the aureolus of Sunapee Lake, N. H.

I find, however, that the S. aureolus, of Sunapee, N. H., and of Averill, Vt., has a square tail like the S. fontznalis, while the red trout of which I write has a dis- tinctly forked tail.* The casual observer, in seeing the aureolus of Averill, Vt., and the Canadian red trout exhibited side by side as they appeared at the Pan-American Exposition, would inquire where the difference between the two fish appeared. The coloring and shape are identical with the exception as to the tail. The same brilliant hues appear upon both fish during the nuptial season also. As seen in the aquaria at Buffalo both varieties were beautiful, but it is impossible for one who has not seen it to imagine the great change in coloring as witnessed during the approach of the spawning season and for some weeks after its expiration.

The colored plates + of this fish are good general representations of the shape and general coloring describing the two sexes during the nuptial season. The spots on

* S. aureolus has the caudal fin emarginate at all ages.— EpITor. + See Fifth Annual Report. The plate of the red trout marked ‘‘ Young” should read ‘‘Adult Female.”

23 353

354 REPORT OF THE

the female are more of a yellowish hue on the live specimen and less conspicuous than indicated in the plates. This observation is applicable to the spots on the male, but the spots on the male should always be more red and more conspicuous than those on the female. The white edges of the fins of the males are far more conspicuous in the live specimens and these white tips are very noticeable when the fish are in motion, as seen hovering about the spawning grounds.

To describe them from the standpoint of an angler I cannot do better than to quote from a letter of Mr. C. H. Simpson of New York City, who has a summer residence in the township of St. Alexis and a hatchery near the Red Lakes. Mr. Simpson has probably had more experience with the so-called red trout than any other individual sportsman. He says: “I have fished in the three lakes near Sacca- comi a number of times and in many ways and without any real results. I have never taken any there on a fly, but have taken three or four on a troll while in deep water. We have taken them for purposes of propagation by set lines and fishing on their spawning beds for the first two or three weeks after the ice will bear, but the best results have been obtained in April, through the ice.

“From what I have seen of these fish and the few experiments I have made, I conclude that they are naturally bottom feeders, but I think there is a possibility of changing their habits by new surroundings, as I will explain to you. At first I had both varieties of trout in the same artificial pond. The red trout would occa- sionally mix themselves in with the brook trout and jump for the food thrown them, but would more often work over the entire bottom of the pond, picking up the smallest particle, that the brook trout had missed. In these artificial pools they would always. jump more or less for an artificial fly. The meat of the red trout is more palatable than that of our brook trout, is not so dry and is more oily. “In the Red Lakes there are practically no minnows, but some perch and shrimp and all manner of water insects. The trout there have no occasion to seek their food on the surface, and fishing for them with fly and troll is lost time. Lake Carolus has dark water with only three or four sandy beaches and bays, and nearly the entire bottom of the lake is covered with a water grass or moss that grows up four er five — feet high. This is teeming with all manner of insect life. I stocked this lake six years ago with the red trout, putting in about 20,000 fry. In the last three years we have probably taken a dozen red trout — one this summer weighing four pounds, trolling a minnow. Out of the dozen possibly three were taken in casting. They are there, but there is too much of the insect life to tempt them up. I think this is right and is quite well borne out by my experience with them in my third lake, Ferron, which is just back of Carolus. It is about half the size of Carolus and

entirely unlike it, being of a pure white water, all sandy bottom, rocky shores and

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 355

no weeds or grass, no shrimp and very little insect life—a few very small minnows, but millions of smelt. The water, sand and rocks are precisely similar to the natural waters they came from, only they were introduced to an entirely new meal in the smelt and they have made of it a continual thanksgiving feast. It has apparently made of them a new fish so far as we can at present judge. We may yet be disappointed. I have never allowed much fishing, desiring to give the fish more opportunity to increase, but every time we have tried them for the last two years we have taken enough for a meal for our family on fly and troll and minnow. I have taken some of nearly four pounds weight. I caught seven there recently, six of them full of eggs. I kept only one, a male, for a friend of mine to take back to New York with him. We shook three or four smelt out of him. They are good strong fighters and are a beautiful fish to see come out of the water for your fly.” Other data about this mysterious fish may be mentioned as follows: In the early part of June, 1900, while the writer was’a guest of the St. Bernard Club on Lake Saccacomi, one of its members, Mr. Chas. F. Burhans of Warrensburgh, N. Y., brought in a red trout of about one-half pound in weight which he had just taken on a fly while casting for speckled trout. This specimen was sent to Washington and pronounced to be identical with the S. aurcolus as well as a specimen caught about two weeks later upon a troll in the same lake. I think Mr. Burhans is the only fisherman who has taken the red trout at Saccacomi with a fly in its native waters, he having secured one the year before I was with him. I know of only three red trout having been taken from Lake Saccacomi by legitimate fishing. The habitants report taking them through the ice from the spawning beds in past years. I find their testimony almost as delusive as the fish itself. In the three Red Lakes many _sportsmen have fished for them by the various legitimate methods, without success. In experiments of this nature and also by fishing with nets and set lines for speci- mens and for purposes of propagation, I deduce the following as to their habits: They are a cold water fish like the S. zamaycush. In early spring they come in shore and remain near the surface for a short time and during this period will occa- sionally take a troll. They are not abundant and could not be expected to be plentiful in the three Red Lakes, not only because of the perch in the two lower lakes but also because the habitant fishes for them in close season. In fact, it is practi- cally the only time when they do fish for them. I cannot understand why there should not be a great many of them in Saccacomi, a protected lake, but if numerous in this lake they are not in evidence when the angler is there. Perhaps if the fish were more abundant they would prove ready biters at a troll. When hooked they are creat fighters, but it is the fight of resistance and when they surrender no further

attempts to escape are noticeable. Mr. Burhans informs me that those which he

356 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

took with his fly fought well and he supposed he had a larger speckled trout on the hook than the red trout proved to be when killed. As the season advances they go into deep water where an occasional one may be taken by using either a worm or live shiner for bait. They do not roam about much while in deep water. They

remain at a depth until late in the fall and begin to work in shore about the same

time that ice forms around the edges of the lake. At this season our habitant guide.

begins to tell us of the great numbers which he has seen cover the beds in past seasons and what may be expected in a few days. This beguiling talk continues for weeks until six or more weeks have passed by and comparatively few fish have been seen or caught. The first year I attributed the lack of fish to the unusual season. On the second year’s work of investigation I concluded that the fish and the habi- tant resembled each other in one respect, and that is as to being at all times very delusive so far as the visiting sportsmen are concerned. When seen on the spawn- ing beds the fish are exceedingly shy and the least’ motion of the fisherman will frighten them. When not frightened they bite eagerly at such bait as earth worms, grubs from decaying wood, meat, etc. In fact, if the fisherman can see the fish without being seen by them he can catch all that come near the baited hook, so eager are they to bite. This was our fish cultural experience before the fish had spawned. As the aureolus of Sunapee and Averill has often been described and is commonly known by the name of Sunapee saibling, I cannot better describe the red trout than by frequent allusion to its relative from the States. I have not fished at Sunapee, N. H., but from my experience at Averill, Vt., ] should regard the red trout of Canada and the S. auwreolus of Averill as having many of the same habits. I do not think either fish will become educated to the demands of the fly fisherman, but I regard both of these forms of red trout equally desirable to cultivate as a food and game fish. The saibling of Sunapee spawns in the latter part of October and the spawning period covers from six to ten days. Its Canadian relative spawns in the months of November, December and January, having the same habits in this respect as the brook trout of adjacent lakes, beginning somewhat later than the brook trout however. The Averill saibling has never been propagated artificially and its spawning season is not definitely known. In size the Canadian fish com- pares favorably with the saiblings of both Sunapee and Averill. I believe the Canada red trout is a form of saibling, but it still remains for the ichthyologists who have access to the various forms of aureolus both from the States and Canada, to decide its exact identity and give it a name. The fry of the red trout have been reared to yearlings at Mr. Simpson’s hatchery. This is interesting because while attempts have been made to rear the S. aureolus of Sunapee, I do not under-

stand that such attempts have ever been successful.

Notes on the Fishes and Mollasks of Lake Chaataaqaa, New Tork.”

BY

BARTON WARREN EVERMANN

AND

1S, JOINC WW) IND) Is 18, EOS IDES sO Oi Crste

AN INVITATION.

N THE last week in September, Igor, the senior writer of this paper spent four days at Chautauqua Lake, during

which time he obtained specimens of most of the species of fishes and mollusks which inhabit it, together with a number of notes ana descriptions on some of the more important species. Collecting was done in Clear Creek and Black Creek, small streams entering the lake on the west side at Light- house Point, in the lake about their mouths, and at various places along the north and northeast shores of the lake. Mollusks were also collected at different points about the north end of the lake.

Lake Chautauqua lies in the central part

of Chautauqua County, which is situated in the extreme western part of the State of New York. The lake is a long and narrow body of water with its main axis lying in a northwest and southeasterly direction. The length of the lake is about 22 miles and the width varies from 3 miles to scarcely more than a quarter of a mile in

its narrowest place.

* We have been permitted to print this article through the courtesy of Hon. George M. Bowers,

United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries.

357

358 REPORT OF THE

The greatest depth of the lake is said to be 80 feet, at a point between Chautauqua and Long Point. The depth is reported to be 62 feet quite close in to Long Point. The greater portion of the lake, however, is relatively shallow and the depth probably does not average greater than 20 feet. The entire northern end seems quite shallow, probably nowhere exceeding 15 to 20 feet.

The lake is surrounded by gently sloping hills, the highest rising 200 or 300 feet 3 above the water surface. These hills are, as a rule, all cultivated to their summits, and doubtless much sediment is carried into the lake from surface erosion on the surrounding cultivated ground. The shores of the lake are usually moderately abrupt, though nearly everywhere there isa strip of beach, more or less narrow and frequently wet or marshy. At the north end is a considerable tract of low ground moderately timbered and inclined to be marshy.

Around the shores and in shallow water are good growths of Sczrpus, and water lilies were noticed in a few places. In the water were noted also such aquatics as Myriophyllum, Ceratophyllum, Potamogeton, and the like.

The elevation of the lake above sea level is given as 1,291 feet, and 726 feet above Lake Erie, from which it is distant only about 8 miles. Though so close to Lake Erie, Chautauqua Lake lies in the Ohio River hydrographic basin. Its outlet issues from the southern end as Conewango Creek which, after being joined by Cassadaga Creek, enters the Alleghany River at Warren, Pa.

The lake has no important inlets.

Situated as Lake Chautauqua is, in the Ohio basin, its fish fauna is essentially like that of other portions of that hydrographic basin. It more closely resembles that of the lower Wabash than that of Lake Erie, though lying so close to the latter.

The most interesting feature of the fish fauna of Lake Chautauqua is the Chau- tauqua muskallunge which is peculiar to this lake and the Ohio River. It is a food and game fish of great importance and is propagated extensively by the State.

The special provisions of the law pertaining to fishing in Chautauqua Lake as published in 1901 by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission are as follows:

Section 82. Fishing in Chautauqua Lake. Fish of any kind shall not be taken in Chautauqua Lake from May first to June fifteenth, both inclusive, unless by the State for purposes of propagation. Black bass, yellow bass, rock bass and muskal- longe shall not be taken from December first to June fifteenth, both inclusive, except as provided for in section eighty-three.

Section 83. Chautauqua Lake exception. Muskallonge and billfish may be taken with spears, using fish houses and decoys, on Mondays and Thursdays of each

week for five consecutive weeks, beginning on the first Monday in February. No such fish house, decoy or spear shall be upon the ice or waters of Chautauqua Lake

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 359

between the hours of six o’clock at night and six o’clock in the morning, or on any day except Monday or Thursday, as above provided. Bullheads may be fished for and taken through the ice with hooks and lines or tip-ups in Chautauqua Lake. All fish houses or other contrivances for hiding fishermen shall at all times be open to the inspection of peace officers or protectors, and unless in actual transit from the shore to or from a fishing place are hereby declared to be a public nuisance upon the ice or waters of Chautauqua Lake at all times not herein allowed. Such nuisance may be summarily abated by any officer or private person by the destruc- tion thereof.”

Briefly stated, the close season for black bass, yellow bass, rock bass, and muskal- lunge extends from December 1 to June 15, both inclusive; the close season for all species from May I to June 15, both inclusive; black bass, yellow bass, rock bass and muskallunge may be taken by angling from June 16 to November 30, both inclu- sive; muskallunge and billfish may be taken with spears on Mondays and Thursdays for five consecutive weeks, beginning with the first Monday in February; bullheads may be taken through the ice with hooks and line or tip-ups at any time.

These provisions are well drawn and are apparently adequate for the protection of the food and game-fishes of this lake.

The following lists are based chiefly upon the collections made during the visit to the lake already mentioned. Certain additional data obtained at other times have

been included.

Tishes of Lake Chaataaqaa.

The classification and sequence of species in the following list follow that adopted by Jordan & Evermann in the “ Fishes of North and Middle America.”

I. Polyodon spathula (Walbaum). PADDLE-FISH; SPOON-BILL CaT.— The only record of the capture of this curious fish in this lake is that of a photograph by R. W. Banjean, of Mayville (situated at the head of the lake), of an example caught about 1890. The fish is said to have been 6 feet 2 inches in length, 4 feet around the body, and to have weighed 123% pounds. |

This is one of the largest individuals of this fish that has been recorded. The very largest of which we have a trustworthy record was taken in Lake Manitou,

Indiana, and weighed 163 pounds.

2. Lepisosteus osseus (Linnzus). BILLFISH; LONG-NOSED GAR; GAR PIKE.

3. Lepisosteus platostomus (Rafinesque). BILLFISH; SHORT-NOSED GAR.—

These 2 species of wholly useless fish are too abundant in this lake. In 1896 and

360 REPORT OF THE

1897, at the request of the Farmers’ and Citizens’ Game and Fish Protective Asso. ciation of Chautauqua County, two special appropriations of $1,000 and $500 respec- tively were made by the Legislature for the destruction of the gar pike or billfish, which it was believed were destroying the young bass and muskallunge in Lake Chautauqua. In September, 1896, netting for these fish was begun, and was con- tinued in May and on into July of 1897. Seines, pound nets and traps were used. The pound nets did the best work, and in 1897 these only were used. In 1896 there were caught and killed 2,606 billfish; the next year 1,316 were killed. In this latter year more nets were used and greater effort put forth, but the smaller number of fish caught was doubtless due to the effect of the previous year’s work, and it is now believed that with little more effort these fish can be practically exterminated.

Replying to a letter of inquiry, Mr. Charles H. Babcock, of the New York Forest, Fish and Game Commission, says that “nothing has been done toward the extermi- nation of the gar pike at Chautauqua Lake since 1897, with the exception of what has been done when we were taking muskallunge for propagating purposes in the spring of the year. A few have been taken each year since 1897 in that way, and they have always been destroyed. No appropriation has been made for the purpose since 1897, as the work was apparently very thoroughly done at that time. Very few, if any, gar pike have been seen or taken since then from any information I can get. They are apparently a very much easier fish to get rid of

than the carp.”

4. Amia calva (Linneus). BOWFIN; DOG-FISH.— A local fisherman described a fish which he had seen in the lake, which was evidently this species. He called it

“eel pout.” No examples were seen by us.

5. Ameiurus nebulosus (Le Sueur). SMALL CATFISH.— Very abundant, reach- ing a weight of I to 3 pounds. Great numbers are caught; an important and excel-

lent article of food.

6. Ameiurus melas (Rafinesque). COMMON BULLHEAD.— This is perhaps equally common with the former but, owing to its smaller size, is of much less

importance.

7. Schilbeodes miurus (Jordan). Mab Tom; STONE CAT.— This little fish is

probably not common in the lake; only one specimen was obtained.

8, Catostomus commersonii (Lacepéde). COMMON SUCKER.

(1INOSYAWWOD SNWOLSOLVYD } YAWONS WOOUAG

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 361

9. Catostomus nigricans (Le Sueur), HOG SUCKER.— Both of these suckers

are probably common.

10. Moxostoma aureolum (Le Sueur), COMMON REDHORSE. — Probably

common.

[Cyprinus carpio (Linnzeus). GERMAN CARP.— This fish has been introduced

into this lake and is said to be common. |

11. Campostoma anomalum (Rafinesque). STONE-ROLLER; ‘‘ CHUB.’— Abun-

dant here, as it is everywhere in the Ohio valley.

”

12. Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque). BLUNT-NOSED MINNOW; ‘“ CHUB; “\WHITE-NOSED CHUB.’— This minnow is abundant in the lake and is one of the very best bait fishes. It is regarded as the best bait for the small-mouthed black

bass.

13. Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill). CREEK CHUB; “ CHUB.’—The creek chub is common, particularly in the small streams tributary to the lake. It is an

excellent bait minnow for the muskallunge.

14. Notropis cayuga Meek. CAYUGA MINNOW.— This interesting little min-

now is not uncommon. It is usually too small for bait except for yellow perch.

15. Notropis hudsonius (De Witt Clinton). SHINER; ‘“ C1sco.”’— This import- ant minnow, absurdly called “ cisco”’ at Mayville, is common in Chautauqua Lake. It reaches a length of 3 to 6 inches and is one of the very best bait minnows found in the State. It is a favorite minnow when trolling for the muskallunge, whose food

is said to consist largely of this species.

16. Notropis whipplii (Girard). SILVER-FIN; ‘“‘SHINER.’— This minnow was found fairly common in Clear Creek near its mouth. It is one of the best bait

minnows.

17. Notropis cornutus (Mitchill). RED-FIN; ‘“SHINER.’— Quite common in

Clear Creek ; an important bait minnow.

18. Rhinichthys atronasus (Mitchill). BLACK-NOSED DACE; ‘CREEK CHUB,’—

Not uncommon in Clear Creek, most of the examples obtained being small.

19. Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill). BRook Trout.—The brook trout is said

to occur in one or more of the small creeks on the east side of the lake.

362 REPORT OF THE

20. Lucius ohiensis (Kirtland). CHAUTAUQUA MUSKALLUNGE.— The muskal- lunge is by all odds the most important fish found in Chautauqua Lake, whether considered from the standpoint of the angler or that of the commercial fisherman. It is very different in appearance from the muskallunge of the Great Lakes and apparently deserves to rank as a distinct species. The following color description was drawn up from a fresh example 25 inches long, weighing 4 pounds, caught in the north end of the lake near Mayville, September 26:

Back nearly uniform dark olive green; upper % of side rich brassy green with some metallic green; about 25 faint narrow darker vertical bars extending somewhat below lateral line; lower third of side paler and more brassy, the 25 vertical bars widening into broad darkish blotches, these most greenish on posterior third of body; top of head very dark green; scaled part of head brassy greenish, lower part of side of head with less brassy and less greenish, and some silvery, especially on lower part of opercle; rim of lower jaw dusky greenish ; rest of lower jaw and throat white; breast with a few round greenish spots; rest of belly white; fins dark olive, with numerous darker greenish spots; iris grayish brown.

The crossbars are rather broad and do not break up distinctly into diffuse spots, and the fin spots are greenish rather than black. The general color is a rich greenish brassy with very indistinct darker green crossbars.

This species was described in 1854 by Dr. Kirtland from a specimen from the Mahoning River, Ohio. The real home of the fish, however, is Chautauqua Lake, only occasional individuals being taken elsewhere in the Ohio basin. As early as 1818 Rafinesque obtained it in the Ohio River. He says “it is one of the best fishes in the Ohio; its fiesh is very delicate and divides easily, as in salmon, into large plates as white as snow. It is called salmon pike, white pike, white jack, or white pickerel, and Prcaneau blanc by the Missourians. It reaches a length of 5 Teeter

It would appear from this that the muskallunge was a common and well-known fish in the Ohio a hundred years ago, even if we make some allowance for a possible misapplication by Rafinesque of some of the vernacular names.

Although abundant in Lake Chautauqua it is of rare occurrence elsewhere in the Ohio basin — and it is not found naturally in any other. It is said to occur in Lake Conneaut, Pennsylvania; Kirtland got it in the Mahoning, and we have seen the head of a large example taken in the Ohio near Evansville.

For more than 10 years the New York State Fish Commission has been prop- agating the Chautauqua muskallunge with signal success. The first attempt,

which was in the nature of an experiment, was made in the spring of 1890, under -

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 363

the immediate direction of Mr. Monroe A. Green. Although the work was not begun until rather late in the spring it resulted in the development of successful methods and the hatching of 75,000 fry which were planted in the lake. This is believed to be the first successful attempt to hatch the muskallunge by artificial methods, and the work has been continued with increasing success every year since

that date, as shown by the following tabular statement :

NUMBER PLANTED | nuMBER PLANTED

YEAR. | NGATCHED. eee OUR | ELSEWHERE.

1890, - - - - =| 75,000 75,000 |

1891, - - - - 1,750,000 1,750,000

1892, - - - - - 1,360,000 | 1,260,000 | 100,000

1893, - - - - 2,150,000 1,150,000 | 1,000,000

1894, - - - - - 2,970,000 1,970,000 | I,000,000

1895, - - - - 2,480,000 1,700,000 | 780,000

1896, - - - - - 1,815,000 I,000,000 | 815,000

1897, - - - - 3,075,000 1,815,000 | 1,260,000

|

1898, - - - - Ys \| 2,650,000 900,000 | 1,750,000

18,325,000 11,620,000 6,705,000

New York was the first State to undertake the hatching of muskallunge artificially, and is the only one that now does it, except Wisconsin. And it has only been by this artificial propagation that the supply of these fish has been kept up. In about two years after hatching was begun at Chautauqua there was a perceptible increase in the number of muskallunge taken by the fishermen. Since then the supply has kept about normal, and it is not now known-that the number has increased or decreased in the past few years, but it is known that there is no better place in the world to angle for this fish than at Lake Chautauqua.

As a game fish the Chautauqua Lake muskallunge is, by many, held in very high esteem. Though it may not be a great game-fish in the best sense, its size, which is often enormous, renders its capture and landing by means of hook and line an undertaking by no means devoid of exertion and interest.

It is usually taken by trolling either with a spoon or good-sized minnow. At the time of our visit to this lake, the last week in September, the spoon seemed to

be chiefly in use by the local anglers. A comparatively short line was used, and the

364 REPORT OF’ THE

boat was rowed only fast enough to keep the tackle in shape, the spoon being kept only a short distance under water.

Later in the season it was stated minnows would be used. The “chub” (Semo- telus atromaculatus) is the minnow most used early in the fall, but later, when the water becomes colder, the “shiner” (Votropis cornutus) is regarded as the better bait. The “cisco” (Wotroprs hudsonius) is also an excellent muskallunge bait, and is said to constitute a considerable part of the regular food of that fish.

The 4-pound example upon which the above color description was based had been feeding upon yellow perch, and one small example of that species was found in its mouth. As a matter of fact, the muskallunge will doubtless feed upon almost any species of fish found in the lake.

As a food-fish the muskallunge is a superior fish. Dr. Kirtland says that ‘“ epi- cures consider it one of the best fishes of the West,” and Mr. J. L. Beaman affirms that ‘‘as a food-fish there is nothing superior to it. It ranks with the salmon and speckled trout, and surpasses the black and striped bass. The meat is almost as white as snow, fine-grained, nicely laminated, and the flavor is perfect.”

The quality of the meat seems to improve upon keeping. We ate choice pieces,

that were fried, of an 8-pound muskallunge the day it was caught and found the

meat white and flaky, but dry and with little or no flavor. Three days later we ate again of the same fish and found the meat decidedly more juicy and with a very pleasant flavor.

The muskallunge is as voracious as the pike, and 80 pounds of muskallunge rep- resent several tons of minnows, whitefish and the like. It is not a common fish; its great size and voracity perhaps account for this. As Charles Hallock has said the muskallunge “is a long, slim. strong, and swift fish, in every way formed for

’

the life it leads, that of a fierce and dauntless marauder.’

21. Labidesthes sicculus (Cope). BROOK SILVERSIDE; SKIPJACK.— Only 2 or 3 specimens of this interesting species were obtained, but it is doubtless abundant in the lake. It is a small, nearly transparent fish, usually swimming in large schools at the surface.

At Lake Chautauqua we were assured that these fish were young muskallunge !

22. Ambloplites rupestris (Rafinesque). ‘“ ROCK BaAss;” RED-EYE; GOGGLE- EVYE.— The rock bass is an abundant and well-known fish at this lake. On September 26 a number were taken with line and hook baited with grasshoppers off the piers at Mayville. All seen were small, none of them exceeding 3 or 4 ounces

in weight.

—

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 365

23. Lepomis pallidus (Mitchill). BLUEGILL; BLUE BREAM; BLUE SUNFISH; COPPER-NOSED BREAM; “ SUNFISH.” — The bluegill is another abundant and well- known fish in this lake. It reaches a weight of a half pound and is one of the best

of panfishes.

24. Eupomotis gibbosus (Linneus). COMMON SUNFISH; ‘‘ PUMPKIN-SEED.”’ —

Apparently common, but less so than the bluegill.

25. Micropterus dolomieu Lacépéde. SMALL-MOUTHED BLACK Bass; “YVELLOW Bass.” — The small-mouthed black bass is doubtless the gamest fish in the lake. It does not appear to be very abundant.

It is locally called “ yellow bass,” and is mentioned in the State law by the same absurd name.

The name “yellow bass” is properly applied only to Morone interrupta, a very different fish which is found in the lower Mississippi Valley and not in Chautauqua Lake.

26. Micropterus salmoides (Lacépéde). LARGE-MOUTHED BLACK Bass; STRAW Bass; “STRIPED Bass.’— The large-mouthed black bass, known locally as

“ striped bass,” is common in the lake and is an important game-fish.

27. Perca flavescens (Mitchill) YELLOW PERCH; ‘“ PERCH.” — Apparently

not common and not reaching the size it does in some other lakes.

’

28. Percina caprodes (Rafinesque). LOG PERCH; “SAND PIKE;” “STONE PIKE.” — This darter is known locally as “sand pike” or “stone pike.”

It was found in considerable numbers in Clear Creek near its mouth.

29. Etheostoma cceruleum (Storer). BLUE DARTER; RAINBOW DARTER; SOLDIER FISH.— Only 3 examples of this beautiful darter were obtained.

30. Etheostoma fflabellare (Rafinesque). FAN-TAILED DARTER. — Several

examples of this darter were obtained near the mouth of Clear Creek.

31. Cottus ictalops (Rafinesque). BLOB; MILLERS THUMB.— Not uncommon in Clear Creek. Called ‘“ devil fish,” or “ flying fish” by a local fisherman.

266 ’ REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Mollasks of Chaataagaa Dake.

No special effort was made to collect the mollusks inhabiting this lake, and the following list is, therefore, far from complete. The little collecting that was done was on the northwest and north shores.

Species of Unionide, especially the heavy-shelled forms, do not appear to be very abundant, either as to species or individuals. Campeloma, Planorbis, Limnea, and Physa seem abundant; and Unzo gibbosus, Anodonta grandis footiana and Lamp- silts luteolus were the most common species of mussels.

Vivipara contectoides, which is so abundant in many of the small lakes in Northern Indiana in the Wabash basin, was not found in Chautauqua Lake.

For assistance in the identification of the shells we are under obligations to Mr. Charles T. Simpson, of the Department of Mollusks, United States National

Museum.

FRESH WATER UNIVALVES.

1. Campeloma decisum Say. Common.

2. Valvata tricarinata Say. Only one specimen obtained. . Planorbis trivolvis Say.

. P. campanulatus Say.

. P. bicarinatus Say. Two specimens.

Limnea palustris Mill. Common.

NOV ut B &

. Physa ancellaria Say. Common.

FRESH WATER BIVALVES.

8. Spherium rhombotdeum Prime.

g. S. strzatinum Lam.

10. S. sulcatum Lam. The second and third of these three species were more common than the other.

11. Anodonta grandis footiana Lea.

12. Unio gibbosus Barnes.

13. Lampsilts luteolus Lam.

14. Strophites undulatus Barnes.

15. S. edentulus Say. This may be S. undulatus.

U. S. FISH COMMISSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Figares of Fishes in Colors.

IW SIBUGIRIMUAIN, i,” IDIE IN ION,

value as food is

VERY important fish, though of little

The Menhaden.

This species frequents our shores in immense schools and is captured in nets in innumerable thousands for the sake of its oil, and also to be used as bait in the cod and other fisheries. In many places it is used to enrich the land for crops of corn

and potatoes, the farmer planting a men-

Snare

ce ge 4

haden in each hill by way of a fertilizer. At the factories where the oil is extracted from the fish the refuse is converted into excellent food for plants.

A great deal of discussion has been excited by the taking of the menhaden in such vast quantities. It is claimed by many that all kinds of fishes are captured indis- criminately by the seiners and converted into oil and fertilizer, thereby reducing the supply of food fishes-and very much injur-

ing the business of the inshore fishermen,

while by others the ocean is looked upon as so vast and having such unlimited resources in its varied life that man cannot affect the grand total in any appreciable degree. THE LOOKOUT—MENHADEN FISHING. That some of the ocean fisheries have been wellnigh exhausted is true beyond a doubt,

but that the numbers of an abundant, wandering, pelagic fish, such as the menhaden, 367

308 REPORT) OF PEE

have been or can be reduced materially by the contrivances of man now in use for

their capture is open to question. The Bonito.

The bonito or striped bonito visits our shores in schools during the summer. It is a fine, handsome species, weighing ten pounds or more, and certainly looks good enough to eat, although it is seldom captured by the fishermen and is rarely seen in our markets. Many who have eaten the bonito claim that it is really a good food fish, but that popular taste has not been cultivated to accept it. I remember while in Washington, D. C., some years ago that a number of large, handsome bonitos were sent to the National Museum from Massachusetts for the purpose of having them properly cooked and served as a dinner for several of the scientific men of that institution. The dinner was a success, and most, if not all, of those partaking of it were satisfied that the bonito was of as good a flavor as many of our fishes which bring high prices. However, this did not change the popular taste, and to-day the bonito roams the seas, frequently in immense schools, in comparative freedom, the majority of the fishermen not thinking him worth the trouble of capture. |Like the swordfish, which was at one time not so very many years ago thought to be unfit for food, the bonito may come into favor and then high prices will surely have to be paid for him.

In the young of this species the stripes or lines on the sides are broken into short lengths, but it is, like the adult, a beautiful fish. The food of the bonito is small fish.

The Batter-Fish.

The butter-fish, harvest-fish or dollar-fish is common along our shores in summer, when it is frequently taken by the fishermen in nets in abundance. It is a small species, rarely half a pound in weight, but held in some esteem asa food fish, although rather soft, not standing transportation well. As specimens alive in an aquarium it is a constant delight, the play of colors on its sides reminding one of the flashes of colored lights from a fine opal.

In the South a related form is frequently kept alive in floating cars by its negro captors and killed and dressed for the purchaser. A look into the well-stocked floating cars of the Key West fishermen, where fishes as gay as parrots or tropical butterflies may be seen alive, is a revelation to a Northerner. Our friend the harvest-fish may often be seen among the gay tropical inhabitants of these coral

seas.

“ONIHSIO NAGVHNAW

“TOOHOS V DNIGNNOW

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 369

The Brook Sacker.

The common brook sucker or black sucker is an abundant and well-known fish. It makes its way up the brooks and small streams in the spring to spawn and may then be taken in large numbers. It is a large fish for the small streams in which it spawns, and one may often see specimens weighing from three to five pounds in water so shallow that their backs are out.

As a food fish it is almost worthless in some waters, being soft, bony and flavor- less. In many places it is captured by the cart-load and used upon the land as

fertilizer. The young of this species make excellent bait for the pike and bass.

Satt-Water Perch.

The cunner, chogset or salt-water perch is one of the most abundant of fishes along our rocky shores, and one which is a favorite with the younger anglers. It can be caught with hook and line at almost any pier or about any wreck along the coast as far south as New Jersey, and its numbers are so great that no time is wasted in waiting for a bite.

Almost anything in the way of animal food, such as clams, mussels, crabs, etc., may be used for bait, and a hungry swarm of little fishes will collect about the hook as soon as it reaches the water. It is a small species, one of half a pound being con- sidered large. Although so small, it is a general favorite for the table.

Many of the fishermen about our large cities and seashore resorts devote a good part of their time during the summer months to the capture of this species. They are taken by hand lines and also by nets and placed in floating cars made of wood with holes bored in the sides to admit the sea water. In these they may be kept alive for some time and taken out as required. The fishermen usually skin them, leaving the heads on, and they are sold in strings or bunches of a dozen to the string regardless of their size or weight. About the wharves and rocks on the shore the larger specimens are usually scarce, but a few fathoms from the beach over rocky bottom, where Irish moss abounds, fair-sized ones may be obtained and good sport had with this fish.

Who does not recall on a quiet summer afternoon at one of our seashore resorts, seeing a number of old weather-tanned fishermen, each in his little boat anchored a few rods from shore, engaged in fishing for cunners and the next morning early see- ing one of these same fishermen call at the cottage door with strings of cunners for sale? JI amsure the cunner adds materially tothe pleasure of a few days at the shore.

24

370 REPORT OF THE

The colors of this species vary a good deal in different individuals, ranging from brown to green or blue. They are frequently infested by small parasites which lodge just beneath the skin, covering their sides and fins with blue dots, giving the fishes the appearance of having received a dose of small shot. Like its larger rela- tive, the tautog, its natural food consists of crustaceans and mollusks, which are

obtained on or about submerged rocks.

The Sanfish.

The sunfish or pumpkin-seed is well known to every boy angler in the Eastern and Middle States. What a handsome little fellow he is with his brownish-green mottled sides, yellow belly, streaks of briiliant blue on the sides of his head and the black spot edged with vermilion at the tip of the gill cover. During the summer months the circular light sandy nests of this fish may be seen along the margins of our ponds and lakes, and one or two of the adult fishes are usually to be seen in each nest guarding the eggs. These eggs are attached to small pebbles in the nest, and so bold is the parent fish in protecting them that it will sometimes bite one’s fingers if held near the nest.

The food of the sunfish is aquatic insects and larve. While quietly sitting in a boat among the lily pads in some sheltered cove one may sometimes hear sounds somewhat resembling the smacking of lips. These sounds are made by the sunfish as he smacks the insects which constitute his food from the underside of the lily pads.

As a food fish this species is not held in very high regard, its small size and the trouble of preparation probably having more to do with its lack of favor than the taste of its flesh. It is interesting to stand knee deep in the clear quiet water of the pond and watch the pugnacious little sunfishes sport about in their nests and drive away the fishes who would doubtless make a meal in a few moments of the entire litter of eggs. When the young sunfishes are able to take care of themselves they abandon the nests and may frequently be seen in scattered schools along the mar-

gins of the pond. The Sheepshead.

A fish deservedly celebrated both for the excellence of its flesh and its gamy resistance to capture is the sheepshead. Its name was doubtless suggested by its stout and broad front teeth with which it cuts from the rocks the shells which largely constitute its food.

Prof. Theodore Gill in writing of this fish says: “The sheepshead occurs along

the entire Eastern coast from Southern Florida to Cape Cod as well as in the Gulf

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. afk

of Mexico. It is perhaps most abundant in the North along the south shore of New England and between Cape May and Montauk Point. It more especially affects oyster beds and deposits of mussels upon which it feeds, and it is also to be found about wrecks of old vessels on which barnacles and shells abound. It stays mostly near the bottom and is quiet in its habits and little given to wandering.”

Although specimens of this fish are sometimes taken weighing twelve pounds or more, the average captured are perhaps not over five or six pounds in weight, but a fish even of this size is capable of giving one all he can attend to for a few minutes. Being a deep and powerful fish, the resistance it can offer is proportionally great. The fishing is done over a rocky bottom, and the bait used is mostly clams or crabs. Shrimps are sometimes used with good success. As the lining of the mouth of the sheepshead is tough and in large part covered by strong crushing teeth, a vigorous pull on the line when a bite is felt is necessary to hook it properly, and a stout hook and line are requisite to its capture. According to Prof. S. F. Clark, the spawning of this fish is generally effected at the mouths of rivers and inlets, and “the eggs are

deposited in shallow water near the shore.”

The Taatog.

A large and valuable food fish is the tautog. It reaches a weight of from ten to fifteen pounds, although specimens of from three to four pounds are the average size. It is a lover of rocky bottoms, obtaining its food, which consists of crabs and shellfish, by searching among the weeds and crevices of the ledges and crushing their hard covering with its strong teeth and powerful jaws. The fish varies a good deal in its coloring, the younger specimens being frequently mottled light and dark brown, while the older ones are more uniform in coloring, and are often dark brown or blackish. The males are usually the darker.

The range of the species is quite extensive, it being found along our Eastern coast as far south as the Carolinas. It is only taken during the summer and autumn months, and is thought to retire to deep water during cold weather. As this is a large species and an excellent food fish, it is a favorite with the amateur fishermen and may be taken with rod and reel. Where the rocks run out suddenly into deep water the fisherman may stand and cast from the shore. When hooked a large tau- tog is no mean antagonist. He will sometimes wedge himself among the rocks in such a way that he cannot be induced to come out and the fisherman must await his pleasure. Then with a rush he will leave his retreat and run out most of one’s

line before he can be turned.

Bye REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

=

As may be supposed, to receive the bite of a large tautog is a painful experience

and one which the amateur will not soon forget. When hungry the fish is very bold. I have seen a tautog in an aquarium at Wood’s Hole snap at the fingers of the man who was cleaning the tank. Hand line fishing from a boat is largely practiced

by those who fish for profit, and many of these fishes are taken in nets and weirs.

ALONG THE ROCKS—TAUTOG FISHING,

Catalogue of the Fishes of Long Istand.

Ty IARI IE TON Isla aA,

CHIEF, DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME, WORLD’S FAIR, ST. LOUIS, U.S. A.

HE writer has been engaged in a more or less systematic study of the fishes 2 of Long Island since 1884, having made collections during the summer of that year in Great South Bay and adjacent waters for the U. S. Fish Com- mission, and subsequently for the same Commission, the New York Fish Commis- sion, and New York State Museum. In 1890 the observations were confined to Great South Bay. From 1895 to 1898, while in charge of the Aquarium of New York City, many kinds of Long Island fishes were brought to my notice, either living or preserved. In 18098 the investigations covered parts of Peconic Bay, Mecox Bay, Shinnecock Bay, and Great South Bay. The studies in 1g01 were pursued in Great South Bay and adjoining waters, eastward as far as Southampton. All these collections and observations were made in the summer and fall months, except the series brought together by Mr. De Nyse and others from Gravesend Bay, and various other bays of Long Island.

The results of my investigations were published in the 19th Report of the New York Fish Commission, the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History for 1897, the 54th Annual Report of the New York State Museum, and in Sczence, N.S., vol. IX, January 13, 1899. Other reports are now in course of publication.

In the preparation of these notes the ichthyological writings of MITCHILL (1815), DEKay (1842), AYRES, Boston Journal Nat. Hist., IV, 1844, and MATHER and DEAN, 18th Rept. N. Y. Fish Commission, 1889, have been consulted.

The notes upon the distribution, common names, habits and rate of growth of the fishes of Long Island relate to 241 species. Of these the following 9 are rare or of doubtful occurrence: 40. Black-nosed Dace. 54. Scaled Sardine. 82. Long- heak. 124. Amber Fish: 125. Runner. / 154. Spotted Grouper. 156. Soapfish.

_I90. Hairy Blowfish. 241. Batfish.

Fresh-water Fishes. The number of kinds of native fresh-water fishes is only 14, including the Black-nosed Dace, a doubtful species. Thirteen fresh-water forms have been introduced. The complete list of fresh-water fishes, as far as known,

includes: 35. Horned Pout. 36. Chub Sucker. 37. Tench, Introduced. 38. Golden © 373

374 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Ide, Introduced. 39. Roach. 40. Black-nosed Dace, Doubtful. 41. Goldfish, Intro- duced. 42. Carp, Introduced. 62. Landlocked Salmon, Introduced. 63. Steelhead, Introduced. 64. Brown Trout, Introduced. 65. Hybrid Trout, Introduced. 66, Rainbow Trout, Introduced. 67. Brook Trout. 70. Striped Mud Minnow. 71. Banded Pickerel., 72/>Chain) Pickerel.i 75.) Preshwatern) Killy. 904) Piratesrenely g6. Freshwater Silverside. 145. Rock Bass, Introduced. 146. Sunfish. 147. Small- | mouthed Black Bass, Introduced. 148. Large-mouthed Black Bass, Introduced. 149. Pike Perch, Introduced: 150: Yellow Perch. 151. Johnny Darter.

Anadromous Fishes. The fishes which feed in the ocean and breed in the fresh waters are: I. Sea Lamprey. 31. Common Sturgeon. 32. Short-nosed Sturgeon. 50. Hickory Shad. 51. Branch Hering) 52: /Glut Herine: 53) shad) Or Atlan tic Salmon. 63. Smelt: 7) 1525) Striped’, Bass... 153. \Viinite: shercha Hivesuspccics ascend fresh water to a greater or less distance to feed, remaining for a longer or shorter period. hese are: 43. Eels. 78. SilversGar. 130.7Bluefish. 92225) homeods 238. American Sole.

Permanent Residents. The fishes that remain throughout the year include all of the fresh water forms, and the following 13 additional species: 43. Eel. 73. Bass Killy. 74. Killifish. 76. Rainwater Fish. 77. Sheepshead Minnow. 152. Striped Bass. 153. White Perch. 155. Sea Bass. 177. Bergall. 178. Blackfish. 203. Toad- fish. 222. Tomcod. 236. Flatfish. ;

Food Fishes. The catalogue contains the names of 84 species which are valuable for food, but 28 of these are not abundant. The important food fishes are the following: 1. Sea Lamprey. 31. Common Sturgeon. 32. Short-nosed Sturgeon. 35. Horned Pout. 37. (eneh. 42) "Carp. 43. Bel. 40%) Sea @iiernines so. Hickory#Shad. 51..Branch Merring. 52. Glut Herring. 53. Shad. 6o/ @om= mon Anchovy. 61. Atlantic Salmon. 62. Landlocked Salmon. 63. Steelhead. 64. Brown Trout. 67. Brook Trout. 68. Smelt. 71. Banded Pickerel. 72. Chain Pickerel. 07. Common Silverside. 99. Striped Mullet. 100. White Mullet. 107 Common Mackerel. ,108)-Chub (Mackerel) 112. Dunny.) 113;.Bonito, 114.\Span- ish Mackerel. 120. Sword Fish. 139. Bluefish. 144. -Butterfish. 145. Rock Bass. 147. Small-mouthed Black Bass. 148. Large-mouthed Black Bass. 150. Yellow Perch.) 152% Striped (Bass: <9153) Wihite Rerchy e155. sea Bass. 162.) Scup a miGse Weakfish. 175. Kingfish. 177. Bergall. 178. Blackfish. 220. Whiting. 221. Pol- lacks 3222: Tomcod:223., Cod.) 224.) Haddock. = 226. Lakes 227.) squirrels lalces 230. Fluke. 231. Spotted Flounder. 232. Four-spotted Flounder. 236. Flatfish.

WoruUp Ss FAIR Sm, Wwowis, Us S:-As, APR O;s1OOZ.

The Fishes of Long Isfand,

With Notes epon their Distribation, Common Names, Habits, and Rate of Growth.

Class Marsipobranchii. Lampregs. Order HYPEROARTII. Lampreys. Family PETROMYZONIDA. Lampreys.

1. Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus Linneus).

The Sea Lamprey inhabits the North Atlantic, ascending streams to spawn, and sometimes becoming landlocked. The fish ranges southward on our coast to Virginia.

The larval form, which is blind and toothless, is extremely abundant in muddy sand flats near the mouths of small streams, and is a very important bait for hook and line fishing. In the breeding season, in spring, the males have a high fleshy ridge in front of the dorsal. Spawning is believed to take place in May or June. The eels cling to the rocks by means of their suctorial mouths, and the eggs are deposited in shallow water where the current is swift. Some observers state that they make nests by heaping up stones in a circle and deposit the eggs under the stones. The eggs are very small. The lamprey feeds generally upon animal matter, and it is somewhat of a parasite, burrowing into the side of shad, sturgeon, and some other fishes. It is considered a good fish in some localities; in other places it is rarely eaten.

DeKay says the lamprey is commonly taken in April, and, judging by the prices at which it is sold, must be held in high esteem by epicures. He says it ascends streams and constructs conical heaps of stones among which it deposits the eggs. He has observed it at Albany in the spring, and was informed that it was taken a few miles below that city. He also describes the same lamprey under the names of the Bluish Sea Lamprey and the Small Lamprey.

Quoting from Storer, he states that the lamprey is often attached to mackerel, haddock and cod.

375

376 REPORT OF THE

The Sea Lamprey has been obtained in Gravesend Bay in March, April and June in small numbers. It does not live in captivity, because its proper food cannot be

obtained.

Class PISC@S. The Fishes. Subclass SELACHII. Sharks and Skates. Order ASTEROSPONDYLI. Typical Sharks. Family PSEUDOTRIAKID-.

2. Small-toothed Nurse Shark (Pseugotriakis microdon Capello).

The Pseudotriakis is known from only two specimens. The first of these was described from Portugal and the second, about 10 feet long, was secured at Ama- gansett, Long Island, by the crew of the Life-Saving Station. This example was fully described by Bean in Proceedings, U. S. National Museum, page 147, 1883. It is figured in Oceanic Ichthyology, and also in part IV, Bulletin 47, U. S. National Museum, pl. IV, figure 14.

Family GALEIDA:. Requiem Sharks.

3. Smooth Dog Fish (Mustelus canis Mitchill).

The Smooth Dog Fish is described by DeKay under the name of the American Hound-fish. DeKay usually found their stomachs filled with small crustacea and seaweed. The largest one he saw did not exceed 3 feet in length, but he quotes Mitchill’s statement that it sometimes reaches the length of 4 feet.

Ayres says it is the only common shark in Old Man’s Harbor and vicinity. In the stomach of one he found shrimps, a small crab, and fragments of a sea clam. This shark has been brought alive from Gravesend Bay in August, September and October. It is very restless and delicate in captivity, often coming to the surface and trying to escape. Specimens were obtained in the Atlantic off Southampton, in Wigo Inlet, and at Islip, in August and September, 1808.

This little shark is not eaten, but is frequently used for its oil and in making

fertilizers. It is a very common fish in the North Atlantic.

4. Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo tigrinus M. & H.). The Tiger Shark, also called Leopard Shark and Spotted Shark, is a common inhabitant of tropical seas, ranging northward occasionally to Cape Cod and to

San Diego. It grows to the length of 30 feet, and is noted for its ferocity.

It arrives in Vineyard Sound, according to Dr. Smith, in August, and remains

( SANNVYAL VILHOOAaHG } NAGVHNAW ; 27 ae | | 7

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 377

until October. The usual length of individuals taken there is 5 feet. The shark is present every year in variable numbers, and is caught in traps in Vineyard Sound

and Buzzards Bay.

5. Great Blue Shark (Prionace glauca Linnzus).

This is a large shark of the warm seas and is occasionally taken on our coasts. A few individuals are recorded from San Francisco and Monterey, California. At Woods Hole, Mass., the species is very rare; a single example was obtained from

a trap in July, 1877. 6. Dusky Shark (Carcharhinus obscurus Le Sueur).

The Dusky Shark lives in the Middle Atlantic and is frequently taken on our Eastern coast. It reaches the length of g or 10 feet. DeKay did not see the fish, but quotes the description and copies the figure from Le Sueur who had the species

from New York. A young individual was caught in a pound at Islip in August, 1898. Another

small one, 22% inches long, and without trace of an umbilical scar, was captured in a gillnet set off Widow's Creek, September 27, 1901. It had been feeding upon soft edible crabs.

7. Milbert’s Shark (Carcharhinus milberti M. & H.). Milbert’s Shark is the small Blue Shark of Mitchill and DeKay. DeKay had a

specimen about 2 feet long and gives the greatest size known to him as 6 feet. He says the shark is frequently taken in New York and extends along the coast to New Hampshire. DeKay also describes this shark by another name, that of the Long-tailed Porbeagle, which was obtained at Brenton’s Reef, on the coast of Rhode Island. The example was 7 feet 4 inches long. When captured the stomach was filled with large fish which were too much injured to be identified. This species ranges from Cape Cod to Florida.

Prof. Baird mentioned this shark in the first Report of the U. S. Fish Commis- sion. Four individuals, each about 4 feet long, were taken in a trap at Woods Hole, August 8, 1873, and sent to Washington. None have since been observed there.

The color, according to Mr. Edwards, was an intense, almost indigo, blue.

8. Round-nosed Shark (Afrzonodon isodon M. & H.).

The Aprionodon is iound in the Atlantic Ocean and has been recorded from New York, Virginia and Cuba. It is believed to be a rare fish. Miller and Henle attribute this shark to New York. In Giinther’s Catalogue it is called Carckharzias

punctatus.

REPORT OF THE

iS) NI (oe)

9. Sharp-nosed Shark (Scolzodon terre-nove Richardson).

The Sharp-nosed Shark is a small fish not often exceeding 3 feet in length, rang- ing from Cape Cod to Brazil. This is the Green-backed Shark of Mitchill, described in the Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society, Vol. 1, page 483. This shark is very common on the coast of the South Atlantic States but occurs very rarely as far north as Long Island. It has not been mentioned in the records

of the U. S. Fish Commission at Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Family SPHYRNIDA:. Hammer-headed Sharks. 10. Shovel-head Shark (Sphyrua tiburo Linneus).

The Shovel-head Shark is a common fish on our Eastern coast from Long Island southward. It also occurs in the Pacific. It grows to the length of 5 feet. DeKay stated that the existence of this shark on the New York coast rested upon very

doubtful authority. The species, however, has been taken occasionally.

11. Hammer-head Shark (Sphyrua zygena Linneus).

The Hammer-head Shark is sometimes called Shovel-nose by the fishermen according to DeKay. A small specimen described by him was captured in Septem- ber in a seine in the harbor of New York, in company with several others. He saw individuals in Hellgate 4 feet long.

Dr. Mitchill mentions 3 examples taken in 1805 at Riverhead, Long Island, in a net. The largest was 11 feet long and upon opening him many detached parts of a man, together with his clothing, were found in his stomach.

This is not a common shark in Gravesend Bay, but it is occasionally taken in

August and September. Family ALOPIIDA:. Thresher Sharks. 12. Thresher Shark (A/opzas vulpes Gmelin).

The Thresher Shark, according to DeKay, is known under the names of Thresher, Fox Shark, and Swingle-tail. He states that it pursues schools of mackerel, men- haden, and shad and devours them in great numbers. He says that it reaches the length of 15 feet.

The Thresher Shark abounds in all warm seas, especially the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and it is frequently taken in the Pacific. This is common in Vineyard Sound. It is also found in Buzzards Bay and is not infrequently caught in fish traps. Cod fishermen at Gayhead catch this shark on lines baited with fresh her-

ring. Individuals 20 feet long have been caught in Vineyard Sound.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 379

A Thresher Shark was caught off the ocean beach at Water Island in May, 1899, and the tail of a large example was seen near Cherry Grove, Great South Bay, on

August 13, 1901; but no specimens were taken in the bay during the summer.

Family CARCHARIIDA:. Sand Sharks.

13. Sand Shark (Carcharias littoralis Mitchill).

This is called Ground Shark by Mitchill and DeKay. Mitchill states that it reaches the length of 8 feet. The species is rather common on our Atlantic coast, especially from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras.

A young male taken in. Gravesend Bay, June 26th, lived in captivity until December tgth when the temperature of the water in which it was confined was 53°. Full measurements and other notes upon this specimen are published in Bul- letin American Museum of Natural History, IX, 1897, pp. 329-330.

The Sand Shark shows variation in the structure of its teeth. In a large indi- vidual caught in the ocean at Southampton some of the teeth had two cusps on each side of the base instead of one, the usual number.

The last of the Sand Sharks seen by me in the fall of 1898 was observed, Sep- tember 16, swimming westward near the surface near the inlet at Fire Island.

In 1898 this shark was abundant on grassy shallows south of Toby’s flat until the middle of September, when it migrated westward. It preyed upon mullet, eel and flat fish. On account of its habit of swimming slowly near the surface, it was easily caught by spears from a row boat. :

The first Sand Shark secured in 1901 was taken ina gillnet in Clam Pond Cove, Great South Bay, on July 18. Fishermen there call it the Spanish Shark. This is very abundant in the bay during the summer and is a great nuisance to fishermen because it destroys both fish and nets. On the evening of July 23, 1901, Clam Pond Cove was overrun by the sharks so that it was almost useless to attempt gillnet fishing at night. A clam fisherman killed seven of the sharks with a spear and we captured several in the same way. When the sharks are intent upon feeding they are easily approached in the shallow water and killed. They were usually feeding upon the flat fish and the eel.

Family LAMNID. Mackerel Sharks.

14. Mackerel Shark (/swrus dekayi Gill).

The Mackerel Shark is described by DeKay under the name of the Mackerel

Porbeagle. He states that it usually reaches the length of 8 feet, but mentions an

380 REPORT OF THE

individual measuring 10 feet 2 inches, which was taken in the harbor of New York in October, 1840. He also had a small example, taken 16 years before near the Lightship off Sandy Hook. This shark is quite Comicon in Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay. It is most numerous in those waters in fall, remaining until the end

of November. The range of the shark is from Cape Cod to the West Indies.

15. Porbeagle (Lamna cornubica Gmelin).

The Porbeagle is a very large pelagic shark, reaching the length of 10 feet, and inhabits the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. It is occasionally taken on the coast of New England and southward. It is not rare in California, and is rather common in Shellikoff Strait, Alaska, where it preys upon the Pacific salmon; numerous individuals have been captured in salmon seines on the western shores of Kadiak Island.

A young individual about 3% feet long, was caught in a gillnet at Southampton

in July, 1808. 16. Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias Linneus).

The Man-eater Shark is one of the largest of the sharks, reaching a length of 30. feet. It occurs in all temperate and tropical seas, and is occasionally taken both on the Atlantic and Pacific coast. Jordan and Evermann mention an example caught near Soquel, California, which was about 30 feet long, and had in its stomach a young sea lion weighing about 100 pounds. Around Cape Cod this shark is rare. It was reported by Prof. Baird in 1871, and several specimens have been sent from Woods Hole.

Family CETORHINIDA. Basking Sharks.

17. Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus Gunner).

The Basking Shark was described by Mitchill in 1815, and also by DeKay in 1842. In 1822 an individual was captured in the lower harbor of New York, and afterwards described by Le Sueur. The Basking Shark, according to DeKay, has obtained its popular name from its habit of basking, or remaining quiet for a length of time in one place. He further states that the fish is sluggish and inert and not ferocious. This shark, known also as Bone Shark and Elephant Shark, reaches a length of nearly 40 feet; it inhabits the Arctic seas, straying southward to Portugal, Virginia and California. In the breeding season numbers swim together at the:

surface. The gills contain slender, long and close-set lamine.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 281

CYCLOSPONDYLI. Cyclospondylous Sharks. Suborder CYCLOSPONDYLI. Family SQUALID. Dog Fishes.

18. Spined Dog Fish (Sguwalus acanthias Linneus).

The Spined Dog Fish, called Spinous Dog Fish by DeKay, was not described in Mitchill’s Catalogue of the Fishes of New York, although the fish was known to him and was noticed by him soon after the publication of his Memoir.

The fish has been brought from Gravesend Bay only in October. It is common on the fishing banks off the New Jersey coast. Specimens were taken at Southampton October 20, 1808.

Mitchill stated that a greater part of those taken in December were females. DeKay found in the stomachs of several remains of soft clam and fish scales. He refers to a statement of Couch, that this shark bends itself into a bow for the purpose of using its spines, and by a sudden motion causes them to spring asunder in opposite directions, and so accurately that if a finger be placed on its head, it it will strike it without piercing its own skin.

The Spined Dog Fish reaches a length of about 3 feet. It is very abundant along the shores of the North and Middle States, and occurs as far south as Cuba. It feeds largely on herrings. Oil is extracted from its liver. In Scotland it is said that the flesh is eaten by the poorer classes. This shark has also been utilized in the manufacture of guano. According to Dr. Smith, when it first comes on the

coast of Cape Cod in May, it feeds largely on Ctenophores.

Suborder TECTOSPONDYLI. Family SQUATINID. Angel Sharks.

19. Angel Fish; Monk Fish (Squwatzna squatina Linneus).

The Shark Ray or Monk Fish is called by DeKay the American Angel Fish. DeKay did not see a New York specimen, and it seems not to have been described by Mitchill, but DeKay states that he had no doubt of the occasional occurrence of - this shark on the coast of New York, as intelligent fishermen had described it to him by the name of Little Bull Head Shark, and had recognized the figure of the fish.

This shark grows to the length of 4 feet. It inhabits warm seas. It is common

in the Mediterranean; occurs occasionally on the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod

REPORT OF THE

ISS) (oe) iS)

southward, and is rather common on the California coast, especially from San Francisco to Monterey. An example weighing 35 or 40 pounds was taken in a trap on Martha’s Vineyard, September 1, 1873. It has not since been recorded from the region.

The Shark Ray is found only in the bays along the south coast of Long Island.

It appears occasionally in Gravesend Bay in summer.

Order BATOIDEI. The Rays. Suborder SARCURA. Thick-tailed Rays. Family RAJIDA:. The Skates.

Skates were rather common in Great South Bay. They were often found feeding in shallow waters near the shores, especially in the evening and night. A large male was taken by the hands on the night of October 17, 1898, in a small dug-out creek emptying into Clam Pond Cove. It was at the edge of the shore and partly out of the water, having followed the channel to the head of the creek

and then failed to discover a way out.

20. Common Skate (Raja erinacea Mitchill).

The Common Skate, also known as the Little Skate, Prickly Skate, and Tobacco Box, was first described by Mitchill from a New York specimen. Mitchill called it the Hedgehog Ray. His description was made from a specimen taken off the coast of New Jersey in seven fathoms of water.

This skate reaches a length of nearly 2 feet. The females are larger than the males. It is very common on our coast from Maine to Virginia. Ayres stated that it was frequently taken in nets during the summer in Old Man’s Harbor. It has been received from Gravesend Bay in November and its eggs have been obtained from that bay in March. In captivity this skate has deposited its eggs during the winter. The Prickly Skate was caught in small numbers at Southampton August 3, 1898.

In allusion to its habit of rolling itself up when caught, fishermen at Woods

Hole call it the “ Bonnet Skate” according to Dr. Smith.

21. Big Skate (Raza ocellata Mitchill).

The Big Skate was first described by Mitchill, who hada specimen 30 inches long and 19 inches wide. He mentions a whitish mark on the posterior part of the flap on each side resembling a butterfly’s wing. DeKay calls this species the Spotted

Ray. He found the stomach of one filled with rock crabs.

Ios)

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 38

Fishermen know this fish as the skate. It has no commercial value in Great South Bay. Examples were taken on the trawl line near Fire Island Inlet October I, 1884. In 1890, the skates were reappearing in the traps at Islip October 1, on their fall migration. In 1898 a specimen was taken near the inlet of Fire Island, September 29. It was more abundant later in the fall.

This skate is found on the coast of New York. Massachusetts and northward. It reaches a length of nearly 3 feet. The egg cases are more than twice as large as

those of the smaller skates.

22. Clear-nosed Skate (Raza eglanteria Bosc).

The Clear-nosed Skate is not very common in our northern waters, but ranges as far north at least as Cape Cod. At Woods Hole, according to Dr. Smith, a few are taken every year in traps at Menemsha; they were formerly taken at the break- water. This skate appears to be very abundant on the Virginia coast and south- ward. In Great South Bay it is not uncommon in the vicinity of Fire Island early in September. Examples were taken in Fire Island Inlet and Wigo Inlet on baited

hooks. This fish has no commercial value and is usually thrown away.

23. Barndoor Skate (Raja levis Mitchill).

The Barndoor Skate is the largest of the Atlantic species. It reaches a length of 4 feet. It ranges from New England to Florida and is not uncommon northward. Around Cape Cod it is rare in summer, but common in spring and fall. In Gravesend

Bay this skate is abundant in October; it is not hardy in captivity.

Family NARCOBATID. Electric Rays.

24. Torpedo; Cramp-fish (7etranarce occidentalis Storer).

The Torpedo was not seen by Mitchill and DeKay on the coast of New York, but DeKay was satisfied that the fish existed, although none had then been examined by naturalists. He applies to the fish the names of Torpedo, Numb- fish and Cramp-fish. | This fish inhabits the Atlantic coast of the United States from Cape Cod

southward and is also found in Cuba. It is not very common. It is said to reach a length of 5 feet, and weight of 200 pounds. According to Dr. Smith the fish is not uncommon in Vineyard Sound from May to November. It is most numerous in

October and November. At times as many as half a dozen are taken at one lift

384 REPORT OF THE

of the trap at Menemsha. The average weight is 30 pounds, the maximum 75 pounds, the minimum 4 or 5 pounds. This fish has the ability to give powerful electric shocks, and has caused much

excitement among the fishermen.

Suborder MASTICURA. Whip-tailed Rays. Family DASYATIDA.. Sting Rays.

25. Common Sting Ray (Dasyatis centrura Mitchill).

Mitchill has described this fish as the Prickly-tailed Sting Ray, which he styles “A very large species found on the coast of Long Island, with a tail 5 feet or more in length, covered all over with prickly shields or scales, and armed on its upper side with two naked bones of 4 inches long, inversely serrated.”

Ayres reported that it was not uncommon in Old Man’s Harbor after the middle of July, 15 to 18 fish sometimes having been taken at one haul. It is now rare in

Gravesend Bay, but formerly hundreds were taken every year.

26. Kit (Dasyatis hastata DeKay).

DekKay described the animal from a specimen captured off the coast of Rhode Island by Mr. Carson Brevoort, of New York. In his specimen the length of the body was 36% inches, its width 42 inches, the length of its tail 61 inches, and the weight 110 pounds. Mr. Brevoort informed DeKay that these rays appeared to associate together. They moved slowly together through the water along the edges of the rocks, about 3 feet below the surface. When captured, the individual described whipped its tail about with great activity in all directions. From this circumstance it has been called Whip Ray.

This ray ranges from Maine to Cape Hatteras. Sometimes it grows to a length of 12 feet:

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is common during summer, appearing early in July. 27. Southern Sting Ray (Dasyatis say Le Sueur).

The Southern Sting Ray is mentioned among the Extra-Limital fishes by DeKay on page 376 of his New York Fauna. He quotes his accompanying remarks from ie Sueur:

This Sting Ray is found on the coast from the Carolinas to Brazil. Occasionally

it migrates northward to New York. It is common in Florida.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 28

on

28. Butterfly Ray (Preroplatea maclura Le Sueur).

DeKay knew this fish only from the description and figure of Le Sueur, who had a specimen from Newport, Rhode Island, measuring 42 inches in length and 79 inches in width. Le Sueur stated that it is frequently found measuring from 15 to 18 feet in width.

This ray ranges from Cape Cod southward to Brazil; it is not uncommon on the Carolina coast. It is rare at Woods Hole, Mass., but individuals have been ‘observed there in August and September. The fish occurs rarely in Gravesend

Bay. Family MYLIOBATIDA. Eagle Rays.

29. Eagle Ray (A/yliobatis freminviller Le Sueur).

The Eagle Ray was also unknown to DeKay, except from the description given by Le Sueur, whose specimens came from Rhode Island. Ayres saw a single indi- vidual in Old Man’s Harbor July 17, 1841. Its length was 3 feet 11 inches. At Woods Hole, Mass., this ray is not very common, but a few individuals are taken every year in traps.

This fish extends along the coast from Cape Cod to Brazil.

30. Cow-nosed Ray (Riznoptera bonasus Mitchill).

This name was given to the species by Mitchill. DeKay reports it as exceed- ingly common about New York in the autumn. With its powerful spade-like snout, writes DeKay, it roots up clams and cruskes them between its flattened teeth, which appear to act upon each other like the cylinders of a rolling mill. DeKay borrowed this description from Mitchill, who says, “he enters the bay and ranges very exten- sively on the flats where the soft clam lives. These shell-fish he is supposed to devour, for a shoal of cow-noses root up the salt-water flats as completely as a drove of hogs would do.”

This ray extends along the coast from Cape Cod to Florida. It is not rare. At Woods Hole, Mass., it is a common species. It is rarely seen now in Gravesend Bay.

25

386 REPORT OF THE

Subclass TELEOSTOMI. True Fishes. Series GANOIDEI. Ganoid Fishes. Order CHONDROSTEI. The Sturgeons. Family ACIPENSERIDA. Sturgeons.

31. Common Sturgeon (Aczpenser sturio Linneus).

The Common Sturgeon is now regarded as identical with the stwrzo of Europe, although the American form is said to show some slight differences from the Euro- pean. The American Sturgeon was first described by Mitchill. DeKay also records the fish under the name of the Sharp-nosed Sturgeon and Short-nosed Sturgeon, the latter being the adult stage of the former.

The Common Sturgeon attains a weight of over 500 lbs., but the average weight is now not more than 150 lbs. The spawning season is spring and summer. The number of eggs produced is from 1,000,000 to 2,500,000. Spawning takes place in either the fresh or brackish waters of the streams. The incubation period is about seven days in water at a temperature of 62 to 66 degrees. The artificial hatching of the Sturgeon has not yet been satisfactorily accomplished.

The Common Sturgeon ranges from New England to Carolina. It appears every spring in Gravesend Bay and sometimes in the fall. It is hardy in captivity and

feeds chiefly upon hard clams. 32. Short-nosed Sturgeon (Acipeuser brevirostris Le Sueur).

The Short-nosed Sturgeon is a smaller fish, seldom exceeding 3 feet in length. It is usually much darker in color than the common sturgeon, and is easily distin- guished by its very short snout. It ranges from Cape Cod to Florida, but is rare

northward. It has been taken rarely in Gravesend Bay.

Series TELEOSTEI. Bony Fishes. Subclass OSTARIOPHYSI. Order NEMATOGNATHI. Catfishes. Family SILURIDA. Catfishes. 33. Sea Catfish; Gaff Topsail (Felichthys marinus Mitchill).

The Catfish was first described by Mitchill under the name of the Salt Water Catfish. DeKay also describes the fish under the name of Oceanic Catfish. He

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 387

states that it is frequently abundant in Communipaw Creek, on the Jersey side of the harbor of New York, and that it swims frequently with its dorsal above the surface in the manner of sharks and imitating these animals in voracity.

This fish extends from Cape Cod to Texas. It is reported to be quite rare at Woods Hole, Mass., where Prof. Baird obtained a specimen in 1871. Recently but few have been seen; one was caught in a trap at Menemsha in 1886. This catfish

is common southward and is not valued as food. It reaches the length of 2 feet.

34. Sea Catfish (Galeichthys felis Linneus). The Sea Catfish is recorded as Milbert’s Arius by DeKay who knew it only

from the description of Cuvier and Valenciennes, which description he copied. Numerous specimens. were sent to Cuvier from New York by Milbert. The fish ranges from Cape Cod to Texas. It was reported to have been common in the spring in Vineyard Sound many years ago, being often taken with cod; it is now very rare and only occasionally observed since the Fish Commission Station at Woods Hole was established. A specimen was taken in 1887 since which time none have been reported, according to Dr. Smith. This fish also grows to a length of 2 feet. It is common southward along sandy coasts and more abundant than

any of the other salt water catfishes.

35- Horned Pout; Bullhead (Amezurus nebulosus Le Sueur).

~The Horn Pout has a wide range; it is found in the Great Lakes, the Ohio valley eastward to Maine, and extends south to Florida and Texas. In has also been intro- duced into various rivers flowing into the Pacific Ocean and has become very abun- dant inthem. The fish grows tothe length of 18 inches. About 1879, according to Mather and Dean, it was introduced into Lake Ronkonkoma. In Great Pond, they found individuals weighing up to more than I pound. In 1898, the Horn Pout was seined in moderate numbers in Swan River at Patchogue. In Igol, only a

single specimen was taken in that stream.

Order PLECTOSPONDYLI. Carp-like Fishes. Family CATOSTOMIDA. The Suckers. 36. Chub Sucker (47i2myzon sucetta oblongus Mitchill).

Mitchill describes the Chub Sucker under the name of New York Chub. DeKay also describes the fish under the names of the New York Chub Sucker, the Brilliant Chub Sucker, and the Round Back Chub Sucker. He says it occurs in the markets

388 REPORT OF THE

of New York in October and November and is held in little estimation for food. This fish is found from the Great Lakes region to Maine; westward to Dakota and south to Virginia and Indian Territory. According to Mather and Dean it is taken

by gillnets at Riverhead, Long Island.

Family CYPRINIDA. Carps and Minnows.

37. Tench (77zzca tinca Linneus). Introduced.

The Tench is a native of Europe; it was introduced into the United States many years ago, but apparently has not become well established anywhere. Specimens have been taken in the Potomac River near Washington which probably escaped from the rearing ponds. The fish has been reared at Cold Spring Harbor and from there planted in some of the waters of Long Island. The Tench is regarded as a

good food fish. It grows to a length of 15 inches and the weight of 5 or 6 pounds.

38. Golden Ide (/dus cdus Linneus). Introduced.

The Golden Ide is another European species which was introduced into this country about the same time as the Tench. It is not a food fish, but is highly prized as an ornamental species for large ponds. It is reared at the Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery and has been introduced in the waters of Long Island, but it

does not appear to multiply in our climate.

39. Roach; Golden Shiner (4 dramzs chrysoleucas Mitchill).

This is called the Shiner and the New York Shiner by Mitchill. DeKay also describes it under the name of the New York Shiner. He says that it is common in all the fresh water streams of New York and the adjacent States. DeKay also mentions this fish as the Variegated Bream. He describes it as a savory fluviatile fish. He says it appears occasionally in New York markets from the streams of Long Island. According to this author it is also called the Yellow-bellied Perch and Wind Fish. The name of wind fish is derived from one of its habits. When- ever a slight gust of wind ruffles the water thousands of these fish may be seen darting to the surface, and as suddenly disappearing. The Golden Shiner was said to be abundant in Great Pond at Riverhead by Mather and Dean.

In captivity the roach feeds freely upon chopped hard clams. The fish spawned

in May, 1897, and the young were 1¥% inches long early in December of that year.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 389

4o. Black-nosed Dace (Rhinichthys atronasus Mitchill).

Mitchill describes this fish under the name of Brook Minnow. DeKay also describes it as the Black-nosed Dace. He says it inhabits clear fresh-water streams and rivers, and is found abundantly in New York and the adjacent States.

Mather and Dean mention this as a Long Island fish in their paper in the 18th Report of the New York Fish Commission. Probably this record is based upon the article by Ayres, in which he describes four new species of Long Island fishes, among them the Black-nosed Dace. He does not, however, refer in this description

to Long Island specimens, but to an example taken in Massachusetts.

41. Gold Fish (Carassius auratus Linneus). Introduced.

The Gold Fish has been introduced from China into Europe and from Europe into the United States. DeKay says it was brought to Europe in the early part of the seventeenth century, and probably found its way to the United States shortly after. He says it breeds freely in ponds in New York and the adjacent States.

The Gold Fish is reared at Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery and has been exten- sively distributed in Long Island fresh waters. A number of remarkably large indi- viduals were obtained from that hatchery some years ago. One was a typical fan tail. Another resembling this in color had the form of the common gold fish; scill another was so deep-bodied that it could hardly swim in equilibrium, All of these

were from the same lot of eggs.

42. Carp (Cyprinus carpio Linneus). Introduced.

The Carp is a native of the lakes and rivers of the southern parts of Europe. It was introduced into England about 300 years ago. According to DeKay it was brought to New York by Henry Robinson, Esq., Newburgh, Orange county, whose account of the introduction is thus given by DeKay: “I brought the carp from France in the years 1831 and ’32, some two or three dozen at a time, and gen- erally lost one-third on the passage. I have probably put into my ponds six or seven dozen. They soon increased to a surprising degree and I have now more than sufficient for family use. I have not paid much attention to their habits, but I have noticed that they spawn twice a year; first about the middle of May and again in July. * * * During the period of spawning, which lasts about 10 days, it is very amusing to watch their operations. They come up to the surface and the females deposit the spawn along the side of the pond among the grass where they are impregnated by the males as they are emitted. During this process

they keep the sides of the pond in a foam with their gambols, and it is not difficult

390 REPORT OF THE

at that time to take them with your hands. * * * For the last four years past I have put from one to two dozen carp every spring in the Hudson River near my residence. They have increased so much that our fishermen frequently take them with their nets. They are larger than those in my ponds.”

The Carp has been artificially reared at Cold Spring Harbor and introduced into many parts of Long Island. Fishermen report it plentiful in Swan River and some

portions of Quantic Bay. An example was obtained at Smith’s Point in 1808.

Order APODES. Eels. Suborder ENCHELYCEPHALI. Eels. Family ANGUILLIDA. True Eels.

43. Common Eel (Aznguzlla chrysypa Rafinesque).

Dr. Mitchill mentions an eel which was caught in the South Bay of Long Island that weighed 16% pounds. He records the use of eel pots, the practice of bobbing, and also winter fishing by spearing. Dr. Mitchill states distinctly that the ovaries of eels may be seen like those of other fish, but they are often mistaken for masses of fat. Dr. DeKay states that he had examined the Silver Eel of the fishermen and was disposed to consider it as only a variety of the common eel. He characterized it as silver gray above with satiny white abdomen, separated from . the color above by the lateral line. At Bellport thousands of eel pots are employed, and these are fastened to stakes which are set in straight lines over a large extent of the bottom. These stakes project from 4 to 6 feet above the surface of the water. About Cape Cod the eel is abundant at all times, according to Dr. Smith, but most numerous in October. On the west side of Buzzards Bay traps have been set especially for eels, and large catches have been made. During two weeks in October, 1896, one trap took 350 barrels; in one night between 30 and 35 barrels were caught.

According to Ayres, it inhabits the creeks and bays of Long Island in myriads. Usually in November it retires into the mud and becomes torpid, remaining so until May. During this period many are caught by spears. It is active the whole summer, much more so by night than by day. Many are speared at night by firelight. Its food consists chiefly of small fish.

The eel occurs at Riverhead in Great Pond, according to Mather and Dean.

The smallest eel observed in the summer of I901 was taken in Swan River,

at Patchogue, August 29; it was 234 inches long.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 391

Young of the Common Eel were the only fish found in the upper waters of Swan River, although other kinds have been taken there frequently.

The eel is usually not much disturbed by fire lighting at night, unless the moon shines brightly. At a certain stage of the tide, usually on the first of the flood, it is found in very shallow water near the shore, and frequently in the grass almost out of water. The peculiar smacking sound it makes while feeding can be heard from many directions. Its prey includes silverside, killifish, and other small fishes.

Eels taken during the summer of 190! in Great South Bay had been feeding upon shrimp, soft edible crab, mussel, killifish and silverside. The best bait for eelpots was found to be horseshoe crab; pieces of sand shark were tried but without success, only two small eels having been taken in the pots during the night when such bait was used.

Eels caught in the night of September 6, 1901, at Smith’s Cove, had been feeding upon common killy and scft edible crab.

Asa rule eels enter the pots almost entirely on the flood tide.

A large eel seen at the mouth of Horse-foot Creek in 1898, was standing on its head boring for worms when it was speared. Another large one was seen swimming at the surface at the mouth of Widow’s Creek, September 26, 1901. It was uninjured and its sight was perfect, but the thick grass appeared to prevent its escape and it was caught with a dipnet.

Male eels were caught in moderate numbers during the summer of rgor in various parts of Great South Bay. A number were taken in eelpots set off the mouth of Swan River.

Male eels were also obtained at Smith’s Point, Brown’s Creek, Swan River, and in Great South Bay near the mouth of Swan River in the fall of 1901. All of them were much smaller than the average of females. They are easily distinguished by the short snout, large eye, and silvery belly. A considerable number of them were obtained at Smith’s Point, October 1.

It is said that the Silver Eels all leave the bay before winter sets in, but the Common Eels remain in the mud. A fyke trap is set near Fire Island to catch Silver Eels on their way out.

* In Brown’s Creek, Sayville, a female eel with eggs well developed was speared in one of the hibernation holes. Male eels were also taken from such holes.

Eels sometimes bunch together in the hibernation holes. H. E. Swezey states that he has taken as many as four at one thrust, and sometimes two on one beard

of a spear.

392 REPORT OF THE

Family LEPTOCEPHALIDA. Conger Eels. 44. Conger Eel (Leptocephalus conger Linneus).

Sometimes caught in summer in Gravesend Bay. It suffers greatly from attacks of fungus in captivity during warm weather. |

The Conger Eel is occasionally taken by hand-line fishermen off Southampton while fishing’ for sea bass and scup. The fishermen dislike this eel on account of its pugnacity and strength.

The Conger Eel arrives at Woods Hole, Mass., in July and remains until fall. Dr. Smith says it has been very common there for several years, but was rather rare formerly. Fishermen asa rule do not distinguish it from the Common Eel. A few are taken in traps and with lines, but many large ones, weighing from 8 pounds upward, are caught in lobster pots. An individual weighing 12 pounds was taken on aline at Falmouth, August 30, 1897. The small eels observed are 15 to 28 inches

long. Order ISOSPONDYLI. Family ELOPIDA:. Tarpons. 45. Tarpon (Zarpon atlanticus C. & V.).

Dr. Smith says the Tarpon is taken every year in traps at South Dartmouth, also occasionally at Quisset and at Menemsha in the latter part of September. All are about one size, 80 to 100 pounds. Fishermen call them “ Big Scale Fish.” Owing to the toughness of the flesh the people of New Bedford do not like the fish.

A Tarpon was reported to me as having been found in Swan River at Patchogue, October 1898. The fish was 4 feet long and was said to have entered the river alive.

Mr. W. I. De Nyse saw an individual about 5 feet long at Gravesend Beach,

Long Island, in the summer of 1901. 46. Big-eyed Herring (£/ops saurus Linneus).

The Big-eyed Herring, also called Ten-pounder, occurs in the fall at Cape Cod according to Dr. Smith. It is taken in traps at Vineyard Sound and in herring gill. nets at Vineyard Haven. No young examples were observed, the average length having been 18 to 20 inches. An adult was caught in Gravesend Bay in 1898. It is known to the fishermen there as “Seering” and “Sisco.” It is occasionally taken off Southampton; several exampies each about 1 foot long were obtained there in

October, 18098.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 393

Family ALBULIDA. Ladyfishes. 47. Ladyfish; Bonefish (4 /du/a vulpes. Linnzus).

The Ladyfish is not described by either Mitchill or DeKay as one of the fishes of New York. It is found on our coast from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. It also occurs in the Bermudas. The Bermuda names for it are Bony Fish and Grubber. It is very rare at Woods Hole, Mass., where it was reported by Prof. Baird in 1871 and has since been observed only once or twice. None have been reported there for many years.

In Bermuda it is considered an excellent food fish and Dr. Goode testified from personal experience to its value as an edible species. At Cozumel, off the coast of

Yucatan, it is highly esteemed.

Family CLUPEIDA. Herrings.

48. Round Herring (Atrumeus teres DeKay).

The Round Herring was described under the name of Slender Herring by DeKay from a single specimen taken with a seine in New York harbor in the latter part of October. He found it associated with numerous specimens of the Big-eyed Herring.

-Several specimens were seined on the ocean beach at Blue Point Life Saving Station, October 7, 1890. On September 24, 1890, 51 individuals of this fish were found lying on the beach in the vicinity of the same station, having been driven ashore by Blue Fish. In August, 1890, great schools of Round Herring were stranded in this way. The young were taken in Gravesend Bay, July 30, measuring from 4% to 434 inches. They were associated with young mackerel of slightly larger size, in bunches and in schools; some of the latter were estimated to contain 25,000 fish. At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, the Round Herring is apparently rare. It is known to have been found only ona few occasions. Some

years prior to 1898, several were taken in traps at Menemsha Bight.

49. Sea Herring (Clupea harengus Linnzus).

The Sea Herring occurs on our coast from Labrador to New York. When the adults are found as far south as New York they usually occur in midwinter. They enter Great South Bay late inthe fall. This herring is considered the most important sea fish. It furnishes food and employment for more people than any

other single fish known. Most of the large commercial fishes feed upon the

304 REPORT OF THE

herring, either in the young or the adult stage, and the salmon is believed to subsist chiefly upon this fish during its life in the sea. The young of the Sea Herring is well known as the White Bait of England and the United States, although in our country the young of other species are sometimes mingled with those of the Sea Herring. At Cape Cod schools of large herring appear about October 15, in— a spawning condition, and remain until very cold weather sets in. By January the young herring one-half inch long are taken in surface tow nets. By May 1 they are I to 1% inches long, and by August 1 they have reached the length of 1% to 3 inches. Young herring from 3 to 5 inches long are called Sperling. About June 1 there is a large run of herring smaller than those in the fall run; this lasts about two weeks. The Sea Herring is called common American Herring by DeKay, who states that the fish first made its appearance in Long Island Sound in 1817, and “was mistaken for the European Herring.” On April 30, 1896, some young herring known as Shad Bait were brought from Gravesend Bay. The large Sea Herring rarely occur there. Only about a hundred or two hundred are obtained in fall and winter. Young Sea Herring were not seen in Great South Bay during the summer of 1901, but a single individual, about 4 inches long, was found dead July 25, on

the ocean beach opposite Clam Pond Cove.

50. Hickory Shad (Pomolobus mediocris Mitchill).

The Hickory Shad is referred to by Mitchill as the Staten Island Herring, which, he says, grows very large fora herring, being frequently 18 inches long and almost as big as a small shad. He also describes the same fish under the name of Long Island Herring, which, he says, is called the Autumnal or Fall Herring as well as Shad Herring and Fall Shad. The length of the fish, according to this writer, frequently reaches 2 feet, with a depth of 4% to 6 inches. At the time of his writing the fish was taken in October and November in seines on the surf side of the beaches fronting Long Island.

Dr. DeKay mentions examples in the market early in July which are brought from Connecticut, where they are called Weesick. He states that the specific name bestowed upon it by Mitchill was derived from the aboriginal name of the island Mattowaca or Mattowax. In Great South Bay the name Green Back is well estab- lished for this fish. In the Potomac River and other tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay the fish is called Tailor Shad.

The Hickory Shad occurs from Maine to Florida, entering rivers except in New England. It is much less valuable than the shad, for which it is often sold. Noth-

ing definite is recorded about its habits.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 395

It is common in Gravesend Bay in September, October and November, but not in such numbers as were found some years ago. Larger Hickory Shad weighing from % to 2% pounds arrived in Fulton Market from nearby waters October 30, 1896, one of which had in its stomach from 15 to 20 sand launces from 3% to 5 inches long. A few individuals were seen at Blue Point Cove August 16, 1898, and

Howell’s Point August 31, 1898.

51. Branch Herring ; Alewife (Pomolobus pseudoharengus Wilson).

This fish makes its appearance in Gravesend Bay with the shad. On November 30, 1897, examples 6 and 7 inches long and believed to be young of the year were brought from:that bay.

The young of the Branch Alewife were collected in Peconic Bay, Mecox Bay Shinnecock Bay, and in various parts of Great South Bay in July and August, 1808. Adults were landlocked in Mecox Bay by filling up the inlet which had been dug from the Atiantic early in the year.

Young individuals are abundant in summer in Swan River and other fresh waters tributary to Great South Bay. Examples taken August 8 varied in length from 2% to 3% inches. On August 9 individuals seined at Whale House Hole measured from 3% to 7% inches, the larger ones probably being fish of the previous year. At Smith’s Point, August 23, the specimens ranged from 234 to 4 inches. Half-grown fish were obtained as early as July 16.

This Alewife is a very common fish in the fresh water of Swan River. Individu- als 2 inches long were taken there September 9, 1901. Alewives of the year taken during September varied from 2 inches to 4% inches in length. Examples measut- ing 8 inches were found September 9g, but these were probably not fish of the year. A large Alewife, 12 inches long, found in the fresh water of Swan River September 19, was the largest one seen.

The Branch Herring ascends rivers along the coast from Florida to Canada, usually making its appearance with the shad. At Woods Hole, Mass., it arrives in March and April. By May most of the fish have entered the streams and ponds to spawn; early in May it begins to return to salt water. It is very useful for bait as

well as for food.

52. Glut Herring (Pomolobus estivalis Mitchill).

The Glut Herring is known in Great South Bay as the Herring. Mitchill refers to it as the Summer Herring of New York. The very brief description calls

for a row of seven or eight spots extending in the direction of the lateral line, and

396 REPORT OF THE

his figure of the fish represents a row of large dark spots, giving the fish the appear- ance of the Hickory Shad or Green Back of Great South Bay. In Gravesend Bay this fish is known as Shad Herring. On November 30, 1897, two individuals, evi- dently fish of the year, measuring about 7 inches, were obtained from that bay. At Woods Hole the fish is common. It arrives later than the Branch Herring and

spawns in adjacent ponds. It is sometimes called Black Back in that locality.

53. Shad (4/osa sapidissima Wilson).

The Shad is found along our coast from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence River, and has been introduced upon the west coast. It ascends streams for the purpose of spawning and unless prevented by obstructions pushes its way up, some- times to the headwaters.

At Woods Hole, Mass., the Shad comes about May and is taken in traps. It is less numerous than formerly. Thirty years ago probably a hundred times as many were caught as in recent years. In 1897 the average number taken in a trap was not over 3 to 5.

Young shad are frequently seen in large numbers in the fall of the year in nets set off shore in Gravesend Bay. This occurs during the migration seaward. The fish are promptly released. They are usually from 6 to 8 inches long. It frequently happens that shad measuring from 9 to 13% inches are taken in October. These are probably not fish of the year, and their capture indicates that not all of the shad remain at sea after their first migration until they are sexually mature. The late John B. De Nyse stated that of the first spring run of small shad fully ninety per

cent are males.

54. Scaled Sardine (Harengula sp.).

The only individual of this genus so far known in New York waters was taken at Gravesend Bay in 1895. The fish was about g inches long, but unfortunately the specimen was not preserved and the species cannot now be stated with

certainty.

55. Thread Herring (Ofzsthonema oglinum Le Sueur).

The Thread Herring is known as Sprat Herring in Gravesend Bay where it appears in July and August and sometimes fills the nets. This great run lasts two weeks, beginning toward the last of July.

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is very rare. A number were taken there in the fall of 1871. In 1885, it was quite common in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound in

July. It remained about a month and specimens were taken in traps at almost

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 397

every lift. During the next four years the fish was also observed, but none has been seen since 1890. It is recorded from Newport, R. I., where it was taken in traps, but

it is not regularly found north of the Carolinas.

56. Menhaden; Bunker (Srevoortia tyrannus Latrobe).

Mitchill wrote of the Menhaden under the names Bony-fish, Hard-heads, or Marshbankers of New York as follows: “ From the high banks of Montock I have seen acres of them purpling the water of the Atlantic Ocean. The waters of Long Island Sound and its bay are often alive with shoals of them.”

DeKay adds to the common names of this fish Panhagen, Skippang and Bunker, the last two having been in use at the east end of Long Island. He says the Men- haden appear on the shores of Long Island about the beginning of June. At the time of his writing they were commonly sold where caught at $2 a thousand.

Ayres stated that the Menhaden was occasionally eaten, but was almost exclusively used for manure. The nets used for taking them at the east end of the island were very long and a million fish were sometimes taken at a haul. He stated that they were often sold at 50 cents a thousand.

The fish arrive in Gravesend Bay in May, remaining throughout the summer; sometimes as late as November.

The young and adults were very abundant in Great South Bay and connecting

bays to the eastward in 1901. Size of young varied as follows:

July 24, : = - - - - - - 234 inches. INuie - - : - = : = 334 to 4% inches. AUIS Bil |e - - - - - - - 3% to 4% inches. Aug. 23, 3 2 : = ee - 5% inches. Sees Wy 9 = : = ras : : - 5% to 534 inches.

Immense schools of young were seen in the eastern end of Great South Bay and in Quantic Bay; smaller schools were met in Shinnecock Bay. On August 29, many . schools of large Menhaden were present in Great South Bay and there were some bunches containing only 2,000 to 3,000 fish. They were preyed upon by sharks, bluefish and weakfish, and were closely followed by fishermen who caught them for the fertilizer factories near Fire Island Inlet. :

When Menhaden are schooling plentifully in Great South Bay the presence of sharks near by is indicated. Sharks are extremely annoying and destructive to netting, especially to gillnets in which Menhaden are caught. In their attacks upon the fish they bite great holes in the net, and frequently force their way through

them.

398 REPORT OF THE

A large Menhaden was captured by an osprey in Great South Bay and carried through the air fully two miles. The osprey was struck by a charge of shot and dropped its prey, which was then found to be alive.

Young Menhaden were migrating westward in large schools in Great South Bay,

swimming near the surface of the water, on October 1, 1898.

Family ENGRAULIDIDA. Anchovies.

57. Striped Anchovy (Sztolephorus brown Gmelin).

This is the Satin-striped Herring of Mitchill’s Fishes of New York. DeKay copied Mitchill’s description. The example described was 3% inches long.

This Anchovy ranges from Cape Cod to Brazil. It is very abundant southward on the Florida coast and in the West Indies. It was extremely abundant in Great South Bay in September, 1884. The fishermen called it Whitebait. - Individuals were taken as late as October 7. The largest examples of this fish we have seen were seined in Great Egg Harbor Bay in August, 1887. These measured 5% inches and were taken by hundreds in the surf, where bluefish were feeding upon them ravenously. 2

At Woods Hole, Mass., this Anchovy is also abundant as a rule, and is found from August until late in the fall. This is a very important part of the food of young weakfish and bluefish in Great South Bay, and could be utilized as a food species. It was not common in Great South Bay during the summer of 1898 and

was not seen there at all in 1901. -

58. Silvery Anchovy (Stolephorus argyrophanus C. & V.).

The Silvery Anchovy inhabits the Gulf Stream, and is occasional northward as far as Cape Cod. It reaches the length of 4 inches.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is not uncommon at times. It is most numerous in fall, in company with small herring.

This Anchovy is not common in Gravesend Bay, but occurs more frequently in bays connecting directly with the Atlantic. One example was picked up opposite Clam Pond Cove, July 23, 1901, and another one was found dead at Meadow Point Beach July 26. These little fish were probably driven ashore by large bluefish or weakfish.

59. Flat Anchovy (Stolephorus perfasciatus Poey).

This little Anchovy grows to the length of only 3 inches. It is found from the

Florida Keys to Cuba, straying northward occasionally in summer to Long Island.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 399

It is much less abundant than the Striped Anchovy. Specimens have been taken recently in Gravesend Bay. Many examples were taken at Fire Island about the

end of September, 1890. None were seen in other parts of the bay.

60. Common Anchovy (Stolephorus mitchilli C. & V.).

The Common Anchovy is a small fish, seldom exceeding 3 inches in length, which abounds on our eastern shores from Cape Cod to Texas, on sandy bottoms, entering rivers.

This fish occurs in Gravesend Bay in May and remains until October. It is known there as Whitebait. It is one of the most abundant species also at Woods Hole, Mass.

In 1898, it was very common in Long Island waters. Specimens were collected in Peconic Bay, Mecox Bay, Duncan’s Creek, and at Oak Island and Fire Island. The smallest individuals taken in Quantic Bay, August 22, I9g01, measured 154 inches. On the ocean beach, opposite Clam Pond Cove, many of these Anchovies were picked up dead, having been driven ashore by large fish. At West Hampton,

Smith’s Point, and Duncan’s Creek, the fish was very common in September, Igol.

Family SALMONIDA:. Salmon and Trout.

The Common Whitefish was planted without result in Lake Ronkonkoma, according to Mather and Dean. The Lake Trout was introduced, according to Mather and Dean, into Lake

Ronkonkoma without result.

61. Atlantic Salmon (Sadmo salar Linneus),

The Atlantic Salmon was occasionally taken in Gravesend Bay in former years, but is now rarely or never seen as a wild fish. Since the artificial introduction of Salmon into the Hudson River the species is to be looked for in bays adjacent to its mouth.

DeKay, in his New York Fauna, states that “ The Sea Salmon rarely now appears on our coast, except as a straggling visitor. Such an occurrence took place in August, 1840, when a salmon, weighing 8 pounds, entered the Hudson River, and ascended it more than 150 miles, when it was taken near Troy. Previous to the setting of so many nets along the course of this river the fish was probably more numerous.” According to Dr. Smith a few are taken every year in traps in Buz- zards Bay and Vineyard Sound, generally in May. The usual weight of those caught

is 2% pounds, large fish being rare.

400 REPORT OF THE

62. Landiocked Salmon (Sa/mo sebago Girard.) Introduced.

The Southside Sportsmen’s Club of Long Island has reared some Landlocked Salmon and the species is kept in captivity at the Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery. It has been introduced into Long Island waters, but is probably not to be found

regularly now anywhere except at Cold Spring Harbor.

63. Steelhead (Salmo gairdnert Richardson). Introduced.

The Steelhead Trout is mentioned by Mr. C. H. Walters as one of the fishes dis- tributed by the New York Commission. It is reared at the Cold Spring Harbor

station. 64. Brown Trout (Sa/mo fario Linneus). Introduced.

The Brown Trout was at one time very well established on Long Island, but it is

probably restricted now to two or three preserves.

65. Hybrid Trout (Salmo farzo and Salvelinus fontinalts).

This handsome hybrid trout has been reared at the Southside Sportsmen’s Club and at Cold Spring Harbor. The cross has always been artifically made, and never naturally. It is a handsome fish and grows large, but it is sterile and far less~ hardy than either of its parents. It does not seem to meet with much favor. For

a description of the hybrid, see Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.,- IX, 1897, 346-7.

66. Rainbow Trout (Salmo irzdeus Gibbons). Introduced.

Rainbow Trout. This trout has been reared for years at the Southside Sports- men’s Club, Oakdale, L. I., and at the Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery, and has been introduced into other localities. Many of the fish at Oakdale either escaped or

were transplanted into salt water and have thrived.

67. Brook Trout (Sa/velinus fontinclis Mitchill).

The Brook Trout, or Common Trout, according to Mitchill, was much sought after by New York anglers at Hempstead and Islip. He records one that weighed 4% pounds. Patchogue and Fireplace were noted places for Brook Trout at that time (1815).

Concerning the Brook Trout, DeKay wrote that he was credibly informed of one taken on Long Island which measured 20 inches in length and weighed 4% lbs. Those from running streams are better flavored, he states, than the pond trout ; and those taken from streams to which the ‘salt water has access are preferred to

either.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. AOI

This fish is reared in large numbers at the Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery, the Southside Sportsmen’s Club, and elsewhere on Long Island. Few of the natural brook trout streams of Long Island now furnish good trout fishing, except those

which have been restocked.

Family ARGENTINIDA:. Smelts.

68. Smelt ; Ice Fish (Osmerus mordax Mitchill).

The Smelt, writes DeKay, is obtained chiefiy from the small streams emptying into Long Island Sound, and from the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers. The name of Smelt, according to him, is derived from its peculiar smell, which resembles that of cucumbers.

It is found in Gravesend Bay in winter, beginning to run in December and remaining during the cold weather. In the spring it ascends rivers to spawn. The eggs are small and adhesive. The fry are hardy in transportation. The food of the fish consists of shrimps and other small crustaceans.

The Smelt was not seen by us at any time during the summer and early fall in Great South Bay.

Order INIOMI.

Family SYNODONTIDA. The Lizard Fishes.

69. Lizard Fish (Synodus fetens Linnzus).

iieweizard Fish, called Sand Pike by some authors, is the Trout Pike of Mitchill. It is also known as Snake Fish, Segar Fish and Spear Fish. DeKay apparently did not know the fish. Mitchill’s examples, from the head of New York Bay, were from 8 to g inches long. It was very common everywhere in Great South Bay in 1890, but was almost entirely absent in 1898, only a single example having been secured.

It ranges northward to Cape Cod and south to Brazil. In Great Egg Harbor Bay it is a very common fish, but is unknown to the fishermen. At Woods Hole, Mass., it was first noted in 1885, since which time it has been taken nearly every year in September on the beach inside of Nobska Point. It is very common from South Carolina southward on sandy coasts. It is not valued as food. It grows to

the length of 12 inches. 26

402 REPORT OF THE

Order HAPLOMI. Pike-like Fishes. Family UMBRIDA:. Mud Minnows.

70. Striped Mud Minnow (Umdbra pygm@a DeKay).

The Striped Mud Minnow was described by DeKay under the name of the | Pigmy Dace. He regarded it as a member of the minnow family. His specimens were from brooks near Tappan, Rockland County. He states that it is very active, ascends high up the sources of small streams, and is frequently left in shallow pools dried up by the sun.

Dr. Ayres found it in the Connecticut River, on the south side of Long Island, where it appeared to be somewhat uncommon, living chiefly among the grasses with which the river abounds. The fish was found in the upper waters of Swan River - and Grist Mill Pond, at Patchogue, more abundantly in the pond, where it was

concealed in aquatic plants.

Family LUCIIDZ. Pikes.

71. Banded Pickerel (Luczws americanus Gmelin).

The Banded Pickerel of Long Island is called Varied Pickerel by DeKay who states that this little fish is abundant in many of the streams and ponds on Long Island and is said never to exceed the length of 10 inches. This pickerel is an excellent food fish. It frequents the fresh portions of the short coastwise streams.

The smallest Banded Pickerel obtained in the summer of I901 was 2 15 /16 inches long. It was seined in Swan River September 24. The largest one seen was 13% inches long, an unusual size for this pickerel. This example was seined in Brown’s Creek, Sayville, October 8, 1901. It was almost completely covered by a skin parasite forming small black specks which may indicate the presence of larval trematodes. A similar parasite was found on the Bergall by the late Prof. Ryder,

who published an account of it in Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, page 37, 1884.

72. Chain Pickerel (Lucius reticulatus Le Sueur).

The Chain Pickerel is called the Common Pickerel by DeKay, who states that it is found in most of the ponds and streams throughout the State. It is caught during the whole year, but appears to be most prized in winter. He also mentions the fish under the name of Federation Pike. The pickerel, according to Mitchill, frequented the brooks and ponds of Long Island, but he did not distinguish between the Chain Pickerel and the Banded Pickerel, which was described by Gmelin many years earlier, and redescribed by DeKay in 1842. The Chain Pickerel is reported

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 403

by Mather and Dean in Great Pond, at Riverhead, up to 4 pounds in weight. It occurs in moderate numbers at Water Mill, inasmall tributary of Mecox Bay, and in the fresh portion of Mecox Bay. Young and adults were obtained there August I, 1808.

Family PG@:CILIIDZ. Killifishes.

73. Bass Killy (Fundulus majalis Walbaum).

The Bass Killy is the May Fish of Scheepff, the New York Gudgeon of Mitchill, the Striped Killifish of DeKay, and the Bass Mummy of Great South Bay, where it is one of the commonest fishes. This is the largest member of its family. It is not eaten, but forms a very considerable part of the food of market species and is extensively used for bait.

It extends from Cape Cod to Florida. Individuals measuring 8 inches in length are recorded. According to Ayres, it is much less common in Old Man’s Harbor than the Common Killy, and is rarely seen during the winter. In Gravesend Bay it isfound all the year, spending the winter in deep mud holes at the mouths of creeks.

This fish frequently leaps out of the water at night while fishing with lanterns is in progress, and its actions resemble those of the mullet so closely that it is often mistaken for the mullet.

A Killifish is reported by Mather and Dean in Lake Ronkonkoma, and killies of more than one kind were recorded by them in Great Pond, at Riverhead. This pond communicates with Peconic Bay, and hence contains brackish-water as well as

fresh-water forms of fishes.

74. Killifish; Mummichog (fuzdulus heterochitus Linneus).

The Common Killifish is the Killifish of Schcepff, the Yellow-bellied and the White-bellied Killifish of Mitchill, and the Barred Killifish of DeKay. The Indian name, Mummichog, is applied to this as well as to other killies, and some persons call it the Salt Water Minnow. In Great South Bay it is the Mummy or Chog Mummy. It is extremely abundant in all parts of the bay and serves as food for larger fishes.

According to Ayres, on the approach of cold weather, this fish leaves the other parts of Old Man’s Harbor and gathers in immense numbers in one or two narrow creeks. In January and February, 1841, he found them collected so densely in one of these places that when the tide left them nothing was visible but a mass of fish, completely concealing the whole muddy bed of the creek. On dipping a common

hand net among them he repeatedly took more than 3,000 each time. They were

404 REPORT OF THE

nearly torpid with cold but could swim. The fish can remain out of the water four hours without apparent injury. This is a permanent resident of Gravesend Bay, going into deep mud holes near the mouths of creeks in winter. It is abundant in all salt and brackish waters of Long Island. It was frequently found in brackish water in Swan River.

The smallest examples seen at Patchogue were taken in Swan River August 8, 1901; they ranged from 34 to 7% of an inch in length.

Small individuals were found half digested in the stomachs of jelly-fish at Colonel’s Island, Great South Bay, July 20, Igol.

75. Freshwater Killy (Fundulus diaphanus Le Sueur).

The Fresh Water Killy is mentioned by DeKay under the name of the Trans- parent Minnow. His description is copied from Le Sueur who had specimens from Saratoga Lake, where it is used as a bait for other fishes.

This killy abounds in the fresh or slightly brackish waters of Long Island. In I9OI it was obtained once in brackish water in Swan River on September 19. It is very abundant in fresh water, especially at Southampton, West Hampton and Brown’s Creek. The smallest obtained was 7g inch long. Examples varying from this size to 1% inches long were seined in Grist Mill Pond, Patchogue, October 3,

19Ol. 76. Rainwater Fish (Lucania parva Baird & Girard).

The Rainwater Fish is known to occur from Massachusetts to Florida. It was first described by Prof. Baird from Greenport, Long Island, but was unknown in Great South Bay until many years later. It is abundant in Peconic, Shinnecock, and Great South Bays and in a fresh stream at Water Mill, Long Island. It is some- times found also in brackish and moderately salt water.

This fish was unexpectedly scarce in tributaries of Great South Bay during the summer of 1901. No specimens were taken near the salt water of the inlet. The

fish was most abundant at West Hampton.

77. Sheepshead Minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus Lacépeéde).

The Sheepshead Minnow is recorded by Mitchill as more rare than the other killifishes. DeKay describes it as the Sheepshead Lebias. He says it inhabits the salt and brackish streams in the neighborhood of New York and is used as bait. In Great South Bay it is known as the Porgee Mummy.

Ayres states that it is never abundant in Old Man’s Harbor. It appears in

May and at that season usually is seen in pairs in the shallow creeks of the harbor.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 405

It moves vigorously, but with no great speed. It is tyrannical in disposition, attack- ing and pursuing whatever other fish comes near it.

This fish ranges from Cape Cod to Florida. It seldom exceeds 2 inches in length. The males are more brightly colored and higher bodied than the females, and have a narrow dark margin to the caudal fin.

This killy was not found in large numbers in the summer of Ig01. Two individ- uals were taken in fresh water of Swan River, October to, and a single one from the fresh water of Brown’s Creek, October 8.

Specimens of this killy were found in stomachs of jelly-fish at Colonel’s Island, Great South Bay, July 20, 1901. In some cases the fish were half digested.

An individual taken at Corn Row Point, July 16, 1901, was infested with a Psorosperm parasite, which caused a tumor in the skin.

The fish has been kept in captivity along time. It breeds and the young can

be reared if protected from the adults.

Order SYNENTOGNATHI. Family ESOCIIDA:. Needle Fishes.

78. Bill Fish ; Silver Gar (7ylosurus marinus Walbaum).

The Silver Gar, according to Schcepff, was called Sea Pike and Sea Snipe at New York. Mitchill refers to it as the Long-jawed Fresh-water Pike, and also as the Bill Fish, a name still in use in various localities for this fish. DeKay calls it the Banded Gar Fish. Still another name used for this fish is Needle Fish, and it is said that “Gar” is derived from the Saxon word meaning needle.

The Silver Gar is found on our coast from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. It ascends rivers far above the limits of the tide, feeding upon minnows and other small fishes. On the coast it devours killifishes, anchovies, silversides and other little fish. Although this Gar is of excellent flavor, and according to DeKay is greatly relished by epicures, it is not a marketable species. Nothing is recorded about its breeding habits except the statement of Silas Stearns that it spawns in the bays of the Gulf Coast in May and June.

It occurs in Gravesend Bay from June to December. It is common in all parts of Great South Bay and is very destructive to seines as well as to fish. Specimens have also been taken in Peconic Bay, Mecox Bay and Shinnecock Bay. Sometimes it occurs in the fresh water of Swan River, where it follows the silverside, one of its

favorite sources of food. It also enters the fresh water at Southampton. This Gar

4.06 REPORT OF THE

is never seen in great schools. It takes small fish crosswise in its jaws and after- wards turns its prey around for the purpose of swallowing it.

The smallest individual obtained in 1901 was 2% inches long. This was found in Clam Pond Cove July 24. It is not uncommon to capture examples in Great South Bay measuring more than 2 feet; indeed a fish measuring 27 inches long was speared while fire lighting in Smith’s Cove September 5, 1901. This fish was one of those most frequently seen at night while fishing with lanterns. It was usually at the surface and near the light ; sometimes in advance of the boat or keep- ing abreast of it. Occasionally a large Gar, startled by the appearance of the lan-

tern, darts with great velocity and force away from the boat.

79. Houndfish; Guardfish (7ylosurus raphidoma Ranzani). The Guardfish is a West Indian species known as the Aguja de Casta; its range

extends southward to Brazil and the young occasionally stray, in summer, northward to New York. An individual 6% inches long was taken by the writer August 1, 1887, at Ocean City, N. J. This was described and figured in Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, VII, 146, pl. II, fig. 15, 1888, under the name 7ylosurus gladius.

The fish grows to the length of 5 feet and occasionally becomes dangerous to

fishermen by leaping from the water into boats.

80. Houndfish (7y/osurus acus Lacépede). -

The Houndfish is a West Indian species which occasionally extends its range northward to Buzzards Bay. It may also be found in the Mediterranean. The fish grows to the length of 4 feet; its specific name means meccile. from its slender, pointed jaws. ;

The Houndfish has been taken occasionally at Woods Hole, Mass, Dr <Snaith records a specimen 4% feet long which was taken in a trap at the breakwater August 6, 1885. This example was remarkable by having on top of its head between the eyes, five or six barnacles, each about 2% inches long. Another specimen 49 inches long was obtained at Woods Hole in 1875. Several additional

examples have been collected from time to time at Woods Hole.

Family HEMIRHAMPHID.. Balaos.

81. Half Beak (Hyporhamphus roberti C. & V.). The Half Beak was apparently unknown to Mitchill and DeKay. It is occa- sionally found on our northern coast, its range extending from Cape Cod to the

Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Smith reports it usually common in the vicinity of Woods

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 407

Hole and often abundant at the mouth of Vineyard Sound. It occurs in those waters in July, August and September. It is caught in traps at Menemsha, and has also been seined at West Falmouth, on Buzzards Bay. In August the Thresher Shark may frequently be seen among the schools of Half Beaks near Gay Head. When the sharks are driving the fish and causing them to skip out of the water, the Jagers catch them with great dexterity. The Half Beak is rather a rare fish in New York waters. It is noticeable because the lower jaw is many times as long as the upper jaw, and has at its extremity a bright crimson tip. Small examples were found at Fire Island. In August and September, 1898, it occurred in small num- bers in Great South Bay. “Only one adult was taken and no very young were seen. In rgo1 an individual 9% inches long was taken at Whale House Hole.

The Half Beak in its movements resembles the Silver Gar. It is easily caught at night by means of a lantern, the light apparently dazing the fish and making it

indifferent to the net.

82. Longbeak (Auleptorhamphus velox Poey).

The Longbeak is a West Indian fish which rarely strays northward in the Gulf Stream as far as Massachusetts. It reaches the length of 18 inches.

Putnam considered it the same as the East Indian species, /ongirostris, but this lacks demonstration.

In this fish the beak forms one-fourth of the total length, and it is very slender.

Family SCOMBERESOCID. Sauries.

83. Saury; Skipper (Scomberesox saurus WWalbaum).

The Saury was known to DeKay as Billfish. He states that the fish appears in immense numbers in October on the coast of Massachusetts, where it is considered a very nutritious and grateful food. He says also that a few stragglers are occasion- ally taken on the coast of New York.

The Saury, or Skip Jack, is very rare at Woods Hole. Prof. Baird recorded it in 1871; since then it has been observed only a few times. Several specimens were obtained there prior to 1880. On December 4, 1885, one was seen on the beach near Nobska Point. Dr. Smith, from whose records these notes are taken, states that it is very abundant on the northern side of Cape Cod late in fall, and hundreds

of barrels are sometimes taken there in traps; many also go ashore.

408 REPORT OF THE

Family EXOCETIDA. Flying Fishes.

84. Flying Fish (Zvocetus volitans Linnzus).

This Flying Fish is the species described by Mitchill and DeKay under the name of the New York Flying Fish. Mitchill had a specimen which was taken in a seine near New York. The length of the fish was 12 inches.

Dr. Smith says this fish is common some years. At Woods Hole, Mass., it is usually scarce. It is taken in traps at Vineyard Sound, and a few have been caught in Great Harbor. Small fish, from 1% to 4 inches long, are abundant in the harbor in the latter part of September and the first of October. Even the smallest speci-

mens have been observed to “fly” a distance of Io feet.

85. Bearded Flying Fish (Cypszlurus heterurus Rafinesque).

The Bearded Flying Fish is described and figured by Mitchill in Vol. 1, Transac- tions, Literary and Philosophical Society, N. Y., page 448, plate v, figure 1.

This fish has a long black filament depending from the chin with occasionally a shorter one on each side. The filament disappears with age.

This species inhabits the Atlantic Ocean and is generally common southward on both coasts, straying north in summer to England and Newfoundland. Mitchill’s examples were 5 to 6 inches long, and the length of the barbel was 2% inches. The

adult size is 15 inches.

86. Double-Bearded Fiying Fish (Cypselurus furcatus Mitchill).

The Double-Bearded Flying Fish is described by Mitchill in the work cited, page 449, plate V, figure 2. DeKay did not know either of the Bearded Flying Fishes and borrowed his accounts from Mitchill and others.

This is a small species, about 6 inches long, frequenting warm seas north to Cape Cod and to the Mediterranean. Specimens have been taken at Newport, R. I.

The barbels vary in size and number.

87. Blunt-snouted Flying Fish (Cypsclurus gibbifrons C. & V.).

This is a small fish of the Atlantic Ocean, the length of the described specimens _ being 8 inches. One example was caught at Newport, Rhode Island, by Samuel Powell. Another is in the Museum of Natural History at Paris.

—.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 409

Order HEMIBRANCHII. The Half Gills. Family GASTEROSTEIDA. Sticklebacks.

88. Ten-spined Stickleback (Pygosteus pungitius Linneus).

The Ten-spined Stickleback is described by DeKay under the name of the Many-spined Stickleback. He states that this fish is found both in fresh and salt water. He had specimens caught in the harbor of New York in company with the common Pipe Fish, and also from a fresh water pond on the island of New York, where communication with the sea is interrupted during the greater part of the year. This fish is known in Great South Bay as the Thornback. A specimen was taken in Swan River in September, 1890. In 1898, this Stickleback was not abund- ant in most localities visited, but was present in Peconic, Shinnecock and Great South Bays. It is less abundant in Gravesend Bay than the other Sticklebacks. At Woods Hole, Mass., it is common in Eel Pond, Quisset Harbor and Hadley

Harbor, but rare in open harbors. It is a permanent resident.

89. Two-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus bispinosus Walbaum).

The Two-spined Stickleback is described and figured by DeKay under this name and also as the New York Stickleback. He says it is found about New York in the salt water streams, and he has noticed it in the Hudson as far up as Albany where the water is fresh.

Ayres recorded it as very common in Old Man’s Harbor in parts least affected by tides, living chiefly in eel grass, but the young are sometimes taken swimming in companies near the surface in clear water.

This Stickleback is not common in summer. In 1898, it was taken only in Shinnecock Bay, July 22, and Scallop Pond (Peconic Bay), July 28. It can be kept in captivity and the young have been obtained and reared to the length of about 4 inch, but they must be protected from the adults.

90. Four-spined Stickleback (Apeltes quadracus Mitchill).

The Four-spined Stickleback was first described and figured by Mitchill in 1815. DeKay also describes and figures the fish in his New York Fauna. He says the species abounds in our waters. Ayres states that it is found about Old Man’s Harbor in similar situations with the Two-spined Stickleback, and that it is the most abundant species in the harbor. He had specimens from fresh water of Connecticut River, on the south side of the island, which differed in being a little

stouter, and perhaps a trifle darker in color.

AIO REPORT .OF THE

This Stickleback is common in Gravesend Bay. In Great South Bay it is called Thornback. In 1898 it was obtained abundantly in Peconic Bay, Scallop Pond, Mecox Bay, and in nearly all parts of Great South Bay. At Patchogue it was taken in fresh water. This species frequently ascends streams into fresh water. It was not abundant in Great South Bay during the summer of 1go01. This fish was frequently found in the stomachs of Jelly fish, in some instances half digested. Such examples were obtained at Colonel’s Island, July 20, 1901, and at Smith’s Point September 14, 1901. At Cape Cod this is a very common fish and is found at all

seasons. Family FISTULARIIDA. Cornet Fishes.

g1. Trumpet Fish (/7stularza tabacaria Linneus).

The Trumpet Fish was known to Dr. Mitchill and was described by him from a specimen 14 inches long. He does not state from whence he obtained this speci- men, but it was in a fresh condition. Dr. DeKay called it the Spotted Pipe Fish and takes his account from Mitchill.

The Trumpet Fish is occasionally taken as far north as Cape Cod. A few are observed every year, according to Dr. Smith, mostly in Buzzards Bay near Quisset. Some are taken in Great Harbor. The largest specimen, about 16 inches long, was caught at Woods Hole Station; the usual size is 7 to 8 inches, the smallest 4 inches. It is usually taken in September and October.

This fish is apparently rare in Great South Bay. Three examples were taken at Fire Island, September 30, and one at Blue Point Life-Saving Station October 7, 1890. In Great Egg Harbor Bay, New Jersey, the Trumpet Fish is moderately

abundant as the writer seined 25 specimens there in August and September, 1887.

Order LOPHOBRANCHII. Tuft Gills. Family SYNGNATHIDA. Pipe Fishes.

92. Pipe Fish; Billed Eel (Szphostoma fuscum Storer).

DeKay states that the Pipe Fish is very common in New York waters and is frequently taken as far up the Hudson as Sing Sing, where it breeds in the slightly brackish water.

According to Ayres it commonly remains at the bottom amongst the eel grass, but on warm days sometimes comes to the surface. At such times Ayres has taken

them up with the net without their making any attempt to escape. July 3, 1840,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. AST

several were thus found floating in a vertical position with the head bent at a right angle to the body so as to remain horizontal with the surface. Three of them were males and in one the abdominal pouch was filled with eggs; in another the young were just ready to be set at liberty, while in the third the pouch was almost empty, only very few of the young remaining in it.

It is moderately common in summer in eel grass in Gravesend Bay. It is very fond of shrimp with eggs and small Gammarus. The fish was abundant during the summer of 1898 and was collected in Peconic, Mecox, Shinnecock and Great South Bays. Both adults and young were obtained.

The Pipe Fish, often called Billed Eel by fishermen, was usually scarce in Great South Bay during the summer of I901, only a few specimens having been taken in

the seines. It is generally abundant in all parts of the bay.

Family HIPPOCAMPID. Sea Horses.

93. Sea Horse; Horsefish (Hippocampus hudsonius DeKay).

The Sea Horse was described by Mitchill under the name of Sea Horse Pipe Fish. DeKay calls it the Hudson River Sea Horse. This fish has sometimes been found in large numbers in the nets at Gravesend Bay, but since 1895 it has not been abundant. It feeds upon Unciola and shrimp eggs. It was very scarce in the bays of Long Island during the summer of 1898; a single small example was taken in the ocean at Southampton, and a larger one was seined on the eastern side of Fire Island. This fish is interesting on account of its singular, prehensile tail, and the fact that the male carries the eggs and protects the young ina pouch behind the vent. In this ege-sac the young are protected until large enough to live independently, going out to search for food and returning to shelter at their pleasure. Examples have been found with their pouches full of embryos in August, and on September 5 the pouch has been found empty, the anal fin restored, and the cirri altogether wanting. It seems probable that the cirri are more developed in the breeding season than at any other time; at this period the margin of the dorsal fin of the female is yellow, while

that of the male is orange.

412 REPORT OF THE

Order ACANTHOPTERI. Spiny-rayed Fishes. Suborder XENARCHI. Family APHREDODERID&. Pirate Perches. 94. Pirate Perch (Aphredoderus sayanus Gilliams).

DeKay says the Pirate Perch, which he describes under the name of the Spine- less Perch, is exceedingly rare, four specimens having been obtained. He had no specimens from New York. Concerning its habits he states that it appears to prefer muddy pools shaded by trees. The fish was found in moderate numbers in lakes near Patchogue and in Swan River in 1898. It is unknown to the fishermen. In 1g01 it was found to be very common in Grist Mill Pond at Patchogue, and in Swan River which drains the pond. Some very large individuals were seined in the river, one of them taken October 7, 1901, being 456 inches long. The fish was also found in Mud Creek, but it was not plentiful there.

It is always hidden under aquatic plants, and prefers clear running water.

Suborder PERCESOCES. Family ATHERINIDA. Silversides.

95. Slender Silverside (WZenzdia gracilis Giinther).

The Slender Silverside was originally described by Dr. Giinther from an unknown locality. To this species were referred a number of specimens collected by Dr. Smith on St. George’s Island, Lower Potomac. Drs. Jordan and Evermann state that these specimens differed from typical examples of the freshwater silverside and _ probably belong to Gtinther’s species. This fish is recorded from Woods Hole to Albemarle Sound and is believed to be generally common in brackish water.

No examples which can be identified with this species have been obtained by

the writer on Long Island.

96. Freshwater Silverside (J/enzdia beryllina Cope).

The Freshwater Silverside was first described from the Potomac River near Washington. It is a small species, seldom exceeding 3 inches in length, but its range is much wider than was at first supposed. It is abundant on Long Island, sometimes occurring in brackish or salt water, but usually in fresh water. It was taken at Bellport Life-Saving Station and Horsefoot Creek in August, 1898. It is

very common in alittle mill stream at Water Mill, associated with the Freshwater

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 413

Killy, Rainwater Fish, Sunfish, and Chain Pickerel. The smallest individuals secured were taken September 12, 1901; they measured from 3. of an inch to 1% inches

in length. On September 13th the length varied from 1% inches to 13@ inches.

97. Common Silverside ; Friar (W7enzdia notata Mitchill).

The Common Silverside was first made known by Dr. Mitchill under the name of Small Silverside, and he describes the young of the same fish as the Green-sided Silverside. Dr. DeKay states that the Silverside was known in the harbors of New York as the Anchovy and the Sand Smelt.

Friar isa New England name for the fish. About Boston it is called Capelin, and in the vicinity of Watch Hill, fishermen call it Merit Fish. Sperling is a name recently applied to this species by some fishermen, and still other persons offer it as White-bait. In Great South Bay it is known as Shiner.

The Silverside is known to occur on the coast from Maine to North Carolina. It is one of the most abundant of the small fishes in our waters, swimming in immense schools made up of fishes of different sizes, and it forms a considerable part of the food of the more valuable species, such as the mackerel, bluefish, weak- fish, and flounders, and is very much in demand as a bait for hook and line fishing. Ayres says it is rather abundant through the summer in Old Man’s Harbor, arriv- ing in May and remaining until November. He picked them up on the beach driven ashore by storms during the whole summer.

It is found in Gravesend Bay almost all the year. This fish is abundant every- where in salt and brackish waters of Long Island. The young are sold as “ White- bait” and adults are used to bait eel pots in summer and also in fishing for bluefish. The smallest individual taken in the summer of I9g01 was 1 inch long, caught at Howell’s Point July 13; the largest measured 55¢ inches, taken at Whale House Hole August 9.

This fish often skips out of the water and above the surface to escape from fluke and other enemies. When fishing with lanterns at night, the Common Silver- side were seen almost continually leaping out of the water in all directions, and sometimes they fell upon the bow of the boat and were caught in that way. The

fish often appear to be phosphorescent when they leave the water.

98. Rough Silverside (A7rtlandia vagrans Goode & Bean).

The Rough Silverside was first described from Pensacola, Florida; it was after- ward obtained from Beaufort, North Carolina, and redescribed by Swain under a different name. I am unable to distinguish between Swain’s specimens, the types

taken in Florida, and recent specimens collected in waters of Long Island.

414 REPORD OR DEE

The fish grows to the length of about 4 inches. It has more resemblance to the Anchovy than to the other Silversides. It was first taken in New York waters August I, 1898. A single example was seined in Mecox Bay, associated with the Common Silverside. Only a few examples have been collected up to the present time, the other localities of specimens being Quantic Bay and Blue Point, in Great

South Bay. No young individuals have been taken.

Family MUGILIDA. Mullets.

99. Striped Mullet (W/ugz/ cephalus Linneus).

DeKay states that the Striped Mullet was first detected on the coast of New York by Dr. Mitchill, who sent a specimen with the name and description to Cuvier. DeKay says they appear in our markets in the beginning of September, and are highly esteemed.

The Striped Mullet is known from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. In the Chesapeake it is sometimes called Fat-back. At Woods Hole, Mass., states Dr. Smith, it is commoner than the White Mullet. It is present from September to the middle of October, going in large schools until about October 1.

Ayres states that the Striped Mullet was somewhat uncommon in Brookhaven. He saw it only a few times and then not in great numbers, the individuals seldom exceeding 5 inches in length.

The young are abundant in Gravesend Bay in midsummer and larger ones appear in September and October. One winter some years ago they hibernated in the mud in Sheepshead Bay and were taken with eel spears. This mullet was not abundant in eastern Long Island during the summer of 1898, but in October large schools made their appearance.

No very young examples of the Striped Mullet were seen in Great South Bay during the summer of Igor. On July 27 the length of specimens collected ranged from 456 to 51% inches; on August 27 the length was from 6 to 63 inches.

The leaping of mullets is a well-known sight. The fish sometimes leave the water almost perpendicularly, with the head up, and drop back tail first. At other times they emerge head first, describe an arch above water, and return to the water head first. Occasionally they leave the water in a horizontal position and fall back on the belly.

The tiny mullets, called “ Whirligig Mullet” by Jordan & Gilbert, are the young of common mullets with the spines of one of the fins (the anal) not fully developed. The first ray of the immature anal fin becomes converted into a spine when the fish

has reached the length of about 134 inches.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Al5

100. White Mullet ; Silver Mullet ((Zig7/ curema C. & V.).

The White Mullet is called New Vork Mullet by Mitchill. He records a speci- men that weighed 2% pounds, the heaviest coming under his observation. DeKay found the species in New York market in July and August. In the Gulf of Mexico this fish is known as the Silver Mullet. The White Mullet has the same range as the Striped Mullet, and the young is sometimes very abundant at Cape Cod and on the coast of New Jersey in the summer. Dr. Smith says it is common at Woods Hole, Mass., from July 1 to October; the largest specimens being 5 inches long. In summer fish from 34 inch to 2 inches long are often taken.

This mullet appears in Gravesend Bay with the Striped Mullet, but is less abundant. The young were caught in August, 1898, in several parts of Great South Bay. Adults were scarce, but half-grown individuals were abundant in September and October, 190i. No large ones were obtained; on September 20 a number of

examples measured 4% inches each.

tor. Whirligig Mullet (W7ugil trichodon Poey). (Young.)

The Whirligig Mullet is believed to be the young of the Fan-tail Mullet. The fish inhabits the waters from Florida Keys to Brazil, and occasionally to Cuba, straying northward in summer apparently as far as Woods Hole, Mass. The types of the Whirligig Mullet have been re-examined by the writer, and they appear to agree perfectly with the Fan-tail Mullet. Some of the types have the scales in 33 rows instead of 29, as given in the original description.

This mullet is said to be common in summer at Woods Hole, Mass. It has also been found in Gravesend Bay. If there be no error of identification, the species has .a much wider range than at first believed. All young mullets have the peculiarity upon which the genus of Whirligig Mullets was based; that is, the anal fin has only two developed rays instead of three as in the other mullets. The first anal ray of this young fish, however, becomes converted into a spine mechanically when the fish

reaches the length of about 13/, inches.

Family SPHYRA:NIDA. Barracudas.

102. Long Barracuda (Sphyrena guachancho C. & V.).

The Long Barracuda is a native of the West Indies, the Gulf of Mexico and northward occasionally in the Gulf Stream as far as Cape Cod. It is rather common

in tropical waters and grows to the length of about 2 feet. Dr. Smith records

416 REPORT OF THE

two examples from the vicinity of Woods Hole, Mass.— one taken July 7, 1876, at Woods Hole, and another in Buzzards Bay, near Woods Hole, July 17, 1883. None

have been obtained recently.

103. Northern Barracuda (Sphyrena borealis DeKay).

The Northern Barracuda appears to have been unknown to the early writers on New York fishes, as DeKay in 1842 was the first to describe it. He calls it the Northern Barracuda, to distinguish it from the southern species. The young have been taken from Cape Cod to North Carolina. The fish seldom exceeds 1 foot in length, but individuals measuring from I to 6 inches are extremely common as far north as Cape Cod annually in the summer. DeKay says: “This is a very active and voracious little fish. A number of them were caught in the harbor of New York and placed in a vessel with several other species; in a few hours they had devoured them all, and then commenced to devour each other. It has not been very commonly observed owing to the difficulty in catching them; but I have reason to believe that they are not very rare.”

Several young were taken in Gravesend Bay in September, 1896. The fish is not common there. In Great South Baya single example was caught at Oak Island . September 30, 18g0.

This Barracuda is not seen in our markets, but the adults of more southerly species are considered excellent food fishes. At Key West and on Cozumel Island,

as well as in the West Indies, the Barracuda is highly prized.

Suborder Rhegnopteri. Family POLYNEMID. Threadfins.

104. Threadfin (Polydactylus octonemus Girard).

The Threadfin inhabits the Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States from Cape Cod to the Rio Grande on sandy shores. It is a scarce fish. The young are more common along the Texas coast. At Woods Hole, Mass., a specimen 4 inches — long was seined in Little Harbor in September, 1882. On September 24, 1896, three specimens were obtained in Gravesend Bay. These were nearly g inches long. This was probably the first record of its occurrence in New York waters for more

than 30 years.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. ALF

Group AMMODYT OIDEI. Family AMMODYTIDA:. Sand Launces.

105. Sand Launce (Ammodytes americanus DeKay).

The Sand Launce is called the American Sand Launce by DeKay. Mitchill also knew this fish but he considered it to be identical with the common European Sand Launce. DeKay states that the young of this fish are frequently washed ashore after heavy northerly gales in Queens County. The Banded Sand Launce of DeKay, which is now believed to be an injured individual of the common Sand Launce, was seen by DeKay near Sag Harbor, Long Island.

This fish appears in Gravesend Bay in July, but is more plentiful in winter. It buries itself in sand and sometimes when alarmed it will spring 4 inches above the sand. It is a favorite food of the fluke.

Ayres gives the following interesting account of the fish:

“Extremely abundant in the sound during the early summer months. Present from the first of May to the first of November. For some months it forms the chief food of bluefish and striped bass, and is also eaten largely by eels, flatfish, gurnards, and the cuttlefish. The terns derive their chief and probably their sole support from the sand launces during the two months that they remain before proceeding north to rear their young.” Ayres, in pushing his boat along the shoal creeks of the harbor, found that each thrust of his pole would send these fish darting forth from their hiding places in the sand, so that where none were to be seen before the water would become suddenly alive with them. They would usually spring rapidly forward for a few yards or rods, and in an instant disappear in the sand. They may be noticed also in companies of all numbers, from 100 to several thousands, swimming slowly backwards and forwards in the grass. In passing over a favorable spot of sand two or three will be seen separating from the main body and inclining generally downward, as if selecting a spot for entrance. When near the bottom they dart forward, and, striking the sand head foremost, disappear instantly. Sometimes, when the sand is harder, the impetus of their plunge buries little more than their head, and their body is then forced in with a waving mction, only about 2 seconds being occasionally consumed in effecting an ‘entrance. Ayres often noticed large bodies of them swimming quietly suddenly strike upwards as if at some object in the water, and probably taking some one of the insects which constitute the chief portion of their food. The largest specimens Ayres saw were not quite 5 inches long.

27

418 REPORT OF THE

Group BERYCOIDEI. Family MULLIDA. Surmullets.

106. Red Mullet; Goatfish ((Zul/us auratus Jordan & Gilbert).

The Red Mullet occurs along the coast from Cape Cod, ranging southward to Pensacola. It is occasionally taken in small numbers at Woods Hole, Mass., but is more abundant on the Red Snapper banks off Pensacola; it grows to the length of 8 inches. Dr. Smith states that it is taken at Woods Hole every year in Sep- tember, but that prior to 1888 it was rather more abundant than now. Three living examples were seined at Sandy Hook on October 8, 1897. Fishermen reported that large numbers were seen there in September and October of that year. The fish was obtained October 17, 1898, from a pound near Clam Pond Cove.

This is apparently the first record of its capture in Long Island waters.

Group SCOMBROIDEI. Mackerel-like Fishes. Family SCOMBRIDA. Mackerels.

107. Common Mackerel (Scomber scombrus Linnzus).

The Common Mackerel is described by DeKay under the name of Spring Mack- erel. He states that it appears on our coast in the months of May and June, but its numbers vary in different years. Ayres wrote that several years prior to 1841 this mackerel appeared in Long Island Sound and for a few weeks was very abun- dant on the north side of the island, but the occurrence was only accidental as he did not see it again.

Young mackerel, 34% and 5% inches long, were taken in Gravesend Bay, May 23, 1896; they were the first for that year. They usually come at the same time as the Anchovy and the Weakfish. They are often seen swimming at the surface in small bunches of 18 or 20, occasionally 100, in the latter part of May or early in June. They are always split up into small bunches probably by the attacks of Weakfish | and other predaceous fishes which are present at the time. Flukes also take them in shoal water.

In the summer of tgo1 only a few small mackerel were seen in Great South Bay. The young, measuring from 2% to 334 inches, were picked up dead on the ocean beach of Long Island on July 25 and 26. These were driven ashore by large Bluefish and Weakfish.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 419

108. Chub Mackerel; Thimble-Eye (Scomber colias Gmelin). The Chub Mackerel seems to be the fish figured by DeKay at plate 11, fig. 33, of

his New York Fauna, but the description apparently relates to some other fish as the Chub Mackerel does not grow to the length of 2 feet. In 1896, this mackerel abounded in all the little creeks tributary to Gravesend Bay, and in some instances the fish could be dipped up by boat loads with scoop nets. Before the end of the summer the fish reached the length of 10 inches. It was not found abundant in Gravesend Bay in 1897. According to Dr. Smith it is abundant some years in Vine- yard Sound and the lower part of Buzzards Bay, but uncommon other years. It is caught in traps and also on lines while fishing for Common Mackerel. It usually

arrives about July 15 and leaves late in October. 109. Frigate Mackerel (Awazs thazard Lacépéde).

The Frigate Mackerel inhabits various warm seas in which its movements are erratic and uncertain. It occasionally visits the coasts of the United States in immense numbers. At Woods Hole, Mass., it is recorded as a very rare species. It was first observed in 1885, when one was taken in a trap at Menemsha Bight. Since then one was caught in a pound at Woods Hole, June 29, 1892.

This mackerel reaches a length of about 15 inches. It is a poor fish, with little

value as food. 110. Oceanic Bonito (Gymnosarda pelamis Linneus).

The Oceanic Bonito is a much larger fish than the Frigate Mackerel, and has an equally wide range. It lives in warm seas and is pelagic by nature. On the Atlantic coast it is not very common, but occurs occasionally north of Cape Cod and in the Bermudas. It has once been taken in California. Dr. Smith says it has been reported only once in the Woods Hole region, in 1878, when there was a remarkable run in the traps at Menemsha. The fish remained in the vicinity several weeks and were caught daily in some of the nets; as many as 2,000 or 3,000 were taken in all. The fishermen call them “Blue Bonito” on account of the intense dark blue of the back. They were about as long as the Common Bonito, but some- what heavier. An earlier record of the occurrence of this species was that of July, ,

1877, when a specimen was obtained at Provincetown, Mass.

111. Little Tunny (Gymnosarda alleterata Rafinesque).

The Little Tunny is also an inhabitant of warm seas, occasionally ranging north- ward to Cape Cod; it is common in the West Indies and in the Mediterranean.

According to Dr. Smith it is usually abundant in Vineyard Sound in July and

420 RIT AOMGL ON | Ahswe,

August. It has been taken also at Menemsha, where sometimes as many as 100 are caught in a net at one lift. This fish uniformly weighs about 8 pounds. It made its appearance first in American waters in 1871, when several large schools were observed in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. On our coast it is not valued

for food, but in the Mediterranean the fish is considered edible.

112. Tunny; Horse Mackerel (7hunnus thynnus Linneus).

The Tunny, or Horse Mackerel, is the Tuna or Leaping Tuna of Southern California. It is a pelagic fish, found on all warm coasts, extending north to England, Newfoundland, San Francisco and Japan. It is the largest fish of the mackerel family, reaching a length of 10 feet or more, and the weight of 1,500 pounds. It is a good food fish and is the subject of very extensive fisheries in the Mediterranean, and recently in New England.

DeKay borrowed his description of the fish from Storer. DeKay did not see a specimen in its entire state, but was informed by fishermen that it was frequently taken off Block Island.

The Tunny was formerly plentiful in the vicinity of Woods Hole, Mass., but has been rare for a number of years, none having been taken for five years in - Buzzards Bay traps. It is still abundant on the north side of Cape Cod. A good locality for the fish is Milk Island, near Rockport, Cape Ann.

113. Bonito (Sarda sarda Bloch).

The Bonito inhabits the Atlantic Ocean on both coasts, extending northward in the Atlantic on our shores to Cape Cod. It is very abundant but is not greatly prized as a food fish. It reaches the length of 2% feet, and the weight of 10 to 12 pounds. DeKay calls this the Striped Bonito, and says it is but an occasional visitor to the New York coast. The specimen which he described and figured was taken in September in the harbor of New York, in company with many others. Ayres states that during the summer of 1842 it appeared on the north shore of Brookhaven, and quite a number were taken. It was entirely new to the fishermen, who had never seen there any species like it. While on a visit to Long Island in 1844 Ayres saw two specimens, and obtained one weighing about 4 pounds.

The fish is generally scarce in Gravesend Bay, but five were taken one day ina pound net, in October, 1897. ;

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is usually common; abundant some years and some- times quite scarce. In traps, at Menemsha, as many as 1,000 were often taken

daily in July, August, September and early October. The average weight is 3%

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. A2T

to 4 pounds, a few weigh 7 to 8 pounds, and many small ones are caught weighing ¥Y% pound. Very young fish are rare; on one occasion some 2 inches long were

taken in July at Menemsha.

114. Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus Mitchill).

The Spanish Mackerel is described by Mitchill without any remark upon its abundance or scarcity, but he states that it comes in July. This fish appears to have been unknown to DeKay. The species which he calls Spanish Mackerel, and figures on pl. 11, fig. 33, is the Chub Mackerel or Thimble-Eye.

This mackerel occurs on our coast regularly from Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico, and it has been recorded from the coast of Maine by Capt. Atwood. Ayres states that this is one of the rarest species he has met, several years frequently passing without one being seen. In 1841 four were taken in nets hauled for Blue- fish. The fishermen called it Horse Mackerel and Spanish Mackerel. This fish is still caught sparingly by trolling off Fire Island Inlet. It spawns on Long Island shores, beginning late in August and continuing about a month. It sometimes con- gregates in enormous schools. Earll recorded the appearance of a school off Long Island which was estimated to contain several millions of individuals. At Woods Hole, Mass., it has been a rare fish recently, and apparently becomes scarcer each season. It was abundant formerly. In 1883 or 1884, 530 were taken at one lift of a trap at the breakwater. Only one or two have been taken annually in late years, and the average weight in that region is 2% pounds. This is one of the most valu- able of the food fishes.

115. Cero (Scomberomorus regalis Bloch).

The Cero is a very large mackerel, reaching the length of 5 or 6 feet and the weight of 20 pounds. It is an excellent food fish. Its range extends from Cape Cod to Brazil; it is not very common on our Atlantic coast but abounds in Cuba. At Woods Hole, where it is not an uncommon species, it is known as the Cero and Kingfish. It appears in Vineyard Sound about July Ist and is much more numer-

ous than the Spanish Mackerel.

116. Kingfish ; Sierra (Scomberomorus cavalla Cuvier).

The Kingfish, or Sierra, is another very large species of the Tropics in open seas, coming in immense schools to the Florida Keys and Charleston, and ranging north to Cape Cod and south to Africa and Brazil. It is one of the best food fishes of the

Florida coast. It reaches a length of 5 feet and a weight of 100 pounds. It is

422 REPORT OF THE

extensively used in a fresh condition or smoked, and is exported to the West Indies in large numbers.

It appears in Vineyard Sound about July 1st. It is common there until the trap fishing season ends; as many as 8 or Io are taken at one lift of the trap at

Menemsha. When traps were set in Buzzards Bay about 35 or 40 Kingfish and Spanish Mackerel were taken annually at Quisset. The fishermen did not dis-

tinguish between the Kingfish and the Cero.

Family TRICHIURIDA. Cutlass Fishes. 117, Scabbard Fish; Hair-tail (7richiurus lepturus Linneus).

The Scabbard Fish inhabits warm seas, chiefly in the western Atlantic north to Virginia. It is common in the West Indies and occasionally occurs in lower Cali- fornia. This fish was known to Mitchill and described by him as the Sz/very Hazr- tail. It is also described by DeKay in his New York Fauna under the same name. He states that it is known to the New York fishermen as the Ribbon Fish and that it is called Swordfish at Jamaica. He also states that it is not common at New York, but that he had examined 15 or 20 taken near Sandy Hook in August. The . example described by him was 38 inches long.

This fish is rarely seen in Gravesend Bay. A young example was caught in John B. De Nyse’s pound net in August, 1897.

At Woods Hole, Mass., the names Cutlass Fish and Scabbard Fish are applied to this species. A specimen 3 feet long was taken there in 1874, according to Dr. Smith, and a few stragglers have been taken at Menemsha Bight during the ten years prior to 1898, usually not more than one or two ina season. As early as 1840

the fish was taken in Buzzards Bay and in 1845 it was recorded from Wellfleet.

Family ISTIOPHORIDA. Sailfishes. 118. Sailfish (/s¢zophorus nigricans Lacépéde).

The Sailfish lives in the West Indies and the warm parts of the Atlantic, extend- ing north to Key West and France. It is rather common about the Florida Keys. Stragglers have been taken at Newport, R. I., and Woods Hole, Mass. Dr. Smith says an example was taken at Quisset Harbor, and during the past 25 years about six have been caught there in a trap; each of these was about g feet long. It is

taken rarely in Europe.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 42

Oo

119. Billfish ; Spearfish (Zetrapturus tmperator Bloch & Schneider).

The Billfish, or Spearfish, inhabits the West Indies. It is not rare on our east coast, ranging occasionally north to Cape Cod. It reaches the length of 7 feet and the weight of 100 pounds. At Woods Hole, according to Dr. Smith, it is generally rare, but between 1885 and 1890 numbers were taken in traps in Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay during July and August. Most of them were caught in the trap

farthest up Buzzards Bay, at Quisset Harbor.

Family XIPHIIDA:. Swordfishes.

120. Swordfish (Xzphzas gladius Linneus).

The Swordfish was described by Mitchill under the same name and also by DeKay. DeKay states that in 1791 a Swordfish 16 feet long was exhibited in New York, and that in 1817 one measuring 12 feet long was taken by a harpoon off Sandy Hook and described by Mitchill. In some years, he states, they are quite abundant. In the summer of 1840 the New York markets were well supplied with the Swordfish. It is preferred to halibut or sturgeon, which it somewhat resembles in flavor. This fish frequents the Atlantic Ocean on both coasts and is most abund- ant between Cuba and Cape Breton. It is not rare off Cape Cod and Newfoundland Banks. It is rather common in southern Europe and also occurs in the Pacific, being occasionally taken about the Santa Barbara Islands.

It is abundant near Gay Head, but is rare now in Vineyard Sound, although some years ago a number were taken there annually near Tarpaulin Cove. This

fish is the object of an extensive and valuable fishery.

Family CARANGIDA. Pompanos, etc.

121. Leather Jacket (Oligoplites saurus Bloch & Schneider).

The Leather Jacket is found on both coasts of tropical America; it is abundant in the West Indies and along the Florida coast. Northward it extends to Cape Cod and lower California. It is a small, thin fish, not valued as food, being dry and bony, but it is a very beautiful species. It grows to the length of about 12 inches. At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is very rare. In 1874 one example was caught in a trap at Menemsha; on August 13, 1875, another was taken and in September, 1886, two or three specimens were caught in a pound net at the breakwater. The fish was obtained also at Newport, Rhode Island, September 1o, 1886. This is a rare fish in Gravesend Bay. An example 934 inches long was taken

in De Nyse’s pound net in the summer of 1806.

424 REPORDR VOR Eek

122. Pilot Fish (WMaucrates ductor Linnzus). S

The Pilot Fish is a pelagic animal, inhabiting all warm seas. It occurs occasion- ally on the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to the West Indies. It grows to the length of 2 feet.

DeKay mentions it among the extra-limital fishes and refers to its occurrence in South Carolina. Both Schcepff and Mitchill mentioned this fish, the former regard- ing it as the Pilot Fish of the Atlantic. Mitchill also entertained the same idea.

At Woods Hole, Mass., it was recorded by Prof. Baird in 1871.

123. Banded Rudderfish (Serzo/a zonata Mitchill).

The Banded Rudderfish was described and figured by Mitchill as the Banded Mackerel. DeKay calls it the Banded Seriole. He states that it is usually caught in August, September and October. He took it by the hook in Long Island Sound in company with the Scup. He states that the fish is called Rudderfish by the fishermen, who apply the same name to other fishes. This fish when fresh from the water has a peculiar coppery smell.

Two examples of the Banded Pilot were taken in Gravesend Bay in September, 1897. Half-grown specimens of the fish were seen in Clam Pond Cove in the fall of 1901 but were not captured. This fish is sometimes called Shark Pilot at Woods Hole. Dr. Smith says it is common there from July to October. It is usually seen around piles, pound net stakes, vessels, and under floating seaweed. While the schooner Grampus was moored at Woods Hole pier, in August, 1897, a school of Pilot Fish 6 or 7 inches long were beneath the bow and stern for several weeks, feeding chiefly on the slender Silverside. They were very shy and would not take the hook, but some were caught with a dip net. The smallest examples taken in

the seine were 1% inches in length.

124. Amber Fish (Serzola lalandi C. & V.).

The Amber Fish is found in the Atlantic from W. Florida to Brazil, occasionally ranging northward in summer to Cape Cod. It is a large fish, growing to the length of 5 or 6 feet, and the weight of 100 pounds. An individual which is believed to be of this species was taken by Mr. De Nyse in Gravesend Bay, July 15, 1896. The weight of the fish was 13 pounds 1% ounces. It is described in the Bulletin, American Museum Natural History, volume 9, 1897, 360-361.

According to Dr. Smith this fish is rare at Woods Hole, Mass. An individual 2% feet long, taken at Woods Holc, September 10, 1895, and another one 37 inches long, taken July 8, 1892, besides several Amber Fish obtained at various times, have

been referred to this species.

i \ Woh ao San ‘ ay va Gi - . } (Gayl it { | } OLINOG VG A ( /¢ > Li

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 425

125. Runner (Llagatis bipinnulatus Quoy & Gaimard).

The Runner, sometimes known as Yellow Tail, is an inhabitant of tropical seas, occasionally found in the West Indies, straying northward to Long Island, where specimens have been secured by Dr. Meek and John B. De Nyse.

This fish grows to the length of 2% feet; an individual about 14 inches long

was obtained August 2, 1895, from De Nyse’s pound in Gravesend Bay.

1726. Scad; Round Robin (Decapterus punctatus Agassiz).

The Scad, or Round Robin, also known as Cigar Fish, is found on our east coast, extending northward to Cape Cod; southward it ranges to Brazil; it is also very common in the West Indies and the Bermudas, and is prized as a food fish; it grows to the length of 12 inches.

This fish does not come into Great South Bay in the summer, but it is sometimes abundant in the ocean near the south shore of Long Island. Many examples were seined in the surf at Southampton in August, 1897. A small one was picked up dead on the beach opposite Clam Pond Cove, July 25, 1901.

DeKay describes and figures this fish under the name of Spotted Caranx ; his description and figure, however, are copied from Cuvier.

The Scad was recorded at Woods Hole, Mass., in 1871, by Professor Baird. Dr. Smith states that it has recently been very rare, and observed only in Quisset

Harbor ; it was taken there in 1886, and on only one or two other occasions.

127. Mackerel Scad (Decapterus macarellus C. & V.).

The Mackerel Scad frequents the warm parts of the Atlantic coast, straying northward to Cape Cod; it is usually scarce on our coast. It grows to the length of I foot.

In 1897 it was common at Southampton, in the Atlantic, August 31, associated with the Scad, young Mackerel, Bluefish, Butterfish, Sea Herring, Round Herring, two species of Anchovy and Fluke.

Dr. Smith records it at Woods Hole, Mass., as common every year, in the fall, but not observed at other times. It comes in October and remains about a month. In Great Harbor several hundred have been taken at one seine haul. No full-grown fish have been observed, the specimens usually taken not exceeding 6 inches in length. In October, 1897, the fish was remarkably abundant in Vineyard Sound,

some traps taking Io barrels daily.

426 REPORT OF THE

128. Gascon; Saurel (Zvachurus trachurus Linnzus).

The Gascon, or Saurel, inhabits the North Atlantic, chiefly on the coast of Europe, south to Spain and Naples. It is very rare on our coast, having been recorded only at Newport, R. I., Pensacola, Cape San Lucas and Long Island. It grows to the length of 1 foot.

An individual was captured in a gill net, October 16, 1898, in Clam Pond

Cove, in company with young Bluefish and Menhaden.

129. Big-eyed Scad; Goggler (7rachurops crumenophthalmus Bloch).

The Big-eyed Scad, or Goggler, is found on both coasts of tropical America. It is common in the West Indies and on the west coast of Mexico. It strays north- ward occasionally in summer to Cape Cod. This fish, which is a valuable food species, reaches the length of 2 feet.

Large individuals are never taken on our northern coast. It occurs in the fall in Gravesend Bay, and was found in the surf at Southampton August 31, 1897. It is not uncommon off the south shore of Long Island in summer.

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is common every year in the fall, from about October 15 to November 15, but does not exceed 6 inches in length. In the Carribean Sea

this is considered an excellent food fish.

130. Yellow Mackerel (Caranx hippos Linneus).

The Yellow Mackerel is generally abundant in warm seas; it occurs on both coasts of tropical America, and ranges northward to Cape Cod and the Gulf of California. It is also known in the East Indies. It is a large and well-known food fish, individuals found exceeding 2 feet in length.

DeKay calls it the Southern Caranx. DeKay says it usually appears in New York waters in September if the season has been warm, and in some years is very abundant. .

It is taken in September and October in Gravesend Bay. Young individuals were collected at Ocean Beach, Southampton, and at Blue Point and Duncan’s Creek, in Great South Bay, all of them in August, 1898; only a few were seen.

At Woods Hole the fish is common. Dr. Smith says it appears about July 1, and is caught as long as the traps are set, being most numerous in October. One an inch long, was taken about July 1. Large examples occur in fall; they some-

times measure 2 feet in length, and weigh 12 to 14 pounds.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 427

131. Crevallé (Caranx crysos Mitchill).

The Yellow Crevallé, also called Yellow Mackerel, Jurel, Runner and Hard-tail, is found from Cape Cod to Brazil. It is generally abundant, and is a well-known food fish, growing to the length of 1 foot or more.

This is the Yellow Mackerel of Mitchill, who had specimens from the bay of New York.

DeKay describes it as the Yellow Caranx. He says it is also called Yellow Mackerel. He refers to it as a very voracious animal; in the stomach of one he found a fish more than half of its own size. He records it from New York waters in greatest abundance in September and October, and says it is much esteemed.

The Crevallé is taken in Gravesend Bay in September and October. A small school of the fish has been seen collected under a Sand Shark and following it

‘about. In October, 1898, specimens were caught in a pound near Clam Pond Cove.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it arrives about July 1, and is most abundant in October. The largest fish are 15 inches long, and weigh 2 to 3 pounds. Young individuals, 2 to 2% inches long, are caught in Buzzards Bay in

summer.

132. Threadfish (Adectzs czliarts Bloch).

The Threadfish inhabits the tropical waters on both coasts, ranging northward to Cape Cod and Mazatlan. It is generally common about the Florida coast and Cuba, and in some localities is a food fish of some importance.

This is the Hair-finned Dory of Mitchill and the Hair-finned Blepharis of Dr. DeKay, who describes and figures the fish from an individual obtained in Long Island Sound. DeKay remarks that this is the only one that has been observed.

The fish is seen in Gravesend Bay occasionally in summer. A single individual was caught in a pound at Islip August 18, 1898.

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is recorded by Dr. Smith as usually not common, but some years numerous, occurring from June 15 until November 1, or later; it is

taken in traps, the specimens varying in length from 3 to 8 inches.

133. Horsefish ; Moonfish (Vomer setipznnis Mitchill).

The Horsefish, or Moonfish, is found in tropical America on both coasts. It strays northward in summer to Maine and Cape San Lucas. Southward it is found to Brazil and Peru. The young stray north in the Gulf stream in summer. It is recorded also from western Africa.

In DeKay’s New York Fauna it is described and figured under the name of the Blunt-nosed Shiner. He regarded New York as probably the limit of its northern

428 REPORT OF THE

range on this side of the Atlantic. He states that it appears in the New York waters in July and August, is esteemed for food, and sometimes reaches the length of 1 foot.

An example was caught in Gravesend Bay October 21, 1896. The young is called Headfish there. Another name for the young is Dollar Fish.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is common some years and rare other years in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. It first appears in August

and remains during September.

134. Lookdown; Ghostfish (Selene vomer Linneus).

The Lookdown, or Ghostfish, is known also as the Moonfish, Horsehead or Head- fish. It is the Rostrated Dory of Dr. Mitchill and the Hair-finned Agyreiose of DeKay. Dr. DeKay states that this fish appears in New York waters in very small numbers about the latter end of August, when it is captured in gill nets.

Three individuals were captured alive in Gravesend Bay in September, 1897; the fish is scarce in Gravesend Bay. Young examples were seined at Duncan’s Creek, August 29, 1898.

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is rare; a few are taken annually in traps and seines, -

usually in September. It was first noticed there in 1885. 135. Casabe; Bumper (Ch/loroscombrus chrysurus Linneus).

The Casabe, or Bumper, occurs on the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Brazil ; it is very common in the Southern States and in Cuba. It has no value as food, owing to the large bones and the thin and dry flesh. It grows to the length of about 1 foot.

Three examples were collected by W. I. De Nyse in Gravesend Bay in the sum-

mer of 1898. These are probably the first specimens recorded from Long Island.

136. Round Pompano (7rachinotus falcatus Linneus).

The Round Pompano is a native of the West Indies and the western Atlantic, north to Cape Cod, south to Brazil. The young stray north in summer in the Gulf stream to Woods Hole. This is a fairly good food fish, growing to the length of 15 inches or more.

The young are occasionally taken in summer in Gravesend Bay. They are also found during the summer months in Great South Bay and off the ocean beaches. On August 15, 1901, an example 1% inches long was caught at Fire Island. A few small individuals were seined off the mouth of Swan River in September, IgolI.

Adults have not been recorded in Long Island waters.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 429

According to Dr. Smith, it is very common at Woods Hole, Mass.; only young individuals are seen. Fish % to 1 inch long appear in July and remain until

September 15, when they are about 2 inches long.

137. Silvery Pompano (T77rachinotus argenteus C. & V.).

The Silvery Pompano has been considered the young of the Common Pompano. It has been recorded from New York and the West Indies. DeKay, in his New York Fauna, translates the description of Cuvier and Valenciennes. A figure of the fish was published in the 19th Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of New York, plate X.

A young example was taken in Blue Point Cove on September 29, 1890. This fish has the form of the Ovate Pompano, while the fin-rays are about the same as in the Common Pompano.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, this pompano is rare. On September 7, 1885, a specimen was taken there which was identified by Professor

Baird as this form.

138. Common Pompano (7rachinotus carolinus Linneus).

The Common Pompano frequents the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, ranging north in summer to Cape Cod. It is very common south- ward and is rare or accidental in the West Indies and in Brazil. It grows to the length of 18 inches and is one of the choicest food fishes of our southern waters.

Mitchill described this fish under the name of Thornback Grunt,a name not now in use. Dr DeKay, in 1842, mentions it as an exceedingly rare species on the New York coast; his description was based upona specimen taken off Sandy Hook some 20 years before.

The young are summer and fall visitors in Gravesend Bay. They were found in moderate numbers at Oak Island Beach on September 14 and at Fire Island September 16, 1808. |

At Woods Hole, Mass., the young sometimes occur in considerable numbers, and they have been taken abundantly at Great Egg Harbor Bay.

Dr. Smith says adult fish are rare at Woods Hole, none having been observed for ten years. The young from 2 to 4 inches long are obtained, usually appearing

between July 20 and August 1 and remaining until about the end of September.

430 REPORT OF THE

Family POMATOMID. Bluefishes. 139. Bluefish ; Snapper (Pomatomus saltatrix Linnzus).

The Bluefish is described by Mitchill under the name of Horse Mackerel. He said, “young ones are taken plentifully with the hook at our wharves by the boys in August.” . The largest one mentioned by him was 13 inches long and weighed about 14 ounces. The name Bluefish was in use at the time of his report (1815).

DeKay says the Bluefish is a common inhabitant of New York waters from May until late in the autumn. It is readily caught with the hook baited with any bright- colored substance. He saw individuals weighing 20 pounds. He states that the young is known as Snapping Mackerel. According to DeKay the Bluefish was unknown upon the New York coast until about 1810, when a few appeared. He noticed also that with the gradual appearance of Bluefish there was an equally gradual disappearance of the Weakfish.

Ayres states that no fish is more highly prized by fishermen or of more impor- tance to them. He reports the Bluefish as very abundant and taken with nets in great numbers, sometimes three or four hundred at one haul. Ayres used with © great success for their capture a hollow cylinder of bone about 4 inches long. He states also that the average weight on the north shore was 1% pounds, but on the south side they sometimes weigh 12 or 14 pounds. According to this author, the chief food on arrival and for the greater part of the summer is the Sand Launce; later they feed on Silversides, small species of Herring, and on Shrimps, commenc- ing on Shrimp just before their departure, in October.

In 1898 young Bluefish were abundant from July to September in Peconic Bay and Great South Bay.

Both young and adult fish were common in Great South Bay and adjacent waters in the summer of Igo1. The smallest individual, taken in July, measured 34 inches. In the first half of September the lengths varied from 35 to 7% inches. Young Bluefish 7% inches long were caught in August. Adults were found feeding upon Eel and Silverside.

A very large and troublesome parasite often attacks the gills of the young; it resembles the so-called “Salve Bug” of the Gloucester fishermen which is found on the Halibut.

A single young Bluefish, 7% inches long, was seined in the fresh portion of Swan River, September 9, 1901, along with Yellow Perch, Banded Pickerel, Pirate

Perch, Mud Minnow, Branch Alewife, young Eel and Common Silverside.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 431

In fishing at night with the lantern young Bluefish were occasionally seen swim- ming in small bunches at a little distance below the surface, but keeping near the bow of the boat while it was in motion. Specimens were sometimes caught with a

dip net. Family RACHYCENTRIDA. Sergeant Fishes.

140. Crabeater; Cobia (Rachycentron canadum Linneus).

The Crabeater, or Cobia, was known to Dr. Mitchill, who had a specimen which was caught in New York Bay June 11, 1815.

Dr. DeKay calls this fish the Northern Crabeater. The specimen which he described was captured in Boston Harbor and placed in a live car with other fish, chiefly Porgies, and it destroyed and ate every fish in the car. Dr. A. K. Fisher, of Washington, has found the young of the Crabeater in the Hudson, near Sing Sing.

Dr. Smith records it as a rare fish at Woods Hole, Mass.; it is not observed there every year. All specimens recorded in that region have been taken in Sep- tember, in Buzzards Bay traps, and have weighed 5 or 6 pounds. The fish appears to have been more common 30 years ago than at present.

Dr. Mitchill found in the stomach of his specimen 20 spotted Sand Crabs and several young Flounders. This fish was 31 inches long; it was eaten at his table and pronounced one of the best he had ever tasted.

The Crabeater inhabits warm seas; it is common on our Atlantic coast in sum- mer, especially in Chesapeake Bay and southward. It ranges northward to Cape Cod. It is abundant in the East Indies. The fish reaches the leneithwotasmteet:

The young have the caudal fin rounded instead of notched as in the adult.

Family CORYPHAANID. Dolphins.

141. Common Dolphin (Coryphena hippurus Linneus).

The Common Dolphin is a pelagic fish, ranging northward on our east coast to Cape Cod; it is abundant from South Carolina to Texas. It grows to the length of 6 feet, and is a good food fish. It is remarkable also for its beautiful coloration and for the changing hues through which it passes while dying.

Mitchill describes this fish under the name of the Common Coryphene. DeKay styles it the Bottle-headed Dolphin; his description was based upon a specimen 42 inches long, captured off the harbor of New York. An example 17 inches long was caught off Sandy Hook by a trolling line while fishing for Bluefish, late in

August, 1897.

to

REPORT OF THE

aS (os)

Dr. Smith states that large Dolphins are very rare in Vineyard Sound, and none has been seen since about 1890.

In past years individuals 3 feet long have been taken in traps at Menemsha. Young fish, from 2 to 12 inches long, are obtained nearly every year in the floating

eulf weed; 4 or 5 were secured in July and August, 1897, in Vineyard Sound.

Family CENTROLOPHID&. Rudder Fishes.

142. Rudder Fish (Palinurichthys perciformis Mitchill).

The Rudder Fish inhabits the Atlantic coast of North America from Cape Hatteras to Maine. It is rather common northward, especially about Cape Cod. - It is said also that a specimen was once taken in a live box off Cornwall, having drifted across from America. The fish reaches the length of about 1 foot.

DeKay describes and figures the fish as the Black Pilot. According to him it is an occasional visitor to our shores. In 1815 several dozen of these fish followed a ship into the harbor of New York, and one of them was taken by a hook at a wharf in the month of August. This was figured by Mitchill in his Memoir on the Fishes of New York, but was not described. On the plate it is marked Rudder Fish or Perch Coryphene. The fish was afterwards described by Mitchill in the American Monthly Magazine. The individual described by DeKay was taken by hook near Shrewsbury Inlet in July; fishermen called it the Snip-Nose Mullet. In its stomach were found numerous shrimps.

The Rudder Fish is rare in Gravesend Bay; some years none are seen, but one or two usually appear during the summer. Young and half-grown were collected in the ocean off Southampton, August 2, 1898, under floating logs and boxes. On October 11, 1898, a single examvle was caught with a hook in Clam Pond Cove. In 1901 a school of 40 or 50 was seen at a wharf at Cherry Grove, Great South Bay. A single half-grown individual was caught with a hook baited with fragments of oyster, at the wreck off Tobey’s Flat.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is common from the last of June to October, under gulf weed and other floating objects. As many as 100 small and medium size fish may sometimes be found in a box, barrel or tub. It is often seen around pound net poles, and has received the name of Pole Fish (among the local fishermen). The largest specimens are taken in traps at Menemsha, and are

15 or 16 inches long.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 43

io)

Family STROMATEIDA. Fiatolas.

143. Harvest Fish; Pappy Fish (Rhombus paru Linneus).

The Harvest Fish is found on the South Atlantic coast of the United States and in the West Indies. It ranges northward to Cape Cod, and occurs also in Jamaica and Brazil. It grows to the length of 9 inches.

Mitchill found this fish in New York Bay and described it in 1815; he called it the Harvest Fish. DeKay describes and figures it as the Long Finned Harvest Fish. He states that it is not so common as the Butter Fish, but is equally esteemed for eating.

The Harvest Fish is a summer visitor in Gravesend Bay; it is sometimes rare but was formerly abundant.

Dr. Smith records it as a fish that is usually rare, but occasionally common at Woods Hole, Mass. As a rule only 3 or 4 are taken in a season, but one year 300 or 400 were obtained. It is seen chiefly in June and July, in company with Butter Fish. This is a small but valuable food fish.

144. Butter Fish (Poronotus triacanthus Peck).

The Butter Fish occurs on the East coast from Maine to Florida. It is very abundant northward, but rare and found in deep water south of Cape Hatteras. It grows to the length of 1o inches and is highly prized for food.

- Mitchill called it the Cryptous Broad Shiner. DeKay says it appears in New York waters about the first of July and has been caught in fykes in the harbor of New York as late as October 12. He was informed that when this fish is taken out of the water at night it emits vivid phosphoric flashes.

About Cape Cod this fish is called Sheepshead and Skip Jack. In Connecticut it is styled Pumpkin Seed, and at Norfolk, Star Fish.

Ayres, writing in 1841, stated that the fish is very rare in the waters of Long Island. On May 22, he saw 3 of them and captured 1; it was scarcely known to the fishermen. In Gravesend Bay the fish occurs from April to November. Adults were taken in the Atlantic, off Southampton, August 1 and 30, 1808.

A few years ago this fish was little esteemed, but it is now considered a valuable food fish. The young are to be found in the summer months swimming at the surface in sheltered bays and frequently under the shelter of the streamers of Jelly

Fishes where they are sometimes destroyed by the lasso cells of their host. 28

434 REPORT OF THE

Group PERCOIDEA. Perch-like Fishes. Family CENTRARCHID. Sunfishes. 145. Rock Bass (Amdbloplites rupestris Rafinesque). Introduced.

The Rock Bass inhabits the fresh waters from Vermont through the Great Lake region, west to Manitoba, south to Louisiana. It is very common west of the Alleghanies. It grows to the length of 12 inches and attains to the weight of more than 2 pounds. It is a game fish and a fine food fish.

DeKay calls it the Fresh-water Bass. He obtained it in Lake Champlain. He states that since the completion of the Erie and Champlain Canals it has made its appearance in the Hudson River. The Rock Bass was introduced into Lake Ronkonkoma according to Mather and Dean, in 18th Report, Commissioners of

Fisheries of New York, 1890.

146. Sunfish (Eupomotis gibbosus Linneus).

The Sunfish frequents the Great Lake region eastward to Maine and southward, east of the Alleghanies, to Florida. It is found only in the northern parts of the Mississippi Valley, lowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc. It grows to the length of 3- inches.

DeKay describes it as the common Pond Fish. He states that the name Sunfish is derived from the glittering colors it displays while basking in the sun. He states also that the numerous spots on the body have occasioned it to be called Pumpkin Seed in some districts of the State. He further states that it has no value as food, but is often caught for amusement.

Mather and Dean reported the Sunfish to be abundant in Great Pond, at River- head. The fish is found at Water Mill, and was taken once in the brackish water in Mecox Bay. It is abundant in nearly all the fresh waters in Long Island, and is

taken occasionally in slightly brackish water in Quantic as well as Mecox Bay.

147. Small-mouthed Black Bass (I/icropterus dolomteu Lacépéde). Introduced.

The Small-mouthed Black Bass is described and figured by DeKay under the name of the Obscure Fresh-water Bass. His specimens were obtained from Onondaga Creek, where it is called, with many others, Black Bass.

Mather and Dean record this Bass in Lake Ronkonkoma, where it was intro-

duced about 1871.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 435

148. Large-mouthed Black Bass (Jlicropterus salmoides Lacépéde). Introduced.

The descriptions of the Large-mouthed Black Bass given by DeKay in his New York Fauna are borrowed from Cuvier. DeKay apparently was not personally acquainted with the fish.

Mather and Dean found the Large-mouthed Black Bass in Lake Ronkonkoma,

where it was introduced about 1871.

Family PERCIDA:. Perches.

149. Pike Perch (Stzzostedion vitreum Mitchill). Introduced. The Pike Perch was called the Glass-eye by Mitchill. DeKay calls it the Yellow

Pike Perch. He states that the fish is exceedingly voracious and is highly prized as food. It is caught readily with the hook and appears to prefer as bait the common fresh water Crayfish. The best time for fishing is in the dusk of the evening, with a great length of line out, and keeping it gently in motion. The foot of rapids, or beneath mill-dams, appear to be its favorite haunts. In the heat of summer it seeks the deepest and coolest parts of lakes and streams, concealing itself under weeds or grass. He was informed of a Pike Perch in Chautauqua Lake which was 30 inches long. It had swallowed a duck which had thrust its head through the gill openings of the fish, and having thus destroyed it, both were found dead on the shore.

This fish, according to Mather and Dean, was introduced into Lake Ronkon-

koma, with what result is unknown.

150. Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens Mitchill).

The Yellow Perch was transplanted by Dr. Mitchill in 1790 from Ronkonkoma Pond to Success Pond in Queens County, a distance of 40 miles. He took about three dozen of the fish. Before that time, he said, there were no Yellow Perch in Success Pond. The fish is recorded by DeKay from Ronkonkoma and Success Ponds. Mather and Dean also found it abundant, but small, in Lake Ronkonkoma and Great Pond.

The Yellow Perch is abundant in lakes in Brooklyn parks. It is common in many Long Island streams and lakes and has been extensively transplanted. In Swan River, at Patchogue, on September 9, 1901, about 300 were caught in a single

_ haul with a small seine, but only a few of these were kept for specimens.

151. Johnny Darter (Lolcosoma nigrum Rafinesque).

The Johnny Darter is described by DeKay under the name of the Tessellated Darter. He states that it occurs in most of the fresh water streams of New York.

This darter is found from Lake Ontario to Massachusetts, south to Virginia, chiefly

436 REPORT OF THE

coastwise and east of the Alleghanies. It grows to the length of about 3% inches. Ayres recorded this fish from Connecticut River, a stream emptying into Fireplace Bay, on the south side of Long Island. Mr. C. H. Walters, of Cold Spring Harbor, in correspondence has mentioned this darter as one of the fresh water fishes of the Island.

Family SERRANIDA:. Sea Basses.

152. Striped Bass (Roccus lineatus Bloch).

The Striped Bass was described by Mitchill under several different names from New York specimens. DeKay says of the Striped Bass: ‘The larger individuals, ~ called Green-heads, never ascend fresh water streams. Along the coast they enter creeks and inlets at night with the flood tide, in order to feed, and return with the ebb., Advantage is taken of this circumstance by stretching a seine across the outlet, when great numbers are taken. As the weather grows colder they penetrate into bays and ponds connected with the sea, where they imbed them- selves in the mud.» Near Sag Harbor I noticed one of these ponds which was a source of great annual profit to the owner.”

Ayres states that this fish is common on both the north and south side of the. island. On the north side it is seen in the sound as early as the first of May and remains until November. On the south side they are taken in the bays and in the ocean in much iarger numbers and of greater size. Fifty thousand weight have been drawn by a single net in five weeks, and the largest weighed from 100 to 120 pounds. Their food appears to consist of small fish, chiefly of Sand Launce and Silverside, Cuttle Fish, Shellfish, Mussels, soft clams and young crabs, but which seems to be a greater delicacy to them, soft crabs.

It is a permanent resident in Gravesend Bay, but the height of the fishery occurs from October 10 to November to. Large fish up to 45 pounds are caught in May, but the fall run of fish will range from g inches to 2 feet in length. The Striped Bass was caught at Blue Point Cove, August 18, and at Nichols’s Point September 1, 1898. It was moderately abundant in Great River, where it is reported to occur | almost throughout the year. Specimens taken in a gill net off Widow’s Creek,

September 27, 1901, had been feeding upon soft crabs.

153. White Perch (orone americana Gmelin).

Mitchill mentioned a White Perch, under the name of Red Perch, 14 inches

long, from Quogue, Long Island. The White Perch is described by DeKay under three names: Ruddy Bass,

Little White Bass, and Smail Black Bass. He also gives the common names Salt-

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 437 water Perch, White Perch, and Black Perch. DeKay states that the fish comes into the New York markets from New Jersey and Long Island where it is obtained in ‘brackish streams. He thinks it is the same perch described by Schoepff under the name of Perch, and River Perch at New York. Schcepff recorded the fish from the coast of New York and Long Island, in and at the mouths of fresh water streams. DeKay states that the Little White Bass occurs only in the spring in salt and brackish waters, and is invariably a smaller fish than the Ruddy Bass and is rarely brought to market for food. Writing of it under the name of Small Black Bass, DeKay states that it is commonly known under the name of Black Perch, and is found in various deep fresh water ponds in Queens and Suffolk counties. When weighing I or 2 pounds, it is esteemed good eating, but it rarely reaches that size, being for the most part about 6 inches long. Individuals: measuring 15 inches in length, however, have been taken. He says, further, that it rises to the fly and affords much amusement to the sportsman.

It is never plentiful in Gravesend Bay, but abundant in lakes of Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Near Montauk, L. I., White Perch weighing 2 to 3 pounds and more are reported.

Young individuals were seined in Shinnecock Bay, July 22, and in Swan River, August 12, 1898.

The fish is said to be very erratic in its movements in Great South Bay, and fishermen say that when it is disturbed on its feeding grounds it will leave suddenly and goa long distance. Smith’s Point was a good fishing locality on August 23, 1901, but after the first trial or two the fish could not be found again. Young individuals are moderately abundant at Head of Creek, Southampton. They were

found more plentiful there in September, 1901, than at any other locality.

154. Spotted Grouper ; Snowy Grouper (Lpznephelus niveatus C. & V.).

The Spotted Grouper, or Snowy Grouper, lives in the West Indies and south- ward to Brazil. It strays northward occasionally in the Gulf Stream as far as Cape Cod. Only young individuals have been taken in northern waters.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is not rare. It was first reported in 1895, when as many as 10 or 12 individuals were obtained in the region. _In 1897 several others were taken in summer and fall in a dredge and a fyke net. All the specimens were small, 3 inches or less, and most of them were caught in lobster pots. Between August 15 and October 26, 1899, 35 small examples were seined in Katama Bay. Twelve of these were taken on September 8. A number

have also been secured in Rhode Island waters.

438 REPORT OF THE

155. Sea Bass (Centropristes striatus Linneus).

The Sea Bass was described by Mitchill under the name Perca varia. DeKay names it the Black Sea Bass. He states that it is one of the most savory and delicate fishes which appear in New York markets from May until July. He says it is sometimes called Blue Fish, Black Harry, Hannahills and Black Bass.

The Sea Bass is found from Vineyard Sound southward, its southern limit probably not extending below Cape Hatteras. It is distinguished for its voracity and persistent biting. The young are found in channels of shallow bays and about wharves and landings, while large fish frequent the off-shore banks, where the bottom is rocky, or the vicinity of wrecks. Their food consists of shrimp, crabs, sea worms, squid, small fishes, and all other animals of suitable size. The fish is sluggish in its habits and hides in rock crevices like the Tautog. It breeds in the summer months and the young grow rapidly.

The Sea Bass appears in Gravesend Bay in May; it is not abundant there. The young, measuring 1% to 2 inches long, are found in the eel grass in October. Adults were abundant about 2 miles off shore at Southampton in August, 1808. Half-grown fish were caught at Islip, August 18, and young were moderately common at several localities near Fire Island Inlet and at Nichols’s Point. The — young were extremely scarce during the summer of 1901. Most of the individuals

taken were caught in eel pots.

156. Soapfish (Rhypticus bistrispinus Mitchill).

The Soapfish is given by Mitchill under the name of Bodianus bistrispinus. He had it from the Straits of Bahama. The fish inhabits the South Atlantic coast of the United States in rather deep water. It is most abundant off Charleston, Pensa- cola and Key West, and occasionally ranges as far north as Newport, Rhode Island. It is a small fish of no value for food, but interesting because of a soapy secretion

which exudes from its skin.

Family LOBOTIDA. Triple Tails. 157. Flasher; Triple Tail (Lodotes surinamensts Bloch).

The Flasher is found in all warm seas, ranging north on our coasts to Cape Cod, south to Panama, and straying occasionally to the Mediterranean. It is not very common. It isa good food fish but of rather sluggish habits. The species grows to theilenethvor. 3" feet:

Mitchill described the fish under the name of T7rzple-tail Perch from a specimen

taken at Powles Hook, New Jersey.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 439

DeKay has the fish under the name or the Black Triple Tail, which he states is a rare species in our waters.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, the fish is very rare. It was recorded by Prof. Baird in 1871, and since then has been met with on only a few occasions. Specimens were taken in August, 1873; December, 1875; September 20, 1886, and in August, 1890. The example taken September 20, 1886, was 2 feet

long; it was from a trap at Menemsha.

Family PRIACANTHIDA. Catalufas.

158. Big Eye (Priacanthus arenatus C. & V.).

The Big Eye, or Catalufa, is a native of the tropical Atlantic, ranging south to Brazil, and occasionally northward in summer to Cape Cod. It has also been recorded from Madeira.

This is a handsome fish, of a silvery red color, and with most of the fins margined with black. It reaches the length of about 12 inches.

Dr. Smith reports that 7 individuals were obtained at Woods Hole, Mass., in September and October, 1876, after which time for several years 3 or 4 were caught annually. A specimen 334 inches long was taken at Quisset Harbor, October 2, 1888.

The fish is known also from Newport, Rhode Island.

159. Short Big-eye (Pseudopriacanthus altus Gill).

The Short Big-eye is native in West Indian waters of moderate depth, ranging northward to Pensacola and Charleston. The young occasionally stray north in summer to Cape Cod.

According to Dr. Smith it is rare at Woods Hole, Mass, and vicinity. It was first taken there September 29, 1875, and again September 26, 1877. Several other occurrences of the fish have been noted; two small specimens were secured Novem- ber 28, 1885. Storer has recorded it from Marblehead, Mass. An example was caught in the Acushnet River, at New Bedford, November 1, 18g0.

The fish was first described from Narragansett Bay. It is a strikingly beautiful

species, growing to the length of 11 inches.

Family LUTIANIDA. Snappers. 160. Gray Snapper (Veoments griseus Linneus).

The Gray Snapper is known also as Mangrove Snapper, Lawyer, and Caballerote.

It is most abundant in the West Indies and on our South Atlantic and Gulf of

440 REPORT OF THE

Mexico shores. Its northern limit appears to be Cape Cod, where the young are frequently found in summer.

This fish grows to the length of 2 feet and is valued for food.

The first recorded occurrence of the Gray Snapper at Woods Hole, Mass., was in September, 1897, when 2 small examples were captured. In 1900, 5 specimens were secured, August 29, in Katama Bay. The largest of these was less than 2 inches

long, and the largest taken in 1897 was only 2% inches in length.

161. Red Snapper (Veomenis blackfordi Goode & Bean).

The Red Snapper is one of the most famous of the market fishes of New York, being conspicuous for its size, brilliant red color, and savory white flesh. Its range is from Cape Cod to the Caribbean Sea. The young occasionally migrate north- ward to Vineyard Sound in summer and specimens have been taken on Long Island.

An individual 4% inches long was caught at Bay Shore, October 25, 1887, and was forwarded to Washington by Hon. E. G. Blackford, Chairman of the New York Fish Commission.

On July 12, 1890, an example weighing 12 pounds was obtained from a Bass trap at Menemsha, Martha’s Vineyard. Mr. Edwards, who secured the specimen, thought that one was caught some years earlier near Block Island. Dr. Smith records a specimen weighing 8% pounds which was caught October 10, 1890, in a trap at Menemsha; he also mentions 9 specimens, the largest 2 inches long, which were seined September 7, September 11, and October 20, 1900, at Woods Hole.

The Red Snapper grows to the length of 30 inches. It is especially abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. It is taken in great numbers off Pensa-

cola and Key West. Family HA:-MULIDA. Grunters.

162. Pigfish; Hogfish (Orthopristis chrysopterus Linneus). The Pigfish inhabits the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States.

It extends northward to Long Island and south to the mouth of the Rio Grande. It is very abundant on sandy shores. ;

Mitchill described this fish as the Speckled Grunt ; DeKay has it under the name of the Speckled Red Mouth. He-says it is a rare fish, but occasionally appearing in New York Harbor in considerable numbers. It is a very savory food.

Several examples were taken in Gravesend Bay, October 24, 1894.

In Great Egg Harbor Bay, New Jersey, the young are abundant in August and September; many of them were taken in 1897, and a figure will be found in Bul-

letin United States Fish Commission, volume VII, plate III, figure 11.

( "SNIVHdSODOLVEOUd Sn:

fails ceryrasent sates; Cont

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 441

This is an excellent food fish, and grows to the length of 15 inches. The mark- ings of the young are very different from those of the adult, as they have a black stripe along the median line, and the sides have several broad dark bands. The fish

makes a croaking sound when captured.

Family SPARIDZ. Porgies. 163. Scup; Porgy (Stenotomus chrysops Linneus).

The Scup is described by both Mitchill and DeKay as the Big Porgee. The name is sometimes spelled Pogy. Scup is an abbreviation of Scuppaug, which in turn is a short form for the Narragansett name Miscuppaucg.

The Scup seldom migrates north of Cape Cod, although it has been taken occasionally off Cape Ann. Attempts to introduce it into Massachusetts have been unsuccessful. The fish come into our northern waters in great schools. The large spawning fish come first, making their appearance in New York waters in May. The fish feeds upon small crustaceans, mollusks and annelids, and is a very free biter. The fishery fluctuates greatly; in some years the Scup is comparatively scarce and in others extremely abundant. The young are devoured in large num- bers by the Cod, Weakfish, Bluefish, and other predaceous species.

According to DeKay the Scup is also called Sand Porgee. It occurs on the south side of Long Island in July and August and is caught in seines. Its name of Sand Porgee, among fishermen, is derived from its being mostly found on sandy bottoms.

In the Old Man’s Harbor region Ayres recorded the Scup as generally abundant through the summer, and rarely exceeding 9 inches in length. In September Ayres has seen hundreds of them, not more than 2 inches long, brought in at one haul of the net. In 1840, the Scup arrived about June 1 and remained until October.

In Gravesend Bay the Scup arrives in May and remains until November. In August, 1898, adults were caught in moderate numbers off Southampton. Half- grown fish were taken at Islip in the same month. The young of the year were scarce in 1898; one was seined at Nichols’s Point, September 1, and a moderate number of fish about 2 inches long were obtained at Fire Island Inlet September 16. In 1901, the very young Scup were not seen at all, and few of the larger size were

taken.

164. Sailor’s Choice (Lagodon rhomboides Linneus).

The Sailor's Choice is the Salt-water Bream of Schcepff and the Rhomboidal Porgee of DeKay. In Chesapeake Bay it is the Fairmaid. It is also called Pinfish,

442 REPORT OF THE

Squirrelfish, Porgee, Yellow Tail and Shiner. In Great South Bay the fish was unknown to the fishermen; also in Great Egg Harbor Bay, where the young are not uncommon in summer.

This fish inhabits the Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States, ranging northward in summer as far as Cape Cod. It is also found in Cuba.

Although small, seldom exceeding the length of 7 inches, it is much used as a food in some localities, especially in St. John’s River.

According to Dr. Smith, a few specimens are usually taken each season from July to September at Woods Hole, Mass.

The Sailor’s Choice is found occasionally in summer in Gravesend Bay. A single example was obtained at Fire Island October 1, 1890. It feeds upon small inverte- brates and minnows.

The eggs are described as pale blue in color, and as large as a mustard seed. Spawning takes place in the Gulf of Mexico in winter or early spring. This is a beautiful fish, the sides being ornamented with golden stripes on a pretty white

ground and having numerous dark vertical bands.

165. Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus \Walbaum).

The Sheepshead was at one time very abundant in New York waters. Dr. Mitchill has left the following record: ‘“‘The Sheepshead swims in shoals and is sometimes surrounded in great numbers by the seine. Several hundred have often been taken at a single haul with the long sweeping nets in use at Raynortown, Babylon and Fire Island. There have been 1,000 brought to land at a draught. This fish is sometimes speared by torchlight in the wide and shallow bays in Queens County and Suffolk.”

Mitchill further states that the Sheepshead remains from the beginning of June to the middle of September, but he has seen them as late as October 17.

DeKay stated that the Sheepshead breeds along the south coast and appears on New York shores in June; that it usually disappears in September, but in mild seasons remains until the middle of October. He states also that the fish reaches — the weight of 15 pounds.

Scott, in 1875, referred to Fire Island as a good locality for Sheepshead fishing and also mentions superior feeding places in Great South Bay, and about the wreck of the Black Warrior near the narrows.

Ayres, writing about Old Man’s Harbor, states that the Sheepshead is now (1844) very rare, much more so than formerly. In three years he was unable to obtain one

though he saw one or two while fishing. In the South Bay, near Fire Island Inlet,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 443

they are still taken in some numbers and a few also in Gardiner’s Bay, near the end of the island. The fish is very unusual in Gravesend Bay. An example weighing 13 pounds

was caught September 16, 1897, at Coney Island.

Family GERRIDA:. Mojarras.

166. Mojarra (Eucznostomus gula C. & V.).

The Silver Jenny, or Mojarra, is a small fish, reaching the length of only 4 or 5 inches, and is used only for bait; its range in summer extends as far north as Cape Cod. At Woods Hole, Mass., it is usually very uncommon. In 1897, when apparently this fish was more common than in any previous year, 5 specimens were taken at one seine haul in Quisset Harbor on August 14; 2 more were taken in the same locality September 7, and another in Eel Pond on September 23; all of these were I to 2 inches long. On October 5, 1897, the fish was numerous at QOuisset Harbor.

This is a rare fish in Long Island waters; a single small individual was secured

at Clam Pond Cove, August 22, 1808.

Family KYPHOSIDA. Rudder Fishes.

167. Bermuda Chub (Ayphosus sectatrix Linneus).

The Bermuda Chub is a West Indian species, ranging northward in summer to Cape Cod, crossing the ocean to the Canary Islands, and occurring accidentally in the Mediterranean. It is very common at Key West. It has a habit of following vessels perhaps for the waste food thrown from them, and hence called Rudder Fish. Other names for the species are Chub, and Chopa Blanca. It grows to the length of 18 inches and is reputed to have game qualities.

This is rare in Gravesend Bay, but was taken there in October, 1896, and again in September, 1897.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is not rare in summer or fall and is occasionally found in April. It is sometimes taken among gulf weed at the surface. The largest specimens are about 6 inches long.

DeKay calls this the Razor Fish; he did not see the species, but borrowed his

description and figure from Cuvier.

AAA REPORT OF THE

Family SCIZNIDZ. Croakers, etc.

168. Weakfish; Squeteague (Cymoscioun regalis Bl. & Schn.). The Weakfish appears in Dr. Mitchill’s Memoir on the Fishes of New York under

its present name. He also refers to it as the Squeteague and Checouts, the former being a Narragansett Indian name and the latter derived from the Mohegans. This fish has a great many common names in different localities, the most inappro- priate being Trout, or Sea Trout, in use in the Southern States.

Dr. Mitchill gives an explanation of the name Weakfish, and DeKay also explains the term. At the time of DeKay’s writing, 1842, and for some years previous, the Weakfish was present in diminished numbers. The Bluefish was then present in abundance, and the disappearance of the Weakfish was supposed to be connected with the reappearance of the Bluefish. The Weakfish ranges from the Bay of Fundy to the east coast of Florida. It fluctuates in abundance from year to year. The fish feeds in the channels upon shrimp, crabs and small fish. In Great South Bay we found it eating large quantities of anchovies. The fish enters the mouths of rivers and migrates freely with the tide. Spawning begins in the latter part of April or early in May. The fish is in its best condition during the fall migration, in September and October. At night the Weakfish runs up the creeks to feed in the salt meadows, and will take the hook freely.

This species swims in large schools near the surface and is very voracious, destroying the young even of its own kind. A specimen of about 4 pounds, taken at Islip October 1, 1890, had in its stomach a weakfish weighing about 6 ounces.

In 1844, according to Ayres, the fish had almost entirely disappeared from the vicinity of Old Man’s Harbor; only a few small stragglers were caught with the nets, the largest only about 1% pounds. Ayres stated, however, that they were more common on the south side of the island, and occasionally weigh 10 or 12 pounds.

Young Weakfish were rather common at Blue Point Cove August 13 and 16, and at Nichols’s Point, September 1, 1898. In the summer of 1901 young Weakfish were unusually scarce in Great South Bay; it was said that they were not uncom- mon in Shinnecock Bay. Adults were rather abundant. Some very large schools

were seen. 169. Spotted Weakfish (Cynoscion nebulosus C. & V.).

The Spotted Weakfish is known also as Spotted Sea Trout. It is a native of

the South Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States, its range extending from

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 445

New York to Texas. It is a most excellent food fish of large size, often exceeding 2 feet in length. It is every-where common on the southern coast but rare north of Virginia. On September 19, 1887, a single example of the Spotted Weakfish was caught at Jimmy’s Island, Great Egg Harbor Bay, N. J. Mitchill mentions the fish as a spotted variety of the Common Weakfish. His description was based upon a

New York specimen.

z70. Banded Larimus (Larimus fasciatus Holbrook).

The Banded Larimus inhabits the South Atlantic coast of the United States, extending southward to Galveston, Texas, and occasionally straying north as far as Cape, Gods) AtaWoods Hole) Mass) dccordins to Dr; Smith; it issa very ‘rare straggler. A single individual, 8 inches long, was caught in a trap at the break- water, Buzzard’s Bay, on August 13, 1880.

An example was captured in Gravesend Bay July 25, 1895, and another one August 2, 1895.

This is a small fish, seldom exceeding 7 inches in length.

171. Yellow-tail; Silver Perch (Bazrdiella chrysura Lacépéde).

The Yellow-tail is described by Dr. Mitchill under the name of the Silvery Perch, a name which DeKay explains from the resemblance of the Yellow-tail in shape and habits to the Common White Perch.

The fish occurs on our coast from Long Island to Texas. It seldom exceeds 10 inches in length, but is regarded as an excellent pan fish, and is taken in enormous numbers. In 1890 it was a common fish in Great South Bay in September and the early part of October. It was scarce in all parts of the bay in 18098 except at Nichols’s Point where the young were collected in moderate numbers on Septem- Demure

The young are found every summer in Gravesend Bay and adults are to be seen occasionally. On September 6, 1896, an example 1% inches long was taken in a shrimp net in eel grass back of the flats at extremely low tide. On October 5, 1896,

and again in the fall of 1897 the Silver Perch was obtained in the bay.

172. Red Drum; Channel Bass (Scze@nops ocellatus Linneus).

The Red Drum frequents the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States from Cape Cod to Texas. It is very common in the southern portion of its

habitat, and is one of the largest and best of the food fishes, reaching a length of 5 feet and a weight of 75 pounds. On the Texas coast it-is the most important of

the economic fishes.

446 REPORT OF THE

Mitchill described it as the Beardless Drum. Another name, derived from the dark spot or spots on each side of the tail, is Branded Drum. It is also called Red- fish, Red Bass, Bass, and Sea Bass.

DeKay says it appears only occasionally on the New York coast.

At Woods Hole, Mass., an example was caught ina trap at the breakwater, in Buzzards Bay, in 1894. It was 2 feet 10 inches long and weighed about 10 pounds.

It was the only one of the kind known to have been taken in that region.

173. Spot; Lafayette (Lezostomus xanthurus Lacépéde).

The Spot was known to Mitchill as the Little Porgee. According to DeKay its appearance on the New York coast in the summer of 1824 happened to coincide with the arrival of General Lafayette, and his name was bestowed upon the species. Spot is derived from the presence of a dark blotch, about as big as the eye, near the base of the breast fin. Other names for the fish are Goody, Oldwife, Roach, and Chub.

The Spot is found from Cape Cod to Florida and is sometimes abundant as far north as Woods Hole. Several specimens were taken early in October, 1890, in Great River, and a single example was caught in a pound net at Islip, October 1, 1890. It. was not plentiful inthe bay in 1901. The few examples obtained were caught at Duncan’s Creek and Quantic Bay. No very small ones were seen; those secured were half grown or adults. The Spot is rather common in Gravesend Bay from July to as late as December, usually most abundant in September.

According to Dr. Smith, it is common in the fall at Woods Hole, Mass., being present during the whole of October. It leaves when the -water temperature reaches 45°F.

This is a small fish, seldom exceeding 10 inches in length, but it is one of the favorites among the pan fishes. It feeds upon the bottom on small invertebrates, and can be taken readily with hook and line. It ascends creeks into brackish water

and is a common associate of the White Perch.

174. Croaker (AZicropogon undulatus Linneus).

The Croaker was described by Mitchill under the name of Middle Grunts and by DeKay as the Banded Corvino. According to Mitchill it reaches the length of 15 inches. DeKay did not see the fish and his account of it was drawn from Mitchill and Cuvier.

The fish inhabits the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and

it is an important food fish.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. AAT

On September 9, 1893, an individual 15 inches long was taken ina trap at the breakwater in Buzzards Bay, near Woods Hole, Mass. This is the only record of its capture there.

In Gravesend Bay the species occurs but rarely.

175. Kingfish (Wenticirrhus saxotilis Bl. & Schn.).

The Kingfish was known to Mitchill and DeKay under the same name. Mitchill described and figured the fish in 1815 in the Transactions, Literary and Philo- sophical Society, New York. In 1842, DeKay published his description and figure in the New York Fauna. He says the fish was named Kingfish by the early English colonists on account of its excellent flavor. He states that it appears in New York waters in July and August, and that a few wander north of Cape Cod as far as the harbor of Boston. The name Hake is given to the species in New Jersey and Delaware. In the Chesapeake it is sometimes called Black Mullet; in North Carolina, the Sea Mink; in the South it is the Whiting or Bermuda Whiting; on the Connecticut coast it is known as the Tom Cod. The Kingfish occurs northward to Cape Ann, and south to the Gulf of Mexico. Large individuals are not common at Cape Cod, but the young are there in moderate numbers in the summer months. They usually occur in abundance throughout Great South Bay, especially near the inlet. Adult Kingfish were formerly common in Great South Bay, but for many years they have been generally rare. This fish is a favorite in New York waters. It takes the baited hook very readily. Hard Clam, Shedder Crab, Black Mussels, and various kinds of fish are good baits. It goes in schools and associates with the Weakfish. It was formerly abundant in Gravesend Bay but is now rare. In 1898, young Kingfish were seen in Peconic Bay and in various parts of Great South Bay, in August and September. An adult was taken in Clam Pond Cove August 26. In 1901, large Kingfish were occasionally caught in Great South Bay, but the young were unusually few in numbers. Two were obtained in Duncan’s Creek, December 1, measuring 3 and 4 inches respectively.

At Woods Hole, Mass., adults full of spawn are common in June, according to Dr. Smith, and uncommon after July 15. Fish about an inch long appear in the middle of July, and the young are numerous on sandy beaches during the summer until the early part of October, when they leave, having attained a length of 4 or 5

inches. The maximum weight is about 2 pounds.

176. Drum (Pogonias cromis Linneus).

Mitchill describes the Drum under two names, Black Drum and Red Drum. He

described a Black Drum weighing 34 pounds. He had a specimen weighing 80

448 REPORT Oh) RAE

pounds, and states that he was informed of one that weighed 101 pounds. The fish, according to Mitchill, was taken abundantly during the summer with line and net. ‘‘ He swims in numerous shoals in shallow bays on the south side of Long Island, where fishermen during the warm season can find them almost like a flock of sheep; it is a dull sort of fish.’ The Red Drum he considered merely a variety of the Black Drum.

~DeKay calls the species Big Drum and says: ‘They are gregarious, and are frequently taken in great numbers by the seine, during the summer, along the bays and inlets of Long Island.”’ He called the young of this fish the Banded Drum. Other names for this stage given by DeKay are: Grunter, Grunts, Young Drum, and Young Sheepshead. The adults according to DeKay are coarse food, but the young are considered a great delicacy. The Drum is found on our coast from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. It is occasionally a summer visitor in Gravesend Bay. In the fall of 1896, 14 young Drum, 8 inches long, were obtained there. In the fall of 1897, none were seen in the bay.

At Wocds Hole, Mass., the Drum is very rare. It was first taken May 7, 1874, and has been observed only three or four times since. The recent specimens were taken in traps at Quisset Harbor in the latter part of September, or early in

October. All were of one size, weighing 4% or 5 pounds.

Suborder Pharyngognathi. Labroid Fishes. Family LABRIDA:. Wrasse Fishes.

177. Bergall; Cunner ( 7Zautogolabrus adspersus WWalbaum).

The Bergall, or Cunner, has a variety of other names. Mitchill gives the name Bluefish as in use for it in New York in 1815; Perch, Sea Perch, and Blue Perch are New England names for the fish. On account of its bait-stealing propensities, it has been called Nipper and Bait Stealer. The Bergall, or Cunner, is common from Labrador at least as far south as New Jersey. It is associated with the Tautog. it is highly esteemed in some parts of New York. Further south it is not held in high repute, the hard scales, and stiff, sharp spines making it inconvenient to prepare for cooking. Mitchill describes a yellow variety of Cunner, and DeKay has considered the young, which has a black spot on the front part of the dorsal fin, as a distinct species, named by him the Spotted Bergall. The Bergall spawns in June and July. It isa permanent resident and does not retreat into deep water except in very cold weather. The young vary greatly in color; some are dull brown,

others are yellowish, and still others are bright green. Dusky bands are present

FOREST, FISH AND GAME CCMMISSION. 449

also in the young. In 1840, Ayres saw several specimens which had their entire surface banded with alternating vertical lines of black and light brown. The Ber- gall is found in Gravesend Bay throughout the year. It is very common inall the salt waters of Long Island. It was rather scarce in Great South Bay in the summer oi 1901, however. Young individuals, 136 inches long, were seen at Fire Island inlet August 15. The young of about the same size have been collected on the ocean beach at Water Island, June 6. The young are usually captured most easily in eel pots. All of the specimens collected in Great South Bay in 1901 were rather small.

At Woods Hole, Mass., where the fish remains in eel grass in winter, thousands perish from cold every year. Spawning occurs there in June. By August 1, the young an inch long are seen. In the bays and harbors the maximum weight is about a pound, but outside of Gayhead and Cuttyhunk they reach a weight of 2%

pounds.

178. Black Fish; Tautog (7aztoga onitis Linnzus).

Mitchill gives the name Tautog as of Mohegan origin. He mentions for the species the names Toad, Black Fish, and Runner. The Mohegan name, Tautog, according to DeKay, is said to mean black. On the southern coast it is styled Chub, or Salt Water Chub, Moll, and Will George, and Oyster Fish.

The fish is found from Nova Scotia to Virginia. The largest individual recorded was 3 feet long, and weighed more than 20 pounds.

The Tautog is not migratory but hibernates in cold weather, going into the mud in November or December. It is sometimes destroyed by freezing. Spawn- ing takes place late in April. The eggs are deposited in depths of 6 to 8 feet or more among rocks and float near the surface. The young vary greatly in color; some are bright green, others brown or red, and some are mottled with brown, red, and green, intermingled with pale areas.

The food consists of mollusks and crustaceans; crabs, and especially fiddlers, barnacles, clams and lobsters are favorite articles of food. Sand worms are also very attractive to it. ;

Mitchill gives a most interesting account of the habits and mode of capture of this well-known fish. In 1814, he states, the price varied from 8 to 12 cents a pound.

In Old Man’s Harbor, Ayres found this fish less common than in most parts of the sound, owing probably to the absence of rock bottoms and shoals. Their size

was also small, the largest weighing a little over 2 pounds. He says that they were 2) 2)

450 REPORT. OR REE

much more numerous at Sag Harbor, Greenport, and Gardiner’s Bay. The Tautog is found during the entire year in Gravesend Bay. It was very abundant in bays on the eastern part of Long Island during the summer of 1898, especially during July and August. In Igor, no large Tautog were seined during the summer in Great South Bay. Many of the young were obtained in the eel pots which were

usually set off the mouths of streams.

Suborder SQUAMIPINNES. Scaly-fins. Family EPHIPPIDA. Angel Fishes. 179. Tripletail (Chetodipterus faber Broussonet).

The Tripletail, or Spadefish, is also known as the Moonfish; it is the Sheepshead Chetodon of Mitchill, and the Banded Ephippus of DeKay. Mitchill records it as taken at the east end of Long Island, July 27, 1815, and also in 1817. DeKay, in his New York Fauna, says: ‘‘ About 20 years since they were caught here in seines

. x

in great numbers. Some of them were 18 inches long. The popular names, Three-tailed Sheepshead, and Three-tailed Porgee, were given them by fish- ermen in allusion to their prolonged dorsal and anal fins. * * * Seheepff. states that it is called Angelfish in South Carolina.” The species is called Spadefish in States bordering the Gulf of Mexico.

This fish has occasionally been taken as far north as Cape Cod. Southward it is recorded from Guatemala. It occurs in the West Indies. In Chesapeake Bay it is moderately common.

At Woods Hole, according to Dr. Smith, it is very rare. One specimen was obtained in 1889; since then only three have been observed. All were caught in traps, at Menemsha, in August and September. The fish measured from 16 to 18

inches. It grows to the length of 3 feet.

Family CHA: TODONTID. Butterfly Fishes.

180. Parche (Chetodon ocellatus Bloch).

The Parche, also called Butterfly Fish, belongs to the West Indian fauna. It is common at Havana, the young straying northward in the Gulf Stream to Cape Cod, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. In Gravesend Bay the fish is very rare. A single specimen was obtained from a pound near Clam Pond Cove, October 17, 1898. This fish is conspicuous on account of the red color of its fins, contrasting

very sharply with the dark bands on the head and body. The fish was also taken

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 451

in Gravesend Bay in October, by Mr. W. I. De Nyse, who stated that the roundish black spot in the soft dorsal fin remains fixed under all conditions, while the band extending from it to the anal fin sometimes disappears. The whole body of the fish at times appears to have an orange tinge, but at other times it is gray. At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, a few specimens are taken nearly every year in October and November while seining in eel grass. Three have been caught at one haul of the net, and 5 is the largest number taken in one season until 1900, when 123 specimens were obtained, the fish being found in Katama Bay on 13 different occasions between August 15 and October 26; on September 8, 26 were

seined, and October 3, 21. Family TEUTHIDIDA. Surgeons.

181. Surgeon ; Doctor Fish ( 7euthis hepatus Linnzus).

The Surgeon, or Doctor Fish, is a West Indian species, common from Florida to Bahia, straying northward in summer as far as Cape Cod, where a few specimens were recorded by Dr. Smith, in 1900. A young individual about 3 inches long, was caught in Gravesend Bay in Mr. John B. De Nyse’s pound in October, 1897. DeKay publishes a description and figure of the fish, which he borrowed from Cuvier, who had New York specimens from Milbert. The fish reaches the length of at least 1 foot. The name Surgeon is derived from the presence of a sharp,

depressible, lancet-like spine on each side of the tail.

Group PLECTOGNAT HI. Suborder SCLERODERMI. Family BALISTIDA:. Trigger Fishes.

182. Leather Jacket ; Turbot (Ba/istes carolinensis Gmelin).

The Leather Jacket, or Turbot, isa common species in the tropical part of the Atlantic, ranging northward occasionally in the Gulf Stream. It is abundant on our coast and in the Mediterranean, and rarely extends north to England.

DeKay describes it under the name of the Dusky Balistes. In 1820, he had a specimen from the harbor of New York. He said it isa rare species. His specimen was 12% inches long. This fish is uncommon in Gravesend Bay, but is seen occasionally in the bays of Long Island opening into the Atlantic. At Woods Hole, Mass., it is very rare, and is not found every year. The young have not been

observed there.

452 REPORT OF THE

183. Bessy Corka (Salistes vetula Linnezus).

The Bessy Corka is sometimes called Oldwife, Oldwench, or Cochino. It fre- quents the tropical parts of the Atlantic, is common in the West Indies, ranging northward occasionally in the Gulf Stream as far as Cape Cod. According to Dr. Smith, it occurs in the vicinity of Woods Hole, Mass., every season, mostly in September, when adults are taken in some numbers in the traps at Menemsha. During summer and fall the young, 1% to 2 inches long, are found at the surface in Vineyard Sound in gulfweed, and also around the shores. It is known

there as Trigger Fish and Leather Jacket.

Family MONACANTHID&. File Fishes.

184. File Fish (W/onacanthus hispidus Linneeus). The File Fish is called the Fool! Fish, Leather Fish, Horny Cony, and® Eijayeet

grows to the length of 10 inches, and is found from Cape Cod to Cuba, also through the West Indies to Brazil, and in the Canaries and Madeira. It is abundant on our South Atlantic Coast and at the Florida Keys, and is sometimes very common in New York waters in the summer.

Mitchill described the fish, and DeKay has it under the name of the Thread Fish. His description was made from an example taken from New York harbor in August. Some specimens brought to him had their stomachs filled with small crabs.

At Woods Hole, Mass., the fish is present every year; sometimes scarce and sometimes abundant. In May, 1897, it was extremely numerous in July and August, and several hundred were often taken in one day. It may often be seen under gulfweed, but is usually more numerous in eelgrass and rockweed. In the aquarium, small File Fish often annoy and injure other fish, following them with - great persistency, and biting their fins, eyes and other parts.

The fish is taken in Gravesend Bay occasionally in the fall from September to November. A single specimen was obtained August 16, 1898, at Point of Woods,

Great South Bay. 185. Orange File Fish (Alutera schepfit Walbaum).

The Orange File Fish is found along the coast from Cape Cod to Texas; it is rather common on sandy shores, especially south of Cape Hatteras. It grows to the length of 24 inches. Mitchill described the adult from a New York specimen in 1815, and DeKay gave a name and illustration of the young in 1842. Mitchill calls it the Sharp-tailed File Fish, and DeKay named it the Long-tailed Unicorn Fish.

DeKay said that this is not an uncommon species in New York waters. He states

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 453

that the color is brown varied with orange, and that he saw individuals of a uniform brown without any spots or clouds.

The young are rather common in Gravesend Bay, from August to October, and sometimes as late as November. Adults are rarely seen there. In 1898, only young individuals were obtained. These were caught at Southampton in the ocean, at Islip, and Fire Island inlet. None of the young were seen in the summer of

1901, but two adults were captured in waters adjacent to Fire Island in August.

Suborder OSTRACODERMI. Trunk Fishes. Family OSTRACIID-A.

186. Trunk Fish (Lactophrys trigonus Linneus).

The Common Trunk Fish, also known as Chapin and Shellfish, is a native of the West Indies; it is very common as far north as Bermuda and Key West and occasionally extends northward in summer in the Gulf Stream as far as Cape Cod. It grows to the length of about 1 foot. This is the Dromedary Trunk Fish of DeKay’s New York Fauna, page 341, plate 58, figure 190. The origin of the fish figured by DeKay was unknown to him, but he was informed that it was taken on the shore of Long Island. A very small example, only 3@ of an inch long, was taken in Gravesend Bay in August, 1897.

_ At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, adult Trunk Fish have not been observed, but the very young are not uncommon and are taken every year from July to October. On quiet days they are seen singly or in scattered bodies in the eelgrass by the wharves. The largest specimens are one inch long and the smallest y inch. They are taken under the gulfweed in surface tow nets and in shore

seines. Several dozen have been obtained at one seine haul.

Suborder GYMNODONTES. Family TETRAODONTIDA. Puffers. 187. Smooth Puffer (Lagocephalus levigatus Linneus).

The Smooth Puffer is found along the coast from Cape Cod to Brazil; it is com- mon southward but less common north of Cape Hatteras; it reaches the length of 2 feet; it is not a food fish.

At Great Egg Harbor Bay, N. J., individuals measuring from 434 to 7 inches were moderately abundant in August and September, 1887. The fish was unknown

to the fishermen.

454 REPORT OF ) 2 Ets

N

This Puffer is occasionally taken in fall in Gravesend Bay. Five young were obtained in the fall of 1897. On October 14, 1898, a large individual was obtained from a pound near Clam Pond Cove, Great South Bay. This was the only one collected during the season.

At Woods Hole, Mass., Dr. Smith reports it not very common. Perhaps six to a dozen are taken each year in traps in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, mostly in September and October. All are about 11 or 12 inches long, small ones never being seen. During 1900 several specimens of this fish were taken in the vicinity of Woods Hole, Mass.; three were caught in Narragansett Bay, the largest weighing 10 pounds.

The young of this fish appears to be not yet known; the smallest examples found

by the United States Fish Commission in Porto Rico were 2% inches long.

188. Swellfish; Puffer (Spherordes maculatus Bl. & Schn.).

The Swellfish, or Puffer, is called Curved Tetrodon, Puffer and Toadfish by Mitchill. DeKay calls it the Common Puffer; he says it has received the popular names of Puffer and Blower from its power of inflation when taken from the water. He states that it is scarcely ever eaten, and that it is frequently taken with the hook in fishing for Blackfish, and also in company with Cod and Haddock.

Mitchill gives an interesting account of the inflation of this fish. This habit is a protective one, by means of which the fish can readily escape from the closed hand unless particular effort is made to retain it. When the abdomen is inflated the Swellfish often remains on the surface of the water, and is driven by wind and tide until it desires to sink, when the air is suddenly discharged and the abdomen returns to its normal state.

According to Ayres the fish arrives in Old Man’s Harbor June 1, and remains until October. It possesses, in a remarkable degree, the power of changing its color at will. If alarmed while lying on the sand at a time when it does not choose to escape by swimming, the colors fade instantly to a dingy white, scarcely distinguish- able from the sand on which the fish lies. If the alarm ceases, the original color returns, and the fish is again easily discernible.

It is found in Gravesend Bay at all times except during the cold months. Adults were occasionally taken in 1898, and the young were abundant in Peconic Bay and in every portion of Great South Bay investigated. Very few examples, however, were obtained during July and August, 1901, in Great South Bay. The smallest one seen, collected July 27, at Blue Point, was 2% inches long.

The range of the Swellfish is from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. The fish

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 455

grows to the length of about 8 inches. The spawning season is June 1 to Io, From about July 1 to October 15 the young, from ¥% to 1 inch long, are extremely abundant at Woods Hole, Mass., on the sandy beaches, where 100 are often taken

in a seine haul. The fish leaves as soon as cold weather sets in.

189. Globefish; Blowfish (Spherordes testudineus Linneus).

The Globefish, Blowfish, or Tambor, is a West Indian species. It is very com- mon in the West Indies and the Caribbean Sea, occasionally ascending rivers, and

sometimes ranging northward in the Gulf Stream as far as Newport, R. I. 190. Hairy Blowfish (Spheroides trichocephalus Cope).

The Hairy Blowfish is almost an unknown species, the only specimen in exist- ence being the type of the original description, an example 4 inches long, taken in the Gulf Stream off Newport, R. I. This was described by Cope in the Proceedings, Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1870, page 120. It is also described by Jordan and Gilbert, Synopsis of Fishes, North America, 1883, page 862, and by Jordan and Evermann, Bulletin 47, United States National Museum, page 1737.

Family DIODONTID. Porcupine Fishes.

191. Spiny Boxfish (Chzlomycterus schepfit Walbaum).

The Spiny Boxfish ranges along the coast from Cape Cod to Florida. It is very abundant southward in shallow water, especially from Cape Hatteras to Florida; it grows to a length of toinches. The body is capable of considerable inflation, but not so much as in the Rough Puffers.

Mitchill calls this fish the Spot-striped Diodon; he described and figured it in the volume above cited, page 470, plate 6, figure 3. DeKay has it under the name of the Spot-striped Balloon Fish; he says it is not rare in our waters in summer and is occasionally taken with a hook at the city wharves in July and August. The stomach of a specimen examined by him was filled with fragments of shells. This fish is found occasionally in small numbers from May to October in Gravesend Bay, but no very small ones are seen. It has not been found by the writer in Great South Bay, but a dead specimen was picked up on the beach in the summer of 1901, opposite Clam Pond Cove.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is rare and of irregular occurrence. Some years a few are taken in almost every trap in the vicinity ; then

none will be caught for several years. The latter part of September and early

456 REPORT OF THE

October are the periods when this fish is seen; the specimens taken are from 2% to 5 inches long. It is sometimes called Swell Toad, Puffer and Porcupine in that

locality. At Somers Point, N. J., it is known as the Cucumber Fish.

192. Burfish (Chilomycterus fuliginosus DeKay). The Burfish was described by DeKay as the Unspotted Balloon Fish. DeKay

had an example 2 inches long, taken in the harbor of New York late in October; by some writers this has been considered the young of the Common Spiny Boxfish, but specimens taken at Block Island and in Great South Bay have established the validity of DeKay’s species; the colors are given as follows: “ Above dark olive green, tinged with brown, with meandering dusky lines; chin yellowish white, abdomen black, but the bases of the spines are bright orange which so far pre-

dominates as to give this color to the whole under side.”

Family MOLIDA:. Head Fishes.

193. Sunfish; Headfish (W/ola mola Linnzus).

The Sunfish, or Headfish, is a pelagic species inhabiting most temperate and tropical seas ; it extends north to England, Cape Cod and San Francisco; it is rare in the West Indies. The largest example known was taken at Redondo Beach, Cal., in June, 1893; this was 8 feet 2 inches long, and weighed 1,800 pounds.

This is the short Headfish of DeKay, New York Fauna, page 331, plate 59, figure 193. DeKay had a mounted specimen of the fish, but adopted the description and figure of Storer. He states that the fish is not unfrequently captured along the coast. The specimen mentioned by Mitchill was captured in the lower bay within Sandy Hook; it weighed 200 pounds.

At Woods Hole, Mass., the fish is known as Sunfish. Dr. Smith says it is much rarer now than formerly. In the early years of the Fish Commission 8 or Io specimens were observed annually in Vineyard Sound, but of late it is unusual to see more than one ina season. In 1896, a 400-pound fish was seen off Tarpaulin Cove. In 1887, a 200-pound specimen, caught off Great Harbor, was kept alive at the station for about a week. The fish is usually found in August. Mr. Edwards examined a number of them and observed only Ctenophores and Medusz in their stomachs.

The fish swims slowly near the surface with the high dorsal fin out of water,

and is usually approached with little difficulty.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 457

Suborder LORICATI. Family SCORPA:NIDA.. Rockfishes.

194. Rosefish ; Norway Haddock (Sedastes marinus Linneus). The Rosefish, or Norway Haddock, inhabits the North Atlantic; it is abundant

on both coasts. It has been recorded from the north and west coasts of Europe to the British Channel, and in’ the Arctic Ocean: It is a shore fish as far south occasionally as Cape Cod, and occurs in deep water south to New Jersey. It breeds abundantly off the south coast of New England in late summer, between 100 and 180 fathoms, and there is no reason to believe that the young rise to the surface ; they were caught by the bushel at these depths. It is a beautifully colored and important food fish.

DeKay calls it the Northern Sebastes; he says it is a very rare fish in our waters. It is called by fishermen Red Sea Perch, and they say it is always found in deep water. To the Massachusetts fishermen it is known as Rosefish, Hemdurgon, and Snapper. Fabricius states that it is rather agreeable food, but meagre. It feeds on Flounders and other fish, and takes the hook readily.

According to Dr. Smith, it was obtained in the Woods Hole region only once. On December 20, 1895, in Great Harbor, 7 or 8 specimens, 3 inches long, were found in a hole on a flat, where they had been left by the tide; 4 or 5 of these had been stranded and were dead, the others were alive. Fishermen claim that they some- times catch these fish in traps very late in fall at Provincetown. This fish reaches a

length of 18 inches.

195. Redfish (Helicolenus dactylopterus De la Roche).

The beautiful Redfish is found in deep water of the Atlantic and in the Medi- terranean. It occurs frequently off our east coast from Narragansett Bay to Chesapeake Bay. Its color is a delicate scarlet red, the gill cover and dorsal fin somewhat mottled with brownish. The fish reaches the length of 15 inches; it

is highly valued for food. Family COTTIDA. Sculpins. 196. Grubby ; Brassy Sculpin (MWyoxrocephalus eneus Mitchill).

The Grubby, or Brassy Sculpin, was called the Brazen Bullhead by both Mitchill and DeKay. DeKay states that it is frequently taken with the hook in Long Island Sound and the harbor of New York. It rarely exceeds 6 inches in length,

and is usually not more than 4 inches long. It is the smallest of the marine

458 ~ REPORT OF THE

Sculpins on our coast. Its range extends from the Bay of Fundy to New Jersey. It has no value for food but is used for Lobster bait, and it is a very useful scavenger.

In Brookhaven, Long Island, according to Ayres, it was seen around wharves in harbors, and in one or two instances was taken in the Sound. It is practically a_ permanent resident in Gravesend Bay. This Sculpin spawns in winter.

At Woods Hole, Mass., it also spawns in winter, and is caught daily in fyke nets set in the harbor. The eggs adhere to the twine. The largest fish are 5 inches

long.

197. 18-Spined Sculpin (A/yoxocephalus octodecimspinosus Mitchill).

The 18-Spined Sculpin, Hacklehead, or Long-spined Sculpin inhabits the Atlantic coast from Labrador to Virginia. It is very common about Cape Cod. It reaches the length of about 1 foot. Mitchill first described the species in 1815. DeKay calls it the Common Bullhead. He says it sometimes reaches a length of 18 inches. He states also that it is not a bad article of food, but is regarded with aversion by fishermen on account of its uncouth form. When freshiy taken from the water and irritated it presents a formidable appearance. The head is swollen to twice its usual size by the distension of the branchial membrane; the spines stand out prominently, and the rays of all the fins become erect. He says further that it is known under the various popular names of Sculpin, Sea Robin, Bullhead, Sea Toad and Pigfish, the latter from its croaking noise when drawn from the water.

In Gravesend Bay this fish is known as the Hacklehead. It is taken only in winter and early spring.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it first appears about October 1, becomes very abundant about October 15, and remains until December or January. It spawns in November and December and the eggs often come ashore by bucketsful on Nobska Beach.

198. Daddy Sculpin (J/yoxocephalus grenlandicus C. & V.).

The Daddy Sculpin is a very large species, reaching a length of 25 inches; its range extends from New York to Greenland. Fabricius stated that it abounds in all the bays and inlets of Greenland ; it prefers a stony coast. clothed with seaweed. It approaches the shore in spring and departs in winter. It is very voracious, preying on everything that comes in its way, and pursuing incessantly the smaller fish, not sparing the young of its own species, and devouring crustacea and worms.

It spawns in December and January and deposits its red-colored roe on the seaweed.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 459

It is easily taken with a bait and constitutes the daily food of the Greenlanders who are very fond of it.

This Sculpin was unknown to DeKay except from a single mutilated specimen which was captured near Hell Gate. His account of the fish was, therefore, borrowed from Storer and the figure from Richardson.

The Daddy Sculpin appears at Woods Hole, Mass., about October 1 and remains

until December or January. It spawns in November and December.

199. Sea Raven (Hemuitripterus americanus Gmelin).

The Sea Raven is the Yellow Scorpena of Mitchill. According to DeKay the name Sea Sculpin is sometimes applied to this species. Other names given to the fish are Rock Toad Fish and Deep Water Sculpin. It is found along the east coast from Nova Scotia to Chesapeake Bay. It grows to a length of 2 feet and is one of the most brightly colored of the marine fishes. Its colors are subject to great variation. The head is covered with numerous fringes and the dorsal spines are often produced into filaments. The mouth is large, the skin rough and the belly very distensible at the will of the fish, making this species one of the curiosities of the sea. It feeds upon mollusks and all other invertebrates of suitable size. It is not eaten, although its flesh is of excellent flavor. It is used as bait for the Eel and Lobster fishery.

Examples were taken in Great South Bay in the fall of 1884. It is brought in frequently from the fishing banks off Sandy Hook. It spawns in November. The eggs are amber or yellow. Eggs observed November 29, 1897, were in masses stuck tightly together. The egg is 5/,, of an inch in diameter and at the end of November showed the form of the fish distinctly. Its color in that stage is pale salmon, but

it is brighter when first deposited.

Family CYCLOPTERIDA. Lump Suckers. 200. Lumpfish; Lump Sucker (Cyclopterus lumpus Linnzus).

The Lumpfish inhabits the North Atlantic Ocean on rocky shores on both coasts extending south to Cape Cod and France. It grows to alength of 20 inches or more and is rarely used as food. It is reported to spawn near the shore in March or April, after which the female retires to deep water, leaving the male to watch the eggs which hatch among seaweed and eelgrass. Mitchill called it the Blue Lump. fish ; he described and figured it in 1815. DeKay also gives a description and figure

and states that it is considered a great delicacy in Scotland, but it agrees with few

460 REPORT OF THE

stomachs on account of its oily nature. He mentions the names used in Scotland for this fish as the Cock Paddle and Hen Paddle, also the English names, Lump- sucker, Lumpfish, and Sea Owl.

It is found in Gravesend Bay in May.

At Woods Hole, Mass., adults are common in April, when spawning occurs, — and few are there in May. The young are taken throughout the summer in

Vineyard Sound among driftweed. Group GOBIOIDEI. Family GOBIIDA:. Gobies.

201. Naked Goby (Godzosoma bosci Lacépéde).

The Naked Goby, or Mud Creeper, is the Variegated Goby of Dr. Mitchill and DeKay. Mitchill had specimens 2% inches long from the Bay of New York, and illustrates one of them in figure 8, plate 1, of his Memoir on the Fishes of that State. The ventral fins of this little fish form a sucking disk of comparatively great power. Says Dr. Mitchill: ‘ One of the individuals now lying before me adhered so firmly to a stone that he was lifted out of the water by an oysterman.”

This Goby does not exceed 2% inches in length and is now known from Buz- zards Bay southward, its southern limit being undetermined.

Specimens were taken in the oyster dredge at Eaton’s Neck, LD. I.) intthe tallies 1896. It was very abundant in 1898 in brackish and salt water. ' Specimens were collected in Mecox Bay, and almost everywhere in Great South Bay as far west as Great River. This fish often enters the eel pots and is frequently taken in oyster rakes, as it inhabits the empty valves of dead oysters and clings to them. Many individuals were thus caught in 1901. The young, measuring from % to 1% inches, ~ were taken in Swan River, August 8, 1901. The largest ones captured were 24%

inches long. Group TRACHINOIDEI. Family URANOSCOPIDA:. Stargazers.

202. Spotted Stargazer (Astroscopus guttatus Abbott).

The Spotted Stargazer is apparently a rare species, found on the Atlantic coast only from Long Island to Virginia. It has been recorded from Norfolk, Va., Cape May, N. J., Somers Point, N. J., Tompkinsville, N. Y., and a single example is known from Gravesend Bay, L. I. It reaches the length of 12 inches. hte

individual taken in Gravesend Bay was small. It was caught October 24, 1894.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 401

Family BATRACHOIDID. Toadfishes.

203. Toadfish; Oysterfish (Ofsanus tau Linneus).

The Yoadfish is found from Cape Cod to Cuba. It is very abundant among rocks and weeds close to the shore northward, and is found in deeper water south- ward, the very young clinging to rocks or other substances by means of a ventral sucking disk, which is soon lost. The Toadfish attains to the length of 15 inches. It has no value as food, and is a great source of annoyance to fishermen, especially to those who use eel pots. Mitchill described the fish under its present name, and DeKay called it the Common Toadfish. DeKay says its flesh, when properly cooked is well flavored. It usually lies half buried in the mud or among seaweed ; and with its capacious mouth widely extended, and aided by its sack-like opercles, either silently sucks in small marine animals, or suddenly seizes such small fish as may incautiously pass over its extended jaws. DeKay describes the young Toadfish as a distinct species. He states that in the summer of 1824 a number of these fish were found in the streets of New York after a heavy shower; many idle specula- tions were hazarded in the papers of the day as to their origin. In some parts o1 the south this fish is known as the Oysterfish, from its habit of living in dead oyster shells. It ranges on our east coast from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. It is a voracious species, feeding upon other fishes and upon shellfish, crabs, and other crustacea, annelids, etc. It breeds during the summer months. The eggs adhere to stones in shallow water, or to submerged stakes, pieces of wood, or any other substance which will afford shelter. The nests and young are guarded by the parent fish. By the end of August the young have reached a length of about I inch. Ayres says that a Toadfish which was caught in 1840, and kept for some time, would snap very fiercely at a finger or stick held close to him, and sometimes would allow himself to be lifted out of the water before he would loose his hold. On the approach of cold weather they bury themselves in the mud, where they remain torpid, and are often’ brought up by a spear while striking in the mud for eels. One was brought to Ayres which was taken in this manner October 27, 1840; it was torpid, and lived nearly 24 hours without water. The eggs are attached to objects by means of a very adhesive secretion. The imprint of the egg remains long after the young are hatched, even though the shell and other waste portions may be eaten off by small crustaceans. The Toadfish at night is usually seen curled up

on the bottom, with its head and tail close together.

462 REPORT OF THE

Group BLENNIOIDEI. Family BLENNIIDA:. Blennies.

204. Rockweed Blenny (Slennius fucorum C. & V.).

The Rockweed Blenny inhabits the open ocean in floating seaweed. The type - specimen was taken near the Azores. The fish is recorded by DeKay from the open sea off New York. In the voyage from Constantinople in 1831, he met this Blenny swimming about seaweed, and made notes of it at the time, considering it as either a young individual of some larger species or as undescribed. His example was 1% inches long. He found that it agreed with the figure and description of a Blenny taken and described by Cuvier and Valenciennes, from the Atlantic south of the Azores. The largest example recorded is 2% inches

long.

205. Striped Blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus Lacépéde).

The Striped Blenny, a small species seldom exceeding 3 inches in length, is found on the east coast from New York to Florida. It is common only off Cape Hatteras. DeKay calls it the Six Banded Chasmodes. * He refers toa description of the fish by Mitchill, under the name Alennius pholis. He says this is a rare species. Mitchill found a specimen in an oyster. Another specimen was sent to Cuvier from New York. A specimen in the cabinet of the Lyceum in New

York was obtained from the harbor.

Family XIPHIDIIDA:. Rock Eels.

206. Rock Eel; Butterfish (Pholis gunnellus Linn.).

The Rock Eel, or Butterfish, inhabits the North‘Atlantic from Labrador south to Woods Hole, and from Norway to France. It grows to the length of 12 inches. It abounds on rocks among alge in America and Europe. Mitchill describes and figures the fish under the name Ophidium mucronatum. DeKay styles it the American Butterfish. He says “it is frequently found among rocks along the sea shore and in the mud. It swims with great rapidity, although its usual habit is that of creeping slowly among rocks, in which it is probably assisted by its spiny ventrals. It abounds in Robyn’s Reef, in the harbor of New York.” Specimens were taken in an oyster dredge at Eaton’s Neck, in the fall of 1896. It has also been collected in the ocean near Water Island, in June, but was not observed in

Great South Bay.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 463

At Woods Hole, Mass., the fish is common around the shores in March and April, but rare at other times. It may be taken in Vineyard Sound with a dredge

at almost any season, at a depth of 4 or 5 fathoms.

Family CRYPTACANTHODIDA. Wrymouths:

207. Ghostfish; Wrymouth (Cryptacanthodes maculatus Storer).

The Ghostfish, or Wrymouth, has been found in Long Island Sound. It ranges northward to Labrador. The Ghostfish attains to the length of 24 inches. DeKay calls it the Spotted Wrymouth. His description and figure are borrowed from Storer. At that time (1842) it is said that only three specimens were known, one of which was obtained from the stomach of a Haddock.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is very rare. A specimen was taken there about 1875, and on December 18, 1896, another example 18 inches long was caught in a fyke set in Great Harbor. The fish is shaped somewhat like the

Eel Pout, but is slenderer and has the mouth very obliquely placed.

Family ANARHICHADID. Wolf Fishes.

208. Wolf Fish (Axnarhichas lupus Linneus).

The Wolf Fish, also known as Sea Wolf, inhabits the North Atlantic, ranging southward to Cape Cod and France. It is rather a common fish on both sides of the ocean. It grows to a length of 3 or 4 feet. It is large and voracious, but is not valued as food. 9

Mitchill referred to this fish as the Sea Wolf, and DeKay describes and figures it under the same name. DeKay says it is known under the various popular names of Cat, Wolf Fish and Sea Cat. Its ill-favored aspect causes it to be regarded with aversion by fishermen, but its flesh is by no means unsavory; when smoked it is said to have somewhat the flavor of salmon. It prefers rocky coasts, and is said to spawn in May. DeKay was informed that it is not unfrequently taken off Rocka- way Beach, in company with the common Cod. In high northern latitudes the Sea Wolf is said to attain to a length of 8 feet. .

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is quite rare. It is taken in Vineyard Sound late in

fall in traps, and also on lines fished for Cod.

464 REPORT OF THE

Group OPHIDIOIDEI. Family ZOARCIDA. Eel Pouts.

209. Muttonfish (Zoarces anguillaris Peck).

The Muttonfish, or Eel Pout, is found on the Atlantic Coast from Labrador to Delaware. It is rather common from New York northward. It grows to the length | Of, Ziom siect:

Mitchill has described this fish under several different names, and DeKay gives it as the Thick-lipped Eel Pout and the Bordered Eel Pout. The differences between the two are probably sexual. DeKay noticed the fish most abundantly in the market in February and March. It was caught on the coast in company with the common Cod. He says it feeds on various marine shells and affords a very savory food. He states that the fishermen sometimes call it Ling and Conger Eel. The fish is now found rather abundantly in the fall and winter on the fishing banks near Sandy Hook.

At Woods Hole, according to Dr. Smith, it is abundant in fall off Gayhead and Cuttyhunk. It is caught while line fishing for Cod on rock bottom, and occasion-

ally late in the fall in Vineyard Sound, off Great Harbor, on lines baited for Tautog.

Family OPHIDIIDA.

210. Slippery Dick (Azssola marg:nata DeKay).

The Slippery Dick is found on the coast of the United States from New York south to Pensacola and the coast of Texas. It is a very common fish. Mitchill described it as the Czrrhous Ophidium, mistaking it for a European species. DeKay calls it the New York Ophidium. He hada specimen g inches long which was taken in a seine in the harbor of New York, in company with a school of Striped Bass. He states that it has so much the habits of some of the Codfishes, and more especially of the genus Lrotula, that the fishermen called it the Lzt¢le Cusk.

This is a rare fish in Gravesend Bay. One was obtained there October 24, 1894.

Suborder CRANIOMI. Family TRIGLIDA:. Gurnards.

211. Sea Robin (Prionotus carolinus Linnzus).

The Common Sea Robin is the Web-fingered Gurnard of Mitchill, who gives a

figure of the species. DeKay uses the same name for the fish. He says it is a very

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 465

rare species, and in the course of 20 years he has met only 6 or 8 individuals. The last one he examined had its stomach completely distended with the remains of crabs.

This fish is also called Robin, Flying Fish, Butterfly Fish, Wingfish, Grunter, and Cuckoo Fish. It is very conimon on our coast, its range extending from Maine to South Carolina. It grows to the length of 12 inches or more and is an excellent food fish, although seldom found in the market.

Besides crabs, the Sea Robin consumes shrimp, and smaller crustaceans. Its eggs are bright orange and are matured during the summer months. This fish is taken in numbers in pound nets in the spring and summer. It appears in Gravesend Bay in May. It was found rather abundant in Great South Bay in 1898. The young were very scarce in that bay during the summer of ‘I1go1, although some years they are very plentiful.

Ayres gives a most interesting account of the habit which the fish has of burying

itself in sand for concealment.

212. Red-winged Sea Robin (Przonotus strigatus C. & V.).

The Red-winged Sea Robin is found from Cape Cod to Virginia; it is very com- mon in shallow water. This is also known as the Striped Sea Robin, or Striped Gurnard. It is a large species, reaching 12 inches or more in length.

Mitchill described and figured it under the erroneous name of 77zgla lineata. DeKay also gives a description and figure under the name of the Banded Gurnard. He says it grows to the length of 18 inches; it is not uncommon, and is variously styled Grunter, Gurnard, Sea Robin and Flying Fish. Ayres states that, in Old Man’s Harbor, it was much more abundant than the common Sea Robin, and arrived later. The first one taken in 1841 was caught August 13. It was sometimes used as food, but not esteemed.

The young of this fish was very abundant in August and September at Blue Point Cove, Howell’s Point, Nichols’s Point, Clam Pond Cove, Fire Island Inlet and Oak Island Beach.

213. Big-headed Sea Robin (Prionotus tribulus C. & V.). The Big-headed Sea Robin is called the Spinous Gurnard by DeKay, who copies

his description and figure from the work of Cuvier and Valenciennes. Cuvier states that he received numerous specimens of this fish from New York. DeKay never saw any but very small individuals which he had confounded with the Striped Sea Robin. The species ranges from New York to Florida. It is distinguished chiefly by its large head, which has numerous acute spines, flattened like sword blades. 30

466 REPORT OF THE

Family CEPHALACANTHID. Flying Gurnards.

214. Flying Gurnard; Flying Robin (Cephalacanthus volitans Linneus). The Flying Gurnard was described and figured by Mitchill under the name of

Polynemus sexradiatus. DeKay gives to the fish the name Sea Swallow. His description and figure are based upon a specimen caught ina net in the harbor of New York in August.

DeKay says that by means of its immense pectorals it is enabled to spring from the ocean and support itself for some time in the air. It does this to escape from its enemies. The fish feeds on various small crustacea.

At Woods Hole, Mass., a few are taken every year in the fall, according to Dr. Smith. The fish is not so abundant now as it was prior to 14 years ago. It some- times comes ashore in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound benumbed by cold.

The Flying Gurnard is an uncommon fish in Gravesend Bay. An example was

obtained from there October 30, 1897. The fish grows to a length of nearly 1 foot.

Suborder DISCOCEPHALI. Family ECHENEIDIDA. Remoras.

215. Shark Sucker; Sucking Fish (Achenezs naucrates Linneus).

The Shark Sucker, or Sucking Fish, is an inhabitant of warm seas everywhere ; it is common north to Cape Cod and occasionally to San Francisco, often attaching itself to vessels, large fishes and turtles. In the Tropics it isa very abundant species, being found attached to sharks, groupers, or any other large fish. At Key West few large sharks are without them. Jordan and Evermann state that they are often caught with hook and line from the wharf where they frequently forsake their host to take the bait.

The fish is not uncommon on the coast of Long Island. DeKay says several specimens were brought to him from that coast which had been taken in seines. This would appear to indicate that it is not as constantly attached to other fish as ~ is commonly supposed. DeKay saw a specimen which had ascended a considerable distance up the Hudson River. It appears most commonly in July and August. This fish is found in Gravesend Bay in summer only; it is usually attached to the Sand Shark. One was obtained there July 28, 1897. In captivity the fish is usually stationary on the bottom, but will often rise to the surface to take food. In Great South Bay it is occasionally seen in company with sharks or vessels. A large one

was hooked at The Cinders, near Fire Island, in August, 1901.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 467

At Cape Cod it is not uncommon; an individual 21 inches long was caugnt at

West Falmouth, July 16, 1897, on a hook baited with fresh clam.

216. Sucking Fish (Echenets naucrateoides Zuieuw).

The Sucking Fish is found from Cape Cod to the West Indies; it is common on the South Atlantic coast of the United States. This fish bears a strong resemblance to the Shark Sucker but its cephalic disk is longer, although composed of fewer lamine, the lamine being further apart. It grows to about the same size, nearly 2 tect.

This was mentioned by Professor Baird as occurring at Woods Hole, Mass., in 1871, and a number of examples were taken during the next Io years. None have

been observed recently.

217. Remora (Remora remora Linneus).

The Remora frequents warm seas, ranging north to New York and San Fran- cisco, where it is rare. It is very common in the West Indies, and it is usually found attached to large sharks. It is stouter than the Shark Sucker and reaches a smaller size, the maximum length being about 15 inches, although DeKay places the limit at 18 inches.

This fish was known to Mitchill as the small Oceanic Sucker. DeKay did not see the fish, but he states that Schcepff saw them taken from the bottoms of vessels in the harbor of New York.

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is a rare fish. It was reported there by Professor

Baird in 1871. A specimen in the collection was obtained in July of that year.

218. Swordfish Sucker (Remora brachyptera Lowe).

The Swordfish Sucker frequents warm seas, ranging north occasionally to Cape Cod. It has only 14 to 16 lamine in the cephalic disk. It is a small species, seldom exceeding 1 foot in length.

DeKay mentions this fish as an Extra-Limital species under the name of Echeneis 14—laminatus.

At Woods Hole, Mass., Dr. Smith merely mentions it as a rare fish.

219. Spearfish Sucker (Rhombochirus osteochir Cuvier).

The Spearfish Sucker is a native of the West Indies, ranging northward occa- sionally to Cape Cod; it is parasitic on the Spearfish ( Tetrapturus).

This is a small fish seldom exceeding 1 foot in length. It is rare at Woods Hole, Mass.; Professor Baird recorded it there in 1871. Dr. Smith says a specimen

was taken, August 6, 1886, in a fish trap at Quisset Harbor.

468 _ REPORT OF THE

Suborder ANACANTHINI. Jugular Fishes.

Family MERLUCCIIDA. Whitings.

220. Whiting; Silver Hake (Werluccius bilinearis Mitchill). The Whiting, or Silver Hake, also known as Frost Fish, was first described by ~ Mitchill under the name of Stomodon bilinearts. DeKay says Mitchill’s description was based upon a fish 21 inches long. Mitchill afterward described it under still another name in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.

DeKay gives a description and figure of the fish under the name of the Ameri- can Hake. He states that it is a rare fish in New York waters and when caught is always associated with the Common Cod. The specimen described was taken in November off Sandy Hook. The fishermen from whom he procured it called it the | Whiting and said it was very rare. DeKay further states that the fish is in little repute as an article of food, for although well flavored when perfectly fresh, it soon becomes soft and tasteless. |

The Whiting ranges from Labrador to Virginia. The young have been found even further south in very deep water. An example was taken in Great South Bay late in the fall of 1890. The fish is found in Gravesend Bay in spring and fall. On October 28, 1898, several individuals were caught in the ocean off Southampton.

Dr. Smith states that the fish is abundant every fall at Cape Cod and some years common in summer. It swims close to the shore and is caught in considerable numbers in Buzzards Bay at night with spears, for home use and sale in New Bedford. The Whiting caught in traps usually weigh 5 to 6 pounds. Young

specimens, 2% to 3 inches long, are seined in fall about Woods Hole, Mass.

Family GADIDA:. Codfishes.

221. Pollack (Pollachius virens Linnzus).

The Pollack is a common inhabitant of the North Atlantic, ranging southward to Cape Cod and France. It grows to a length of nearly 4 feet and is an important food fish. :

DeKay describes the Pollack under several names: The New York Pollack, the Coal Fish, and the Green Pollack. He states that the fish occurs in New York waters occasionally during the winter and that it is taken with the Common Cod. He has seen a specimen weighing 17 pounds which was 3 feet 2 inches long. Speaking of a young fish, which he calls: the Green Pollack, he says an individual

was taken by hook in Long Island Sound out of a large school. The fish flipped in

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 469

the same manner as the Menhaden and were at first supposed to be that species. They seemed to be very timid for upon a very slight noise in the boat, they all disappeared.

Dr. Smith states that adult Pollack appear in Vineyard Sound and Great Harbor in May following the run of Cod. They depart when the water temperature reaches 60 to 65 degrees. Many are caught in traps at Menemsha. Fyke nets set in the harbor take Pollack 7 or 8 inches long in February and March. In April there is a run of fish 1 to 1% inches long; by June these have attained a length of 4 inches. The fish leave in June. In fall there is a small run of fish 7 or 8 inches long. The

average weight of the adults is about 10 pounds, the maximum being 14 pounds.

222. Tomcod; Frost Fish (WZicrogadus tomcod Walbaum).

The Tomcod occurs from Labrador south to Virginia, sometimes ascending rivers. It is very common northward and is a very valuable food fish, although its size is small, the fish seldom exceeding 1 foot in length. It is the smallest fish of its family found on the shores of Long Island.

Mitchill described the Tomcod under at least six different names, his description in each case having been based upon New York specimens. The common names, Tomeod, and Frost Fish, are given in his accounts. DeKay says the Tomcod is found on the New York coast during the whole year; but in the autumn, after the first frost (hence its name of Frost Fish) and the early part of winter, it becomes very abundant. It is a savory fish, and is caught in large quantities with the greatest ease. He knew it to be taken out of the water along the shores of Long Island in great numbers with a common garden hoe. It ascends rivers even into fresh water. He was informed that it appears at Albany in abundance at intervals of 6 and 8 years.

The Tomcod can be transferred suddenly from salt. water to fresh without inconvenience. It spawns in the early part of winter, and is present at this time in such large numbers as to make its capture with dip nets comparatively easy. Its spawning season at Woods Hole, Mass., begins in December. The fish is subject to great variations in color. Dr. Mitchill enumerates among its varieties five forms, the Brown, Yellow, Yellowish-white, Mixed Tomcod, and the Frost Fish.

In Great South Bay many of the Tomcod have been found covered with a lernezean parasite. The same thing has been observed at Woods Hole, Mass., and other northern localities. The fish was not found in Great South Bay at any time during the summer investigations, but a few young individuals were seined in

Peconic Bay in July, 1808.

470 REPORT OF THE

223. Cod (Gadus morrhua Linneus).

The Cod inhabits the North Atlantic and North Pacific; south to France and Virginia in the Atlantic, and to Puget Sound in the Pacific. It is one of the most valuable of the food fishes, and grows to a very large size, individuals measuring nearly 5 feet being on record.

Mitchill calls it the Torsh, Common Cod, or Rock Cod of New York. DeKaral uses the name American Cod for this species. He says it is exceedingly voracious. _ “Tt attacks indiscriminately everything in its way, devouring smaller fish, crustacea and marine shellfish. Its stomach isin fact the great repository, from which has lately been obtained so many rare and undescribed species of shells inhabiting deep water, and which are unattainable by any other means.”

The Cod was abundant in Gravesend Bay in November, 1897. It thrives in captivity during the winter and spring.

According to Dr. Smith, it appears in Vineyard Sound about April 1, and remains until about May 15, or until the Dog Fish strike on. When the fish first come they feed chiefly on worms, and are known among fishermen as the ‘“ Worm School;” later they feed on Herring, Lants and Crabs, and are known as the “ Herring School.” After the middle of October the Cod come again, but in less numbers than in spring, and remain until the first wintry weather. The spawning season usually begins in November and continues until January. Young Cod are first observed about the 1st of April, when fish about 1 inch long are seen. Most of the young leave by June 15, having attained a length of 3 to 4 inches. No Cod are seen between fish of that size and those weighing 1% to 2 pounds, caught in traps in spring. An unusual number of Cod were taken in Vineyard Sound during the fall of 1900, off Bowbell Ledge. The fishermen gave up fishing for Tautog and made Cod fishing their business. The Cod were all plump and in good condition, weighing from 4 to 20 pounds.

224. Haddock (Welanogrammus eglifinus Linneus).

| The Haddock is an inhabitant of the North Atlantic on both coasts, extending south to France and to North Carolina. It grows to a length of about 30 inches, and is a very important food fish. The fish was described by both Mitchill and DeKay. DeKay states that it is nearly as common in our markets as the Cod, but is an inferior fish as an article of food. It is, in fact, in the summer more abundant than the Cod.

Dr. Smith says the Haddock has not been detected in Vineyard Sound or Buz- zards Bay, but is common 6 or 7 miles off Gayhead, and on the ocean side of

Martha's Vineyard. It was reported at Woods Hole, Mass., by Prof. Baird, in 1871. |

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 471

225. Spotted Codling (Uvophycis regius Walbaum).

The Spotted Codling inhabits the North Atlantic Ocean south to Cape Fear, ranging from shallow water to a depth of 167 fathoms. It grows to a length of about I foot, and is-said to exhibit electric powers in life. It is remarkable among fishes of its family in having the lateral line dark brown interrupted by white spots. The inside of the mouth is white, and the first dorsal is chiefly black with a white margin.

Mitchill called this fish the Spotted Cod. He described and figured it in the Transactions, Literary and Philosophical Society, New York. DeKay calls it the Spotted Codling. He described a fish 10 inches long. He says this is an exceed- ingly rare but distinct species, occurring from the coast of New York to the gulf of St. Lawrence. The fish is found in small numbers in Gravesend Bay in the fall. It has a habit of lying on its side just like the Tautog and other Labroids.

At Woods Hole, Mass., it is reported rare and is taken in the seine only late in

the fall. It varies in length from 7 to 12 inches.

226. Hake (Urophycis tenuts Mitchill).

The Hake is known also as the White Hake, Slender Cod, and Codling. It is abundant on our shores from Labrador to Virginia. Its young are among the commonest of the surface fishes in our bays and sounds during the summer months. The Hake reaches the weight of 30 pounds, but in the markets its average weight is only about 10 pounds. The fish frequents muddy bottoms and is local in its habits. Its food consists of crabs and other crustaceans and small fishes. The chief fishery for Hake takes piace in the fall and winter months. It will take the hook at night as well as during the day. In Great South Bay small examples were found sparingly at Blue Point Cove, and Fire Island, late in September, 1890. Two small individuals were seined in Mecox Bay, August 2, 1898, and a very young one was caught in the

Atlantic, September 11, at Southampton.

227. Squirre! Hake (Uvophycis chuss Walbaum).

The Squirrel Hake frequents the Atlantic coast from Virginia to the gulf of St. Lawrence. It is common northward and is sometimes taken at a depth of 300 fathoms. It seldom exceeds 5 pounds in weight.

This Hake is found occasionally in Gravesend Bay. It usually lives in deeper water off shore. At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it abounds in May and June, and in October and November. It fills the traps and causes the fisher-

men much annoyance, as there is no sale forit. The fish weighs from 2 to 5 pounds.

472 REPORT OF THE

228. Rockling (Gazdropsarus ensis Reinhardt).

The Rockling is found on the Atlantic coast of North America, from Greenland to Cape Hatteras, in deep waters. It reaches a depth in the Gulf Stream of 1,081 fathoms. It is not found on the shores, except that the young occasionally stray

near the land in summer.

Order HETEROSOMATA. Flatfishes. Family PLEURONECTID. Flounders.

229. Halibut (//7ppoglossus hippoglossus Linnzus).

The Halibut is found in all northern seas, extending southward in deep water to France, Chesapeake Bay, and occasionally to the Farallones, off San Francisco. It is abundant throughout the North Atlantic and Pacific and Bering Sea, in water of moderate depth. ;

The Halibut is one of the most important of the food fishes, sometimes reaching the weight of 400 pounds.

It was formerly not very uncommon in Vineyard Sound, but is now very rare. The last one taken was obtained about 14 years ago, the fish weighing about 80 pounds. Between 1873 and 1888, during April, a number of large-sized Halibut were taken annualiy while fishing for Cod off Great Harbor, and elsewhere in the Sound. In 1872 and 1873 Mr. Edwards caught a number, weighing 235 to 240 pounds. Mitchill described the Halibut and so did DeKay, who says that it migrates south on the approach of spring as far as the coast of New York, and returns in June or July. DeKay states that specimens sometimes occur with the eyes and colored

surface on the left side.

230. Fluke (Paralichthys dentatus Linneus).

The Fluke, or Summer Flounder, is also known as Plaice. This is found on the east coast, from about Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. Centers of abundance are found on the Connecticut coast and on Long Island. In Rhode Island it is some- times called Brail and Pucker-mouth.

Mitchill described it as the Flounder of New York, and DeKay called it the Toothed Flatfish. DeKay says the fish is extremely common in New York markets, is called the Summer Flounder, and is a well-flavored fish.

The Fluke feeds upon small fishes, crustaceans, mussels, mollusks, and occasion- ally on sand-dollars, and squid. This fish is generally found in salt water, but fre-

quently ascends fresh streams. In summer it is found near the shores, but in winter

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 473

it moves off into the deep water. It is often found feeding about wharves, whose supports furnish a suitable hiding place from which to dart upon small fishes when they are congregated in schools.

The Fluke reaches 3 feet in length and the weight of 26 pounds.

This fish arrives in Gravesend Bay in May or June, and leaves when cold weather sets in. Small Fluke were obtained in 1898 in Mecox Bay, and at Blue Point Cove and Islip, in Great South Bay, in the month of August. Adults were abundant at Fire Island, September 16, 1898. In Igor the Fluke was found abundant in the inlets of Great South Bay, and was frequently seen feeding upon young Menhaden

and Sand Launce.

231. Spotted Flounder (Paralichthys lethostigmus Jordan & Gilbert).

The Spotted Flounder is the fish which was described by Jordan and Gilbert as the Southern Flounder.

It is the common large Flounder of the South Atlantic and Gulf coast, ranging as far north as New York. It differs from the Common Fluke or Summer Flounder most notably in the character of its gill rakers, which are fewer in number, two above and ten below the angle on the first arch, and much shorter than the eye. It also differs from the Fluke in its coloration which is dark olive green, with some- what lighter spots on the head and body; these spots occasionally distinct, but oftener no vestige of them present.

DeKay describes this as the Oblong Flounder, which he considers the same as the Spotted Flounder of Mitchill. His specimen was Ig inches long, and he says it is occasionally larger. He states further that it is common along sandy shores of New York and is procured abundantly in the months of September and October ;

that it is excellent eating and usually sells at from 6 to 8 cents per pound.

232. Four-spotted Flounder (Paralichthys oblongus Mitchill).

The Four-spotted Flounder was first described by Mitchill in 1815. It inhabits the coast of New England and New York: it grows to a length of about 14 inches.

At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, this Flounder is common in May and June, and scarce at other times. It is most abundant about June 1, during the run of the Scup and many are caught in traps. The young are rarely observed, but in the fall of 1885 or 1886 large numbers, 2 or 3 inches long, were seined. The average length is 12 inches. The fish spawns in May and its eggs have been hatched at Woods Hole, Mass. They are buoyant, *%, of an inch in diameter and

hatch in 8 days in water having a mean temperature of 51 degrees to 56 degrees F.

474 REPORT OF THE

233. Window Pane (Lophopsetta maculata Mitchill).

The Window Pane is a native of the Atlantic coast of the United States from Maine to South Carolina. It seldom exceeds 1 foot in length:

DeKay describes it as the Spotted Turbot and refers to Mitchill’s earlier descrip- tions under the names of the New York Plaice and the Watery Flounder. DeKay says it is also called the Sand Flounder. He states that it is considered a delicate article of food and has been known to weigh 20 pounds, which is probably an error.

Ayres stated that this fish is somewhat common in the Sound during the summer but apparently rare in Old Man’s Harbor. One examined by him had swallowed two large Sand Launces, one small Killifish,and more than a dozen Shrimps. It was often taken in nets but neglected by the fishermen.

The Window Pane was not found in large numbers in Great South Bay. It was taken at Islip, August 18, 1898, and the young were found at Fire Island Inlet and Oak Island Beach in September of the same year. The fish was not common in Great South Bay in the summer of 1901. The spawning season must begin early as

an example 2% inches long was obtained at Fire Island July 31.

234. Small-mouthed Flounder (4¢vopus microstomus Gill).

The Small-mouthed Flounder is a little species seldom exceeding 4 inches in length, which was first obtained by Professor Baird at Beesley’s Point, N. J. In 1890 this fish was moderately abundant in Great South Bay, and occurred as far west as the Blue Point Life Saving Station. In 1898 it was again found in and near Fire Island Inlet on September 30 and October 11. Ten examples were taken, of which the largest were about 4 inches long.

This little Flounder is not uncommon in various parts of Great Egg Harbor, N. J., during August and September. In 1887 a number of specimens were collected by the writer, among them an individual about 3 inches long, which is dextral ; all the other specimens were sinistral, as usual. It seems to have been overlooked by Jordan and Evermann that this little Flounder was referred to the genus Atropus by the writer in 1890. The differences between this species and the Etropus rimosus

of Goode and Bean are very well marked.

235. Sand Dab (Limanda ferruginea Storer).

The Sand Dab is known also as Rusty Dab. It lives in the waters of the Atlantic coast of North America from Labrador to New York. It is rather common northward.

This fish was very common in Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay in water Io to

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 475

12 fathoms deep, where it may be found throughout the year, according to Dr. Smith. There is no fishery for it, but numbers are caught incidentally while bottom fishing for other species. In Great Harbor a few are taken in fyke nets only in winter. The average length is about 14 inches.

DeKay calls it the Rusty Flat Fish. Hehad aspecimen 18 inches long which he believed to be identical with the Rusty Dab of Storer. According to DeKay, the fishermen say it is found only in deep water. The description and figure of DeKay

evidently referred to the Sand Dab or Rusty Dab.

236. Flatfish (Pseudopleuronectes americanus \WWalbaum).

The Flatfish, or Winter Flounder, was described by Mitchill and DeKay, both of whom called it the New York Flatfish. DeKay also described the young under the name of the Pigmy Flatfish. Dr. Mitchill had two color varieties of the Flat- fish. One of these had a yellow margin on the lower side, surrounding the white of that side. This border was 34 of an inch wide, and in striking contrast with the pearl of the contiguous parts within it and the brown of the adjacent fins. The other variety, obtained April, 1815, had ‘‘a whiteness of the upper side nearly as clear as that of the nether surface over rather more than half its extent. The anterior part is blanched in this manner. The dorsal fin very sensibly partakes of the lighter hue, but its dark brown is tinctured with yellow, especially on the rays. Something of the same kind though less distinct, is observable on the ventral fins, and on about a dozen rays of the anal.” This individual was 5 inches long and 3 inches broad.

Dr. DeKay obtained a specimen in April which was reversed and double. “Its color on both sides was uniform bronze, with a white patch on its right side near the chin, almost entirely denuded of scales, with the singular protuberance over the eye noticed by Dr. Mitchill in his J/Zelanogaster.”

The Flatfish is a permanent resident in Gravesend Bay. It endures captivity well and grows rapidly. The young were found abundantly and widely distributed in the waters of Eastern Long Island in 1898. On July 27, 1901, the young had reached the length of 2% inches. An individual caught at West Hampton, Sep- tember 12, 1901, measuring 4% inches, was in a condition of incipient albinism.

At Woods Hole, Mass., the fish spawns from February to April, and its artificial hatching is extensively carried on. Spawning fish are very abundant, and are caught in fyke nets on hard clay bottom in waters 6 to 15 feet deep. The eggs are %4 of an inch in diameter and when first deposited are very sticky, adhering in masses of various sizes. The average number of eggs to a fish is 500,000. In

March 6, 1897, 30 fluid ounces of eggs, numbering 1,462,000, were taken from a fish

476 REPORT OF THE

that weighed 3% pounds after spawning. The eggs hatch in 17 or 18 days, when the mean temperature of the water is 37 degrees to 38 degrees F. These notes are

from the published record of Dr. Smith.

237. Sand Flounder (Platophrys ocellatus Swainson).

The Sand Flounder inhabits the waters of the Western Atlantic from Long Island to Brazil on sandy shores. It is very common at Key West in clear shallow water on sandy bottom.

Two small examples of this Flounder were collected at Fire Island Beach, September 30, 1890. These were obtained on a sand beach in shallow water. None

of the individuals so far obtained exceeds 3 inches in length.

Family SOLEIDA. Soles.

y

238. American Sole (Achirus fasciatus Lacépéde).

The American Sole, or New York Sole of DeKay, according to that author, is common in New York waters. It is usually taken in seines in the months of September and October, but is too small to be important as an article of food. He has eaten them and has found them to be very delicate. They abound on the shallow flats on the Jersey coast opposite New York, where they are called Calico. The Sole has been taken as high up the Hudson as Peekskill. When first taken from the water it escapes readily from the hand by an undulatory movement in which it is aided by its mucous surface and by an elevation of its scales beneath. By the same means it can make considerable progress over a moderately smooth surface. He found it to be extremely tenacious of life, having kept one alive four days out of water.

This fish has been brought from Gravesend Bay every month except the first four of the year. It is one of the most abundant fish of the Great South Bay region, entering brackish and sometimes fresh waters. The young are especially fond of incursions into the head waters of the short streams. The fish breeds abundantly in Great South Bay. On September 14, 1901, individuals measuring from 1% to 2 inches were taken at Duncan’s Creek.

The species is common in Peconic Bay also.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 4

a | “I

Order PEDICULATI. Family LOPHIIDA. Fishing Frogs.

239. Angler (Lophius piscatorius Linneus).

The Angler, or Goose Fish, is found in the North Atlantic, on both coasts. On our coast it ranges southward to Cape Hatteras and is found in deep water as far south as Barbadoes; it also extends to the Cape of Good Hope. Its northward range is to Norway and Nova Scotia. It is one of the most voracious fishes known.

Mitchill calls this fish the Sea Devil and DeKay describes it as the American Angler. He also mentions its names of Fishing Frog, Bellows Fish and Monk Fish. He saw an individual that was 4 feet long. He states that the fish is not eaten, but is often opened by fishermen for the sake of the numerous fishes which are found in its stomach. The Angler is moderately abundant on the fishing banks near Sandy Hook and small individuals are sometimes taken in Gravesend Bay.

According to Dr. Smith, it is sometimes called Toad Fish at Woods Hole, Mass. It is abundant in Vineyard Sound, usually from April 1 to July 1, some seasons from April to November, or as late as the traps are set. The spawn is often found floating in Vineyard Sound. The traps often take boat loads of these fish which are carried ashore and put on the land, no other use being made of them, although the flesh is considered very palatable. Those caught in traps are from 4 inches to 4 feet long. The young keep off shore in deep water and are never taken in the

seine.

Family ANTENNARIID-. 240. Mouse Fish (Prerophryne histrio Linneus).

The Mouse Fish is a native of the tropical parts of the Atlantic; it is abundant on our Gulf coast and occasionally northward to Cape Cod, especially in floating masses of gulfweed.

DeKay calls it the Smooth Mouse Fish. His description was drawn from a specimen 2 I-5 inches long. He does not state from what locality he received it, but gives the range as extending from Charleston to Boston. An individual was caught off the Long Island shore in 1897; it is not uncommon in floating masses of gulfweed in the Gulf Stream.

Dr. Smith says this fish is regarded as a straggler from the tropics, from whence it comes in the Gulf Stream and is drifted ashore in gulfweed. It was first taken in

1877. In November, 1885, 12 specimens were seined in Quisset Harbor. From

478 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION,

that year until 1897 none was observed. In 1897 this fish was comparatively com- mon in Vineyard Sound. During the forenoon of July 24, 22 specimens were taken ina boat from the Fish Commission Station with small dip nets, among the gulf- weed in Vineyard Sound, a few miles from Woods Hole, Mass., and on the same day 28 specimens were secured by a steamer. Probably not less than 100 specimens were taken during the season. Many were kept alive in aquaria for several weeks. — Some remained under or around the gulfweed at the surface, some concealed them- selves in alge on the bottom, some hid behind stones and other objects in the aquarium, and some in crevices in rocks. They were quite cannibalistic, one about 6 inches long swallowing another nearly 4 inches long, and they frequently bit off- the fleshy dermal appendages of their fellows. In August several spawned in the aquarium. The eggs are connected in long bands like those of the Goosefish. On July 17, 1897, 8 specimens of this fish were taken under the gulfweed off Nan- tucket. It is reported that in the summer of 1897 the fish was not uncommon in

that region.

Family OGCOCEPHALID&. Batfishes.

241. Batfish (Ogcocephalus vespertilio Linneus).

The Batfish is a native of the West Indies, extending northward usually to the Florida Keys, and occasionally to New York. It grows to a length of 12 inches.

DeKay describes it as the Bat Malthea. He did not have the fish from’ the coast of New York, and his description is borrowed from Cuvier and Valenciennes. Dr. Theodore Gill saw a recently-caught example of it in the midsummer of 1854 or 1855 at a wharf at the foot of Twenty-seventh street, East River, New York. No record of its occurrence was published until January 13, 1899, when the writer

mentioned this statement in Sczence, N. S., Vol. IX, No. 211.

Notes on the Fishes of Sake Ontario.

BARTON WARREN

EVERMANN

WILLIAM: CONVERSE” KENDALE:

~~

spi i na

FG y Sex ae = ="

= ae

—

ee s ‘ f ) ga fie

ON A QUIET MORNING.

* Published by permission of the U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries.

URING the summer of 1894

a considerable collection of

fishes was made in northern New York for the United States Fish Commission by Dr. Evermann assisted by Dr. R. R. Gurley, Mr. iBewewon JAS Westin, ainGl Wik Vy Inks Hinkley.

The larger part of the collection was obtained in Lake Ontario or from streams tributary to it. Since then various small collections have been received from time to time from the same region. The prin- cipal localities represented are as follows: Cape Vincent, Watertown, Sacketts Harbor, Chaumont Bay, Oswego, Charlotte, Point Breeze, Nine-mile Point, Pultneyville, Great Sodus Bay, Henderson Bay, Selkirk, North Hamlin, Buena Vista, Belle- ville, and Pulaski. The localities visited in the vicinity of Cape Vin- cent were Grenadier Island, Mud Creek and various places in the

lower end of the lake.

479

480 REPORT OF THE

In the present paper is given a list of all the species obtained in Lake Ontario and the streams tributary to it, together with notes on their relative abundance and any structural peculiarities noticed.

The list embraces 73 species and is of value in showing the distribution and abundance of the various species in this part of the State. It is virtually a list of the fishes of Lake Ontario, as it contains all the species known by us to inhabit that lake.

1. Acipenser rubicundus Le Sueur. LAKE STURGEON.— Not uncommon in the

east end of the lake. Numerous specimens seen at Cape Vincent.

2. Lepisosteus osseus (Linnzus). BILLFISH.— Seen at Cape Vincent and Sack-

etts Harbor; doubtless common throughout the lake and its larger tributaries.

3. Amia calva (Linneus). BOWFIN; DoGFISH.— Not obtained by us, but pre-

viously recorded from Lake Ontario, where it is probably not uncommon.

4. Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque). CHANNEL CAT.— One specimen obtained

at Fox Island, June 29; not noticeably different from Mississippi River specimens.

5. Ameiurus nebulosus (Le Sueur). COMMON BULLHEAD.— This fish is abun- dant in nearly all the waters examined. Specimens are in the collection from the following places: Stony Creek near Henderson Harbor; Black River at Hunting- tonville; Cemetery Creek near Watertown; Mud Creek near Cape Vincent; Chau- mont River; Guffon Creek near Chaumont; Stony Island; near Lakeview Hotel, 7 miles from Oswego; mouth of Salmon River; mouth of Little Salmon Creek; creek at Pultneyville; Four-mile Creek at Nine-mile Point; Marsh Creek near Point Breeze; Long Pond near Charlotte; and Sandy Creek at North Hamlin.

6. Ameiurus melas (Rafinesque). BLACK BULLHEAD.— Much less common than the preceding. Specimens only from Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor and Sandy

Creek near North Hamlin.

7. Noturus flavus Rafinesque. YELLOW CatT.— Apparently not common; only

2 specimens from Nine-mile Point.

8. Schilbeodes gyrinus (Mitchill). Map Tom.—Not common; obtained only in Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor, and Guffon Creek near Chaumont, and Long

Pond near Charlotte.

9. Schilbeodes miurus (Jordan). MoTTLED Map Tom.— Rare; obtained only from Sandy Creek at North Hamlin.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 481

10. Catostomus catostomus (Forster). LONG-NOSED SUCKER.— Not uncommon ; several fine specimens obtained in gill-nets near Grenadier Island; one of the most important food-fishes of the family. Among the suckers of Lake Ontario this

species may always be known by its long nose, fine scales and red sides.

11. Catostomus commersonii (Lacépéde). COMMON WHITE SUCKER.— Com- mon everywhere and numerous specimens obtained, representing the following localities: Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Sacketts Harbor; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Little Stony Brook, Henderson Bay ; Cemetery Creek near Water- town; Guffon Creek, Chaumont; Big Sandy Creek at Belleville; Spring Brook and Wart Creek, Pulaski; mouth of Salmon River at Selkirk; Three-mile Creek, Oswego; Four-mile Creek and Salt Brook at Nine-mile Point; and Marsh Creek at

Point Breeze.

12. Erimyzon sucetta oblongus (Mitchill). CHUB SUCKER.— This sucker was found only in Black Creek, tributary to Oswego River.

13. Moxostoma anisurum (Rafinesque). WHITE-NOSED SUCKER.— Specimens obtained at Fox Island and Point Breeze. These specimens differ from the descrip- tions in having the lower lip rather lunate, than V-shaped or U-shaped. Head 4; depena7 weve icheek 2), DS 161) AS 75 scales 6-42-5.

14. Moxostoma aureolum (Le Sueur). REDHORSE.— Specimens from the lake near Oswego; near Nine-mile Point; mouth of Salmon River; Long Pond at Char-

lotte; and Sandy Creek at North Hamlin. This is a common species in the lake.

15. Campostoma anomalum (Rafinesque). STONE-ROLLER.— Common in many places. Found in creek at Pultneyville; Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point; Long

Pond at.Charlotte; and Marsh Creek at Point Breeze.

16. Chrosomus erythrogaster Rafinesque. RED-BELLIED DACE.— Cemetery Creek near Watertown; Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point, and Long Pond at Charlotte.

17. Hybognathus nuchale Agassiz. SILVERY MINNOW.— Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point; Cemetery Creek near Water-

town.

18. Pimephales promelas Rafinesque. FATHEAD MINNOW.— Obtained in Three-mile Creek at Oswego; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; and Salt Brook

near Nine-mile Point.

Bu

482 REPORT OF THE

19. Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque). BLUNT-NOSED MINNOW.— Abundant; specimens obtained at Cape Vincent; Mud Creek near Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Horse Island; Sacketts Harbor; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Stony Island; Little Stony Brook; Henderson Bay; Black River at Huntingtonville; Guffon Creek, Chaumont Bay; Chaumont River; Marsh Creek near Point Breeze ;

Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point, and Long Pond at Charlotte.

20. Semotilus corporalis (Mitchill). FALLFISH.— Not common. Cape Vincent; Big Stony Creek, Henderson Harbor; Wart Creek near Centerville; Salmon River near Selkirk, and Sandy Creek near North Hamlin.

21. Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill). CREEK CHUB.—Very common. Speci- mens from Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Big Stony Creek at Henderson Harbor; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay; Cemetery Creek near Watertown; Big Sandy Creek at Belleville; Wart Creek at Centerville; Three-mile Creek at Oswego; Four-mile Creek at Webster; Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point, and Long

Pond at Charlotte.

22. Leuciscus elongatus (Kirtland). RED-SIDED MINNOW.— Found only in Wart Creek, Spring Brook at Pulaski, and Three-mile Creek at Oswego. This is

the first record of this minnow for the State of New York.

23. Leuciscus margarita (Cope). PEARLY MINNOW.— Thirteen specimens of a minnow we identify with this species were obtained in Cemetery Creek near Water- town, July 5. They give the following comparative measurements: Head 4;

depth 47%; €ye 3%; D.9; A. 9; teeth 2, 5-6, 1 or I, 5-4, 0; scales 11-58-6.

24. Abramis crysoleucas (Mitchill). ROAcH.— Common. Cape Vincent; Gren- adier Island; Black River at Huntingtonville; Guffon Creek, Chaumont ; Chaumont River; Black Creek at Scriba Corner; Salmon River at Selkirk, and Salt Brook

near Nine-mile Point.

25. Notropis cayuga Meek. CAYUGA MINNOW.—Common. Mud Creek near Cape Vincent ; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Cemetery Creek near Watertown; Guffon Creek near Chaumont; Chaumont River; Black Creek at Scriba Corner; Little Salmon Creek; Three-mile Creek near Oswego; Great Sodus Bay; Four- mile Creek at Nine-mile Point. This interesting little minnow, originally described from Cayuga Lake, is now found to be quite abundant throughout western New

Y ork.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 483

26. Notropis heterodon (Cope). BLACK-CHIN MINNOW.— Found in. the lake near Cape Vincent, at Stony Island, and in Guffon Creek at Chaumont. Teeth 1,

4-4, 0, in specimen examined.

27. Notropis blennius (Girard). STRAW-COLORED MINNOW.—A common min- now. Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay; Big Sandy Creek at Belleville; Salmon Bay at Selkirk, and Great Sodus Bay. This

species is one of the smallest minnows, too small for use as a bait-minnow.

28. Notropis hudsonius (Clinton). SpoT-TAIL MINNOW.—An abundant and important minnow. Obtained at the following places: Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Horse Island, Sacketts Harbor; Salmon River at Selkirk; Little Salmon Creek; Three-mile Creek at Oswego; Long Pond and lake at Charlotte; Great Sodus Bay, and Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point. This is one of the most useful

bait-minnows in the State; called “Shiner” at Cape Vincent and elsewhere.

29. Notropis whipplii (Girard). SATIN-FIN MINNOW.— Quite common. Found at the following localities: Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Horse Island at Sack- etts Harbor; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Cemetery Creek near Watertown;

Chaumont River; Great Sodus Bay, and creek near Pultneyville.

30. Notropis cornutus (Mitchill). REDFIN SHINER.— Very abundant, and found at nearly all places where collections were made. Mud Creek near Cape Vincent ; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Big Stony Creek and Little Stony Brook at Henderson Harbor; Black River at Huntingtonville; Big Sandv Creek at Belle- ville; Black Creek at Scriba Corner; Spring Brook at Pulaski; Wart Creek near Buena Vista; Three-mile Creek at Oswego; Marsh Creek at Point Breeze; creek at Pultneyville; Four-mile Creek at Nine-mile Point; Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point; Long Pond at Charlotte, and Sandy Creek at North Hamlin. These specimens

have the snout short and 16 scales before the dorsal in the Sandy Creek specimens.

31. Notropis atherinoides Rafinesque. SLENDER MINNOW.— Not common. Obtained only at Cape Vincent and Grenadier Island. Head 4% to 5; depth 5 to PE MeVCust a DOE ADI EOul sr Scales (0-29 touA2-200% s3)teeth 2) 45442.) 20 of 21

’ scales before the dorsal.

32. Notropis rubrifrons (Cope). RED-FRONTED MINNOW.— Not very common. Obtained only in Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point ; Wart Creek near Buena Vista, and Sandy Creek near North Hamlin.

484 REPORT OF THE

33. Rhinichthys atronasus (Mitchill). BLACK-NOSED DACE.— Very abundant everywhere. Mud Creek at Cape Vincent; Horse Island; Stony Island; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay; Black River at Huntingtonville; Big Sandy Creek at Belleville; Mill Creek at Pulaski; Wart Creek near Buena Vista; Three-mile Creek at Oswego; Great Sodus Bay; Four-mile Creek near Webster; Salt Brook

near Nine-mile Point, and Long Pond at Charlotte.

34. Hybopsis storerianus (Kirtland). STORER’s MINNOW.— Found only in

Long Pond at Charlotte where but three specimens were obtained.

35. Hybopsis kentuckiensis (Rafinesque). RIVER CHUB.— Not seen by us but reported by Dr. H. M. Smith as being very common in the lake.

36. Exoglossum maxillingua (Le Sueur). SPLiT-LIpP MINNOW.— This curious and interesting species was obtained at seven localities as follows: Big Stony Creek at Henderson Harbor; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay; Black River at Huntingtonville; Big Sandy Creek at Belleville; Spring Brook at Pulaski; Wart

Creek near Buena Vista, and Salmon River at Selkirk.

37. Anguilla chrysypa Rafinesque. COMMON EEL.—Not seen by us, but

common as far as Niagara Falls.

38. Pomolobus pseudoharengus (Wilson). ALEWIFE.— Cape Vincent; Grena- dier Island; Salmon River at Selkirk, and lake and Long Pond at Charlotte. During June and July, 1894, this fish was found dead in considerable numbers at all

places visited in the eastern part of the lake.

[Alosa sapidissima (Wilson). COMMON SHAD.— Shad were planted in Lake Ontario in 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1877, and 1878. A few only of these survived,

and since 1885 few, if any, have been seen. |

39. Coregonus clupeiformis (Mitchill), COMMON WHITEFISH.—- As the time of our visit to Lake Ontario was not the fishing season for this species but few speci- mens were seen. It was seen at Cape Vincent, but we are not sure where the

specimens came from.

40. Argyrosomus artedi (Le Sueur), LAKE HERRING OR CISco.— Seen only at Cape Vincent and Grenadier Island. The specimens seen were caught in gillnets

on Charity Shoal in 140 to 160 feet.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 485

41. Argyrosomus prognathus (H. M. Smith). LONGJAW WHITEFISH.— Numerous specimens seen at Grenadier Island which had been taken June 28 in gillnets on Charity Shoal, six miles off Grenadier Island and near Duck Island, in 140 to 160 feet. Others were obtained by Dr. Gurley, August 26, at Wilson. They

had been caught in gillnets about three miles off in 105 fathoms.

42. Salmo salar Linneus. ATLANTIC SALMON.— Though at one time a com- mon fish in some of the tributaries of this lake but few have been seen in recent

-years. None was seen by us.

43. Cristivomer namaycush (Walbaum). LAKE TROUT.— None seen by us, but

occasionally taken.

44. Umbra limi (Kirtland). Mupb MINNow.— Apparently not common, speci- mens having been obtained only in Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor and Guffon

Creek near Chaumont.

45. Lucius vermiculatus (Le Sueur). GRASS PIKE.— Rather common in all suitable waters. Black Creek at Scriba Corner; Lakeview near Oswego; Wart Creek near Buena Vista; Great Sodus Bay; outlet of Long Pond near Charlotte,

and Marsh Creek near Point Breeze.

46. Lucius reticulatus (Le Sueur). COMMON PICKEREL.— Found only in Black

River at Huntingtonville, where two specimens were obtained.

47. Lucius lucius (Linnzus). COMMON PIKE.— Mud Creek near Cape Vincent ; Chaumont River, and Long Pond near Charlotte. Doubtless common in all suitable

places.

48. Fundulus diaphanus (Le Sueur). GRAYBACK.— Generally abundant in the lake. Mud Creek near Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Horse Island at Sacketts Harbor; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Stony Island; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay ; Guffon Creek and Chaumont River near Chaumont; Great Sodus

Bay, and Long Pond near Charlotte.

49. Euculia inconstans (Kirtland). BROOK STICKLEBACK.— Common in suitable

places. Cape Vincent; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Black River at Hunting- tonville; Three-mile Creek near Oswego; Four-mile Creek at Nine-mile Point ; Salt

Brook near Nine-mile Point, and Long Pond near Charlotte.

486 REPORT OF THE

50. Gasterosteus bispinosus Walbaum. COMMON STICKLEBACK.— Not com- mon. Found only at Grenadier Island; Horse Island, and in Salt Creek near Nine- mile Point. These seem to be the first records of the occurrence of this salt-water

fish in the Great Lakes.

51. Percopsis guttatus Agassiz. TROUT PERCH.— Probably not uncommon in the lake, but specimens were obtained only at Cape Vincent ; Grenadier Island, and

Nine-mile Point. Several specimens were found dead.

52. Labidesthes sicculus (Cope). SKIPJACK.— Probably common in the lake. Stony Island; Great Sodus Bay; Long Pond at Charlotte, and Sandy Creek at

North Hamlin. No large schools were seen.

53. Pomoxis sparoides (Lacépéde). CALIco Bass.— Found only in Long Pond

near Charlotte.

54. Ambloplites rupestris (Rafinesque). ROcK BAss.—Common everywhere. Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay: Cemetery Creek near Watertown; Guffon Creek near Chaumont ; Chhanvinoxat River; Salmon River and Little Salnion Creek; Black Creek near Scriba Corner; Great Sodus Bay; Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point; Sandy

Creek near North Hamlin, and Marsh Creek near Point Breeze.

55. Lepomis pallidus (Mitchill). BLUEGILL.— Doubtless common, but actually obtained only at Stony Island off Sacketts Harbor.

56. Eupomotis gibbosus (Linnzus). PUMPKINSEED.— Very abundant and | found at nearly every place where collections were made. Mud Creek and lake near Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Horse Island; Stony Island; Big Stony Creek at Henderson Harbor; Cemetery Creek near Watertown; Black River at Huntingtonville; Guffon Creek and Chaumont River near Chaumont; Black Creek near Scriba Corner ; Lakeview near Oswego; Little Salmon Creek and Salmon River; Three-mile Creek near Oswego; Great Sodus Bay; creek at Pultneyville; Four-mile Creek at Nine-mile Point; Long Pond near Charlotte; Sandy Creek

near North Hamlin, and Marsh Creek at Point Breeze.

57. Micropterus dolomieu Lacépéde. SMALL-MOUTH BLACK Bass. Abundant nearly everywhere, especially in a cove on Grenadier Island, where hundreds of

young 3 to 12 inches long were seen.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 487

58. Micropterus salmoides (Lacépéde.) LARGE-MOUTH BLACK Bass.— Com- mon everywhere. Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Stony Island; Chaumont River; Salmon River and Little Salmon Creek; Three-mile Creek at Oswego; Great Sodus Bay; creek at Pultneyville; Four-mile Creek at Nine-mile Point ;

Long Pond at Charlotte; Marsh Creek at Point Breeze, and Lakeview.

59. Stizostedion vitreum (Mitchill), WALL-EYED PIKE.— Cape Vincent, Oswego River and Point Breeze. An abundant and valued food-fish. Usually called Yellow Pike on this lake.

60. Stizostedion canadense (Smith). SAUGER.— Not seen by us, but occa-

sionally taken, especially about Chaumont Bay.

61. Perca flavescens (Mitchill). YELLOW PERCH.— Abundant everywhere. Cape Vincent; Grenadier Island; Stony Island; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay; Chaumont River; Black Creek near Scriba Corner; Little Salmon Creek and Salmon River; creek at Pultneyville; Great Sodus Bay; Four-mile Creek and Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point; Lakeview and Three-mile Creek near Oswego, and

Long Pond near Charlotte.

62. Percina caprodes (Rafinesque). LOG PERCH.—Common in all suitable places. Grenadier Island; Cape Vincent; Horse Island; lake at Nine-mile Point; Little Salmon Creek; Salmon River near Selkirk, and Marsh Creek near Point

Breeze.

63. Hadropterus aspro (Cope & Jordan). BLACK-SIDED DARTER.— Found only in Marsh Creek near Point Breeze, where three specimens were obtained.

These have the scales 9-68-11, 9-65-11, and 9-65-11, respectively.

64. Diplesion blennioides (Rafinesque). GREEN-SIDED DARTER.— Three speci- mens obtained in Sandy Creek at North Hamlin.

65. Boleosoma nigrum olmstedi (Storer). OLMSTED’s DARTER.— Cape Vincent, and Mud Creek near Cape Vincent; Horse Island; Grenadier Island; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Stony Island; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay ; Cem- etery Creek near Watertown; Guffon Creek and Chaumont River near Chaumont; Spring Brook near Pulaski; Salmon River; Little Salmon Creek; Three-mile Creek near Oswego; Great Sodus Bay; Long Pond near Charlotte, and Sandy Creek near North Hamlin.

488 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

66. Etheostoma ceruleum Storer. RAINBOW DARTER.— Found by us only

in Marsh Creek near Point Breeze and Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point.

67. Etheostoma flabellare Rafinesque. FAN-TAILED DARTER.— Quite common and well distributed throughout the western part of the State. Numerous speci- mens obtained at the following places: Grenadier Island; Horse Island; Mill Creek near Sacketts Harbor; Little Stony Brook at Henderson Bay; Cemetery Creek near Watertown; Chaumont River; Big Sandy Creek near Belleville ; Spring Brook near Pulaski; Wart Creek near Buena Vista; Three-mile Creek near Oswego; Great Sodus Bay; Four-mile Creek and Salt Brook near Nine-mile Point; Sandy

Creek near North Hamlin, and Marsh Creek near Point Breeze.

68. Boleichthys fusiformis (Girard). FUSIFORM DARTER.— Obtained only in Mud Creek near Cape Vincent, at Grenadier Island, and in Guffon Creek near Chaumont. Head 4;-depth 5%; D. IxX:1r1; A. 103s scales 15-57-09 3..specimen

2% inches long, from Mud Creek.

69. Roccus chrysops (Rafinesque). WHITE Bass.— Found only at Horse

Island, Sacketts Harbor, where three examples were obtained June 30.

70. Aplodinotus grunniens Rafinesque. FRESHWATER DRUM, or SHEEPSHEAD.

Seen only at Point Breeze, where one specimen was obtained from the lake.

71. Cottus ictalops (Rafinesque). COMMON BLOB.— Specimens obtained at Grenadier and Stony Islands.

72. Triglopsis thompsoni Girard. DEEPWATER BLOB.— Three specimens

from Nine-mile- Point, one from the lake, the 2 others from a small creek.

73. Lota maculosa (Le Sueur). LING.—One specimen obtained four miles

off Nine-mile Point.

U. S. FISH COMMISSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., December 18, 1901.

(anv ‘SNVO4AlTa SsNtivy )‘TIVY ONIV

Some Interesting Game Birds.

PVE LUNG: €yORE RLIOUSE Re

strikingly shows how comparatively few are to be classed-as land birds. The

ae of the different game birds in the eastern United States

list of shore birds and water fowl, however, is a long one; and it is a matter

SHOOTING RAIL.

of great and general regret that among them there continues such a considerable diminution of numbers. Sportsmen as well as naturalists are more than casually interested in the species which have been chosen for treatment here, and should see to it that these by no mischance be doomed

to extinction.

The King Ratt.

If distinguished appearance and impres- sive size be royal characteristics, then surely the subject of this sketch is a king among the rails of North America. His kingdom extends throughout much of the eastern United States—from the Gulf of Mexico to the Middle Atlantic States, Illinois, with the northern parts of Minnesota and Wis- consin; west at least? to Kansas, Colorado and Texas; while his couriers visit even Ontario, Massachusetts and Maine. He

holds his court in the seclusion of great

fresh-water swamps and marshes, and in all his realm there is hardly one such of

any size in which, at some season of the year, he is not to be found.

The King Rail was practically unknown to that pioneer of American ornitholo-

gists, Alexander Wilson, for he confused it with the common Clapper Rail; even

Nuttall failed to recognize its distinctness; so it was reserved for the gifted Audubon

489

490 REPORT OF THE

to bring to the notice of the world a new American rail, and his biography of the bird has formed the basis, and sometimes a pretty large one, of many of the subse- quent accounts of the species.

Save under what may legitimately be considered exceptional circumstances this bird is confined to fresh-water haunts, being thus, in habitat, entirely complementary to its near relative, the Clapper Rail. Generally speaking, and computed in terms of the Sora, it is not an abundant species, though in favorable places is locally very common, this being perhaps more frequently the case in the Southern States. The wide-extending swampy tangles of briars and weeds, so characteristic of many low- lands of the interior, offer particularly acceptable shelter, since here it is quite as safe from the hunter with his gun as in any place that could be chosen, although still exposed to the attacks of its furred and feathered enemies, for snakes and minks and skunks and wild cats are connoisseurs in flesh-diet, rarely losing an oppor- tunity to dine upon rail, while the Great Horned Owl is equally aware of its fine flavor. The King Rail is so fond of the morass that it ventures but seldom into open ground or into the corn fields; and when its favorite haunts become dry, it seeks abode elsewhere.

In common with other rails the present one has the eminently developed faculty of keeping concealed by skulking rapidly through the grass whenever alarmed, apparently realizing that its greatest safety lies within a short distance of the ground. It swims readily, and on occasion dives with no little facility. Its flight is usually short and awkward, and particularly when the bird has been startled is performed with short, rapid wing-beats. The food of this species consists of crusta- ceans, small fish, worms, insects, tadpoles and other animals of similar kind, together with seeds of various plants that grow in the swamps and marshes.

The breeding season seems to be at its height in April or May, according to locality, and the nest may be found in the bird’s chosen haunts, placed on the ground among the grass. It is quite a bulky affair of weeds and grasses built up from its base often to the height of six or eight inches, and sometimes partly over- arched. It is reported to be repaired from time to time, and even sometimes to be occupied for several successive seasons. The six to twelve eggs are of a dull creamy white with scattered markings of brown and lilac. The young when they first emerge from the shell are coal black balls of fluffy down —a quaint and curious, not to say extremely interesting family, too, as they are led forth by their mother to learn their first lessons in this bad world. And with very little exercise of the imagination, one may fancy that thenceforth, until they are fully able to shift for

themselves, their devoted parent has many a moment of anxiety for their safety.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 4g!

A hunter in an Ohio swamp once so surprised one of these rails with two of its young that, without attempting to escape, and evidently terrified at the prospect of possible danger to its offspring, it did nothing but run round and round them, as though thus to protect them from all harm!

The King Rail is about 18 inches long, and some 24 in alar extent. The upper surface is yellowish olive, or slate color with an ochraceous tinge, and distinctly striped with black; the crown is deep brown; the superciliary stripe anteriorly brownish white, posteriorly broader and brownish gray; the lores and the region below the eye are brownish gray; tail dull brown, with a darker median stripe; the wings are fuscous, with coverts inclining to rusty, sometimes more or less barred with reddish white; the chin and throat are white; the cheeks, sides of neck, with the breast, pale cinnamon; sides and flanks dark brown, barred with white; crissum mixed white and brownish, laterally almost pure white; the middle of the abdomen is lighter than the breast, sometimes nearly white; the lining of the wing similar to the flanks. The bill is yellow below, with tip and top dark brown; the eye is bright red, the feet yellowish olive brown. The female is like the male, though somewhat less in size. There is great individual variation both of size and color, but this species may always be readily distinguished from its

cousin of the salt-water marshes.

The Sora Rait.

It is very strange to what improbable suppositions a mysterious or unexplainable circumstance in the life of an animal will often give rise. For instance, when people were at loss to account for the sudden appearance and disappearance of the great

numbers of Carolina Rails, or Soras, they

offered as explanation of this simple fact

of migration the theory that the rails bur- AN INTERRUPTION,

492 RELORG VOR] GEE

rowed deep down into the mud, there, in a sort of hibernation, to pass the winter! Such an absurd notion has of course long since passed away, but the Sora still continues to be as erratic in its movements as in days gone by, suddenly appearing in multitudes where the day before scarce one was to be found, and anon with as little ceremony taking its departure.

Few game birds of the marsh are better known or more assiduously hunted than the Sora. Into the vast areas that form its chosen haunts, particularly along the Atlantic seaboard, it comes in wonderful numbers during the fall, and feeding then upon its favorite food, the wild oats, grows very fat and of exceedingly delicate flavor. It prefers those tracts that are thickly covered with reeds or rank grass, where the tide only at its ebb leaves bare the ground, and where owing to its shy- ness and agility it has the best chance of eluding its enemies. In fact, when the tide is out, the Sora can hide without difficulty, and only its sharp notes betray its. presence. But when a depth of water covers this feeding ground, the boats of the hunters come on the flowing tide and there is genuine trouble and danger, for the noise of the craft crashing through the reeds alarms the bird and it rises with feeble flight low over the tops of the rushes where it forms an easy mark for the gunner in the bow. Ata time when the birds are numerous many dozen thus fall victims in a few hours. .Another method of capture, still more disastrous to the birds, is to enter.the reeds at night, near the flood of the tide, with a blazing torch at the top of a pole fixed upright in the skiff or canoe; the light bewilders the birds and as fast as they appear they are killed with a long paddle.

When migrating the Sora often moves in flocks of considerable size, with flight quite strong and sustained, and has beem found at sea off the coast at a distance of several hundred miles from land; but:in the marsh it flies only a short distance and that slowly, with legs dangling as if about to alight. he less the depth of water on its feeding grounds the more difficult it is to flush the bird, for it prefers to run about over the floating and standing vegetation, on which it is quite as much at home as on the ground. When undisturbed it walks or runs with tail conspicu- ously erect, indifferently on the ground, on the lily-pads, on floating reeds or a log, often with rapid jerks.of head and tail; but if hard) pressed or wounded it takes to the water, diving readily, even for a short time clinging to the roots below the surface, and, when forced to breathe, coming up beneath a mass of floating vegeta- tion, there to hide with only the bill thrust out of water. It is, however, very inquisitive, and any unusual discontinued sound, as of a stone cast among the reeds, or a person walking, will cause it cautiously to investigate.

In the seclusion of its reedy home, during May or June, the Sora makes its nest,

Nie VNtOerVy > VN ZeOd 1c Woos

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 493

usually in some dense tussock, or in the grass, safe above the water. It is but a loose platform or mass of rushes and grass, though sometimes, either by reason of the broken down vegetation round about it, or the bird’s intent it is more or less completely overarched. The seven to fourteen eggs have a pale drab ground color and markings of reddish brown. The young are covered with dull black down, and have a strange looking tuft of orange-colored bristles on the throat; they run

about with their mother soon after hatching.

A BLIND FOR SHORE BIRDS.

Eastern North America seems to be the region most frequented by this bird, though it is found all over the continent from at least the latitude of 62° south- ward, and quite to the Pacific coast, ranging to the West Indies, Central America and northern South America. It breeds from southern California and the middle Eastern States northward.

The Sora is olive brown above, with lengthened markings of black, and some white edgings to the feathers; the top of the head has a broad stripe of black,

while its fore part, as well as the chin and throat, are of the same color. The

494 REPORT OF THE

rest of the head, the sides of the neck, the breast and lower throat are pale plumbeous; the abdomen is white; the crissum white or light buffy; the flanks white with clear-cut bars of slate color. In the immature plumage the lores and superciliary stripe are brownish, the chin and throat whitish, while the remain- ing parts of the neck and breast are pale brownish. The bill is greenish yellow

in life, the eye is brown, the feet greenish.

The Baldpate.

Among the many species of ducks that in the course of their semi-annual migra- tion visit the Middle Atlantic States, few are better known than the American Wid- geon, or, as it is commonly called, the Baldpate. The latter name comes evidently from its white crown, which at a little distance suggests the appearance indicated in the name, though this is just as misleading as the term “ Bald” Eagle. While in most respects similar to the common Widgeon of the Old World, the Baldpate is a different bird. It sometimes straggles to Europe, but its true home is the great continent of North America, where it is found in abundance almost everywhere from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and far to the northward beyond the Arctic Circle; pass- ing southward in winter to Central America and through the West Indies to the island of Trinidad.

The season of its spring migration is March and April; that of the fall, Septem- ber and October; at which times it sojourns by the way on the ponds, lakes, rivers and bays, wherever shelter and food are afforded. Beautiful in shape and color, as graceful in movement, the Baldpate is ever an attractive object. On the wing it is swift and strong, and from the beat of its pinions comes that curious whirring sound so characteristic of many ducks; and its low, whistling note is decidedly — musical. It moves commonly in flocks, which, being comparatively compacted, offer an easy mark to the sportsman.

In company with the pintail, the teals, the canvasback and at times other species, the Baldpate feeds on roots and seeds of grasses, insects, small fishes and the various other similar articles of duck diet that the marsh affords; adding to this whatever else it may find to its taste in the damp or half-flooded fields which at times it visits. On the water it seeks its food commonly with head, neck and breast below the surface, but rarely if ever dives, though it is said sometimes to rob the canvasback of the coveted roots of the wild celery, the hard-earned fruits of the latter’s toil.

The vast interior of the American continent, from the northern United States

northward, is the regular breeding ground of the Baldpate, though occasionally at

(1a WISY VNYVOlesKhiv SVN" alive Ghiv 4

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 495

least it rears its young as far to the southward as Texas. During May or June the nest is constructed, not near the water, as is the habit of many ducks, but commonly on dry land, on the ground among trees, and is an inconsequential affair — merely a depression among the leaves, thickly lined with down which the female is said to use to cover the eight to twelve plain buffy white eggs whenever, after incubation has begun, she has occasion to leave the nest. When yet unable to fly, the little ducklings resort to the shores of grassy ponds or lakes, where the parent watches solicitously over their _

welfare until they are able to care for themselves.

So great variation exists in the color of this bird that one description can scarcely be made adequate, but the adult male is as follows: About 21 inches in length and 32 in extent of wing; the forehead and crown are white, or nearly so; on the side of the head from the eye to the back of the neck is a broad dark metallic green band, meeting its fellow behind, the rest of the head being grayish or brownish white, thickly speckled with blackish; the back and scapulars are grayish white with some vinaceous tinge, and finely vermiculated with black; the rump is plumbeous or ashy, with obsolete cross mark- ings, the upper tail-coverts are black, with grayish inner webs, the tail ashy gray. The wing quills are dark gray, their coverts immaculate white, excepting some of the lesser series which are grayish, and the greater coverts which are tipped with black; the speculum is metallic green in front, vel- vety black behind; the tertials black, mar- gined with white. The lower throat and upper breast are pinkish; the sides and flanks

are of the same color delicately vermiculated

with black; the remainder of the lower sur-

face is white, excepting the velvety black tail-

IN AMBUSH.

coverts. The bill is pale grayish blue, the

496 REPORT OF THE

tip black; the eye is brown, the legs and feet light bluish. The female is much less brightiy colored, being brown above, mottled with ochraceous buff or whitish; the wing-coverts are ashy with broad margins of white, the speculum plain black the head and neck are dull white, streaked with dusky; the breast is pinkish gray, the flanks and sides of a deeper shade of the same; and the

crissum is cross-marked with brown.

The Blee-winged Teal.

Although ranging over almost the entire North American continent, the Blue- winged Teal finds its most congenial home in that wide-extending area commonly termed the Valley of the Mississippi. The species is rare in most of the extreme western portions of the United States, and still more so, or entirely absent, in the far northern regions. It passes the season of reproduction in British America and the northeastern. States of the Union, south interiorly at least to Texas; in the winter season moving down.as far as Central America, the West indies, Ecuador and Guiana.

Being essentially a bird of the fresh water, and moreover a great vegetarian, it naturally seeks the marshy flats along the rivers, lakes and ponds, in which localities it frequently congregates in great numbers. Its flight is rapid and sustained ; and in air or on water the flocks are usually dense, which, with a rather unsuspicious nature, renders its capture comparatively easy. When feeding it is quite graceful in move- ment, immersing head and neck in efforts to obtain the desired parts of water plants, and swimming smoothly and rapidly from place to place. When it finds an abundance of its favorite wild oats it becomes ina short time exceedingly fat, and in this condition is much esteemed for the table. Somewhat susceptible to cold, it — leaves its chosen autumn rendezvous on the approach of severe weather. On occasions not infrequent it associates with several of the larger snipes, as well as with species of ducks.

Asa suitable place for her nest the mother Blue-wing seeks generally the reedy or grassy margin of pond or sluggish stream, where on the ground, sometimes in the water, she builds of reeds and rushes and lines with down the home for her young. Her six to twelve eggs are plain creamy or buffy white.

Some 16 inches in length and 30 in extent of wing, the male Blue-winged Teal

has the crown blackish, the rest of the head lead color, with a purplish gloss on the

. sides of the neck and hind-head, and with a large white crescent in front of the eyier

the back is brown, with U-shaped markings of ochraceous; the lesser wing-coverts

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 497

and outer webs of the longer scapulars are light grayish blue; the exposed portion of the middle coverts is white; the speculum is metallic green with a duller subterminal portion and a white tip; the tertials are black, with a shaft streak of buff. The chin is blackish, the crissum deep black; the entire remaining part of the lower surface light reddish, much spotted with black; there is a white patch on each side at the base of the tail, and the axillars are of the same color, The bill is black, the eye brown, the feet yellowish. The female is of somewhat

smaller size and plainer colors.

The Green-winged Teal.

This elegant little duck, though at one time considered identical with its near Old World relative, is yet quite distinct. In North America it has a wider general dis- tribution than has its cousin the Blue-winged Teal, being common over almost all the continent. In summer it sojourns from the northern United States northward, chiefly in the interior; and in its winter wanderings reaches Central America and the West Indies.

In general, its habits are similar to those of the Blue-winged Teal, and its flesh is equally sweet and juicy. In flocks it seeks the marshes of the interior, being somewhat more wary, and when on land moves with more ease and lack of awkward- ness; in the fall it is often found in the rice-fields of the Southern States. Like many of the other fresh-water ducks it often seeks its food of aquatic plants, seeds and insects by night. . This is one of the most rapid flyers among the ducks, and even in rising from the water is devoid of much of the clumsiness that is so frequently fatal; it also dives with ease.

Its nest is apparently not distinguishable from that of the Blue-winged species and like that is often situated at some little distance from the water. The creamy or buffy white eggs are from six to eighteen in number.

The adult male Green-winged Teal is about 15 inches in length, with an extent of wing approximating 24 inches. The head and neck are chestnut-rufous, except for a broad band of metallic green extending on each side from the eye to the nape,

and narrowly bordered in front and below by yellowish white. The entire remain- ing upper surface is ashy; the outer scapulars have their external webs black exteriorly, bordered within by white; the greater wing-coverts are terminally broadly ochraceous; the speculum is black, with a restricted white tip, and the

upper part brilliant iridescent green. The chin and upper throat are dull black, the 32

498 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

lower throat deep pinkish with roundish spots of black; the crissum is cream-color, anteriorly and medially velvety black; the rest of the lower surfaee is white, some- times with a creamy tinge, the lower neck, the sides of the throat and body, with the flanks, finely vermiculated with black. The bill is black, the eye brown, the feet flesh color. The female is much less beautiful, a brownish streaked bird, very

similar to the same sex of the Blue-winged Teal.

ON A DAY'S JOURNEY.

Aquatic Insects of the Saranac Region.

Dye Dai Sco STATE) ENGOMOLOGISE. NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM.

UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

HE State of New York annually expends large sums of money in rearing ap young fish and planting them in various bodies of water, and yet we have no very definite knowledge of the food requirements of the different species. They are put in lake, pond or stream, and if in later years the fish planted is found abundantly we consider that body of water well adapted to that particular form, and if not, after repeated trials, we are obliged to admit that, for some reason or other, frequently unknown, certain varieties of fish will not thrive under those conditions.

An attempt was made in 1900 to study this problem from a scientific standpoint, and in the beginning the effort was very naturally confined to one group of animals, viz., insects. Two investigators, Dr. J. G. Needham and Cornelius Betten, were located, through the courtesy of the Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission, at the Adirondack Hatchery, Saranac Inn, Franklin county, with instructions “to collect and study the habits of aquatic insects, paying special attention to the conditions necessary to the existence of the various species, their relative value as food for fishes, the relations of the forms to each other and their life histories.”

Such instructions were necessarily very broad, and the carrying of them out in detail must, in the nature of things, be a labor of years. The results obtained at Saranac Inn give us a much better idea of the aquatic insect fauna of that section, and form, together with work done in tgol, an excellent basis for learning the conditions which govern the existence of the various species in different bodies of water. The first thing to be ascertained in any such investigation is to find out what forms inhabit the water or waters where the studies are being made, and in this respect the work done by Dr. Needham and his assistant has proved most admirable, since they have succeeded in adding materially to our knowledge of the aquatic forms in the Saranac region.

Complexity of Animal Life. An investigation such as is described above cannot be limited to any one family, order, or even class of animals, but it must eventually

499

18.

Explanation of Plate 1.

Simatiam Society

Two imagos of Hydropsyche sp. ?, at rest, natural size.

Imago of Hydropsyche sp.?, lateral view, x 6.

Larva of Hydropsyche sp. ?, lateral view, x 3%.

Pupal case of Hydropsyche sp. ?, x 2.

Imago of Roederiodes juncta, lateral view, x 10.

Larva of Roederiodes juncta, lateral view, x 5.

Pupa of Roederiodes juncta, lateral view, x 5.

Pupa of Roederiodes juncta in an habitual position in the abandoned pupal

case of Simulium venustum.

Egg masses of S. venustum, and two females ovipositing.

Pupz, empty pupa skins, and pupal cases of S. venustum.

Manvalolioavienustumls se

Male imago of Leuctra tenella, dorsal view, x 4.

Imago of Baetis pygmaea, lateral view, x 5.

Imago of Baetis pygmaea, dorsal view, x 5.

Imago of Heptagenia pulchella, x 2.

Nymph of Heptagenia pulchella, natural size.

Pupal cases of Hydropsyche sp.?, in situ. natural size.

Pupe of Simulium venustum, in situ.

19, 20.

500

Larva of S. venustum in situ.

L. H. Joutel, 1900 James B. Lyon, State Printer

SIMULIUM SOCIETY

(Reprint from N.Y. State Museum Bulletin, 47]

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 501

be extended to include all living organisms, because it is not only necessary in such a study to ascertain what any one species of fish, for example, feeds upon, but we must also know what its competitors devour, and its relation to other fishes. The mere knowledge of the species of insects found in association with any one kind of fish, combined with some idea of their value as food, is only part of the question, because, as in the case of the fish, we must know what each insect feeds upon, and in turn its relations to other insects inhabiting the same surroundings. As these investigations are pushed farther and farther it may be found that all living organisms, including even the lowest of the plants and animals, have some bearing upon this question. The unraveling of the intricate relationships existing in any such group is a labor of years, and the study must be undertaken with the greatest care and discrimination; otherwise, many incorrect conclusions may be drawn.

Before this investigation is completed it will make demands not only upon the entomologist and the ichthyologist; but the botanist and the zoologist, using the latter term in a very general sense, will also be called upon to assist in solving some of these interesting and practical problems.

Intricacies of Insect Socteties. This subject alone is one calling for considerable study as will at once be seen by an examination of Plate 1, which was prepared and drawn under the direction of Dr. J. G. Needham. There we find depicted ina portion of a running stream a number of interesting and diverse insects, and when these are taken from their native habitat and carefully identified and reared to maturity, we find that the apparently large number of forms represented above this bit of rushing water is by no means excessive. Living side by side in the water, there may be found not only the small Szmu/ium larve but the interesting nymphs of two species of Mayflies, the young of a predaceous caddis fly and the aquatic larva and pupa of a small fly. These insects obtain their living in some manner or other from the rushing water or the things borne along by it, and the biologist who attempts to solve the relationships existing between the forms, even in such a limited colony as this, will find therein material for many months of study, and when this investigation is pushed farther, to include not only a little colony in one limited portion of a stream, but all of the aquatic insects or all of the forms living in a brook or pond or lake, the amount of work necessary will be immensely increased.

Insects as Fish Food. Some fish are dependent for sustenance upon insects and other forms which spend a greater or less proportion of their lives under the water, and certain species obtain a considerable part of their nourishment from insects

which live in the neighborhood of water and fall upon its surface only by accident.

502 REPORT OF DHE

The end of an investigation of this subject is very far in the distance and yet the value of such work can hardly be questioned by one who compares the money expended in the rearing of fish with the amount necessary for such study.

The early researches of Prof. S. A. Forbes, State Entomologist of Illinois, con- vinced him that insects comprise the most important portion of the food of adult fresh water fishes, they furnishing 40 per cent of all the food of the specimens which he . examined. He found the principal insectivorous fishes to be the smaller species whose size and food structure when adult unfit them for the capture of Entomostraca and yet do not bring them within reach of fishes or mollusca. Some of these fishes have peculiar habits which render them specially dependent upon insect life. The little minnow, Phenacobius, which according to his studies depends for nearly all of its food upon insects (98 per cent), seeks for them in running water. Next come the pirate perch, Aphredoderius (gt per cent), then the darters (87 per cent), the croppies (73 per cent), halfgrown sheepshead (71 per cent), the shovel fish (59 per cent), the chub minnow (56 per cent), the black warrior sunfish (Chaenobryttus) and the brook silversides (each 54 per cent), and the rock bass and the Cyprinoid genus Woftropis (each 52 per cent). He found insects wholly or nearly absent from the adult dietary of the burbot, the pike, the gar, the black bass, the wall-eyed pike, the great river catfish, from that of the hickory shad and the mud-eating minnows (the shiner, the fathead, etc.). He found, however, that the larger fishes all go through an insec- tivorous stage, whether their food when adult be almost wholly other fishes, as with the gar and the pike, or mollusks, as with the sheepshead. The mud-feeders, how- ever, do not seem to pass through this stage, but adopt the liimnophagous habit as soon as they cease to depend upon Entomostraca. Terrestrial insects dropping into the water accidentally or swept in by rains are also diligently sought after and largely depended upon by several species, such as the pirate perch, the brook min- now, the top minnows or killifishes (Cyprznodonts), the toothed herring and several Cyprinotds (Semotilus, Pimephales and Notropis).

He also found that among aquatic insects slender dipterous larve belonging mostly to Chironomus, Corethea and allied genera were of remarkable importance, making in fact nearly one-tenth of the food of all the fishes studied. They were most abundant in Phenacobius and Etheostoma, which genera have become especially adapted to search for these insect forms in shallow rocky streams. Next they were found most generally in the pirate perch, the brook silversides and the sticklebacks, in which they averaged 45 per cent of the stomach contents. They amcunted to about one-third of the food of fishes as large and important as the red horse and the

river carp and made nearly one-fourth of that of 51 buffalo fishes. They appear

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 503

further in considerable quantities in the food of a number of the minnow family (Notropis, Pimephales, etc.) which habitually frequent the swift water of stony streams.

Prof. Forbes’ studies also convinced him that nearly one-fifth of the entire amount of food consumed by all the adult fishes examined by him consisted of aquatic Neuropteroid larve, the greater part of them being the young of May-flies, principally of the genus Hexragenia. These larve were eaten especially by the miller’s thumb, the sheepshead, the white bass, the striped bass, the common perch, 13 species of darters, both of the black bass, 7 of the sunfishes, the rock bass and croppies, the pirate perch, the brook silversides, the sticklebacks, the mud minnow, the top minnow, the gizzard shad, the toothed herring, 12 species each of the true minnow family and of the suckers and buffalo fish family, 5 catfishes, the dogfish and the shovel fish — 70 species out of the 87 he studied.

Among these he found that Neuropteroid larve were the most important food of the white bass, the toothed herring and the shovel fish (51 per cent) and the crop- pies; while they made a fourth or more of the alimentary contents of the sheeps- head (46 per cent), the darters, the pirate perch, the common sunfishes (Lepomzs and Chenobryttus), the rock bass, the little pickerel and the common sucker (36 per cent). The important food relations of May-fly larve is noted in detail in a following paragraph and will not be treated of in this connection.

The following biological and other records as well as the illustrations of the forms mentioned are taken largely from a partial report on the work done at the Entomologic Field Station, Saranac Inn, Franklin county, in 1900, by Dr. James G. “Needham of Lake Forest University, Illinois, and his assistant at that time, Cornelius Betten. This work has been published with many additional details in Bulletin 47, New York State Museum, to which the interested reader is referred for further information. This publication also contains a number of valuable tables for

the identification of both adults and young of aquatic insects.

Stone Flies. (Llecoptera)

The stone flies are inhabitants of rapid streams and their nymphs may be found in such localities clinging to the under side of stones. It is only necessary to lift a stone ora stick from the water and turn it over quickly in order to find these interesting forms. They cling close to such objects with their legs stretched to full

extent and their claws gripping firmly. They are said to be a favorite food of brook

504 REPORT OF THE

trout. The adults are known to English fishermen, in addition to the general com- mon name given above, as the red fly (Old Joan) and the willow fly (Shamrock fly), according to Prof. Miall. They are also known as Duns in this country. These insects were not very common at Saranac Inn as most of the water in that region

was not rapid enough for them.

Chloroperla bilineata Say. This species had begun to disappear by June 15th,

though a few could be found about the hatchery windows each day. Many dead ones were also discovered entangled in spider webs, and adults were not observed flying except from the place of transformation to the window. Empty nymphal skins were very abundant, and hundreds were to be found sticking to the sides of the hatchery troughs, the greatest number near the inflow pipe.

Leuctra tenella Prov. This form, the adult of which is shown at plate 1, figure 12, was much less common than the preceding one, and adults were not observed in flight. A few were taken on the hatchery windows, some on aquatic vegetation close to the water and others under boards overhanging the water near the railway embankment where there isa little ripple. In this last mentioned place nymphs were found crawling over the surface of stones and boards among the brown and

empty cases of Szmulium pupe.

May-flies. (Ephemeride)

The May-flies, or Ephemeride, are very common insects along the banks of streams and beside bodies of water. They are known to fishermen as drakes, including the green and other varieties. Other fishermen’s names common in Eng- land as listed by Prof. Miall are as follows: March Brown, Great Red Spinner, Yellow Dun, Iron Blue Dun, Jenny Spinner, Little May Yellow Dun, Sky Blue, Orange Dun, Dark Mackerel, Pale Evening Dun, Whirling Blue Dun, July Dun and August Dun. The May-flies are readily recognized by their delicate structure. The very slender body is tipped posteriorly by two or three long, many-jointed fila- ments. The wings are many veined, the hinder pair being either much smaller than the fore pair or entirely absent. A glance at plate 2 will enable anyone to recognize the May-flies, as all the species have a very characteristic appearance.

It is popularly supposed that these insects live but a few hours ora day, and this is undoubtedly true of some forms, but others have an adult existence extend- ing overa longer period. The eggs are deposited by some species on the surface

of the water and by others on stones beneath the water. A note regarding the

prolificacy of one form, Heptagenia pulchella Walsh, may be of interest in this con-

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 505

nection. Dr. Needham, in dissecting a female sub-imago of this species, counted a portion of the eggs in her ovaries, and on this basis estimated their entire number at 1,340.

The young, or nymphs, as they are termed, live under water. They may be recog- nized by a study of the two forms represented at figures I, 2, 5 and 6 on plate 2. It will be seen that they are slim, six-legged crawlers, bearing slender, barbed, anal filaments, and with a row of tracheal gills or breathing organs along the outer margin of the abdomen. Once seen they are easily identified. It has been truly observed of these creatures by Dr. Needham, that the struggle for existence falls upon them, and, consequently, there are several highly specialized groups, each nicely adapted to its peculiar habits. Some of these nymphs live in or among the water plants, while others burrow in the mud and obtain their food at or near the bottom of the water. All of them are delicate morsels for fish, and are fed upon to a consid- erable extent.

The studies of Prof. Forbes have shown that May-fly larve were eaten by 213

specimens representing 48 species, not counting the young. The larve of AHexa-

“ ,

genia, one of the commonest of the “ river flies’ in Illinois, were by far the most important insects of this group, they alone amounting to about one-half of all the neuropteroid larve eaten. They made nearly one-half of the food of the shovel fish, more than one-tenth of that of the sunfishes, and were the principal food resource of half-grown sheepshead. They were rarely taken by the sucker family and comprised only five per cent of the food of the catfish group.

The abundance of these forms is well-known to almost anyone who is at all familiar with aquatic life. Attimesthey occurin almost innumerableswarms. Such flights have been compared to snowstorms, and Mr. Cheney, our late State Fish Cul- turist, records an instance of having seen them cover the front of a large hotel, windows, doors and every inch of woodwork, as though the house had been plastered with them. This condition is not infrequent in Buffalo and vicinity. Only last spring the writer observed in the lower section of the city that buildings were nearly covered in the early evening by these insects, and they were so numerous as to bea source of positive annoyance to pedestrians. Five, six or even twenty might alight on a person at one time. Residents along the St. Lawrence river are familiar with _ the immense annual swarms of these insects. A further idea of their abundance in nature may be gained from the following observations by Dr. Needham at Saranac Inn. Ina quantitative study of a plat of 15 square feet, embracing the margin and a portion of the bed of a small stream, he found 15 nymphs, or one to every square

foot of surface.

506 REPORT OF THE

These insects are very interesting, not only on account of their value as food for fishes, but also because they present a peculiar phenomenon, a pseud-imago or sub-imago stage. As previously stated, the young of these insects live in the water, and at the time of their emergence the nymphal skin is ruptured and the May-fly crawls forth, flies some distance, alights, and then, to the surprise of one who has never observed it before, deliberately proceeds to cast off another skin, which is known as the pseud-imaginal skin. It is a perfect case of the insect, covering wings, antenne, anal filaments and legs, and in places where May-flies are at all abundant these pseud-imaginal envelopes are frequently very conspicuous.

Comparatively few May-flies were studied by Dr. Needham at Saranac Inn, but abstracts from some of his biologic notes on a few species may prove of interest.

Fleptagenia pulchella Walsh. Imagos of this species, represented in natural colors in figure 15, plate 1, were found to be common during June, July and the greater part of August, being most abundant in June, and mostly males were taken in trap lanterns whenever the weather was favorable, and others were seen flying about at twilight. The species was not often seen though exceedingly common. The nymphs, plate 1, figure 16, were found abundantly in Little Clear Creek, especially in the more rapid places, clinging closely to the flat surfaces of boards, sticks, etc. They were easily collected by lifting these obstructions and picking them off with forceps.

Baetis pygm@a Hagen. This species, like the preceding, was found commonly in the hatchery windows, and was often taken in small numbers in trap lanterns, though seldom seen at large. Imagos occurred sparingly through the earlier part of the season, but they became very abundant in August. They are represented at figures 13 and 14 on plate 1. Nymphs of this species were found most abundant among the cases of Szmulium pupe in swiftly flowing water, and few could be — taken at any time from the hatchery troughs. This is the daintiest and one of the prettiest of our May-flies.

Siphlurus alternatus Say. This handsome brown species, plate 2, figure 7, was obtained by Dr. Needham by rearing from the nymphs, figures 5 and 6 on plate 2,. which were not uncommon among the debris of floating brush wood in shallow water by the outlet of Little Clear Pond. The nymph is a graceful creature and exceedingly agile (figures 5 and 6 of plate 2). The beautiful fringes on the abdom- inal setae constitute a powerful tail fin which sends the nymph through the water with a speed the eye can hardly follow. A great many specimens were taken in shallow water behind a large hummock overgrown with cattails (7ypia@) to the north

of the outlet of Little Clear Pond. These transformed July 21, 22 and 23, remained

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 507

in the sub-imago stage for more than 48 hours and in every case underwent the final molt the second day after emergence from the larval skin.

Ephemerella excrucians Walsh. Very few imagos of this interesting species were obtained, notwithstanding the nymphs were common in Little Clear Creek and even in the hatchery troughs during the month of July. Specimens were taken at the trap lantern and from the hatchery windows.

Caenis diminuta Walker. This dumpy little nocturnal species was taken abun- dantly in the trap lantern hanging on the side of the boathouse at the outlet of Lit- tle Clear Pond, 15 to 50 specimens being captured in a single lantern each evening from the 14th to the 18th of July. The nymphs are common among the trash on the bottom of all quiet waters. Their inconspicuous coloration and trashy covering protect them well. They cling closely to bark, etc., and will allow themselves to be lifted from the water without stirring.

Hlexagenia variabilis Eaton. This species was much less numerous than the others previously mentioned. It was found only along Little Clear Creek. An occasional sub-imago was seen in early morning flying weakly to some neighboring tree. A single specimen was taken on the outside of a trap lantern in the morning twilight, and a few were picked from the sides of the hatchery building where they were con- spicuous on account of their size. The nymphs were easily obtained throughout the season from the bottom of the creek with a seine. This species does not have a limited period of emergence, as appears to be the case with the //. dzlineata. Nymphs taken incidentally while collecting were reared at various times from June 26 to August 1. They were associated in the creek with Ephemera varia, noted below, but were much less numerous. In breeding cages the sub-imago emerged one night and transformed to the imago the night following.

Ephemera varia Eaton. This dainty New England species, plate 2, figures 3 and 4, was caught about Little Clear Creek associated with the preceding form with which it agrees quite closely in habits. Imagos were often seen sitting lightly on the bushes near the banks of the creek, and nymphs, plate 2, figures I and 2, were

abundant in its bed until the 1st of August.

Dragon Flies.

(Odonata)

The dragon flies, or Odonata, are among the most important predatory aquatic insects, and where they are at all abundant, as was found to be the case at Saranac

Inn, they must undoubtedly exercise a considerable influence upon the fauna.

= q

Explanation of Plate 2.

Ephemera varia Etn. Lateral view of the nymph. Note the latero-dorsal breathing organs or gills on the abdominal segments. Dorsal view of the nymph. This view shows how these organs may arch over the back. Lateral view of the male imago.

Dorsal view of the male imago.

Siphleres alternates Say. . Lateral view of the nymph. This larva possesses a different type of abdominal breathing organs or gills. Dorsal view of the nymph. This view shows the overlapping of the gills and also gives some hint of the number of trachee or air tubes, represented by black lines in each.

Lateral view of the male imago. to}

508

Plate 2

ee qerevenvaniererraneet caret

LUNA a eaebehaht sme MNAMAIANAAAND ALEC CTE TT

James B. Lyon, State Printer

L. H. Joutel, 1900

MAYFLIES

{Reprint from N.Y. State Museum Bulletin, 47.)

REPORT OF THE FOKEST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 509

Dragon flies bear an evil reputation in the popular mind, and on account of that they have earned such designations as darning needles, devil's needles, snake doc- tors, etc., all indicating the popular estimate of these relatively harmless creatures.

The adult dragon flies have a very characteristic appearance, and the more pow- erful ones are seen in most localities near the water, and frequently at a considerable distance from it. They are characterized by their four large, nearly equal mem- branous, many-veined wings. The larger dragon flies, as is well known, are strong fliers. The body is cylindrical, the thorax very well developed, and the head con- spicuous by its enormous eyes. There are two groups of these interesting insects — one comprising the larger forms, which may always be recognized when at rest by their wings being extended horizontally, and the other, a group of smaller dragon flies, now frequently called damsel flies, which are much more slender, delicate creatures than the above described. The latter are usually brilliantly colored, and they may be recognized when at rest by their wings being folded together and extending lengthwise over the body.

The young of dragon flies are aquatic and may be found in a great variety of situations, inhabiting as they do most of the less rapid fresh waters. The nymphs possess rudimentary wings and may be recognized by reference to the illustrations on plate 3. The head is enormous, and the most characteristic feature of all is the large mask or lower lip, which is capable of being extended forward to seize the unwary prey. A few of these nymphs are illustrated at figure I on plate 3, and their adults are shown in the same plate hovering over the water.

The nymphs of damsel flies may be distinguished from their more powerful relatives in much the same way as the adults, by their more slender frail structure, and also by the anal flaps protruding from the posterior extremity.

The eggs are deposited in various ways by different species. Some females course back and forth over the water, touching its surface here and there, and at each contact depositing a number of eggs; others alight on a floating piece of wood or other support and place their eggs within the plant tissues; and still others, particularly some of the damsel flies, are known to crawl beneath the sur- face of the water, in order to deposit their eggs in the stems of aquatic plants.

Saranac Inn, as was proven by the investigations of Dr. Needham, is the home of a great number of species of the larger dragon flies. His short stay of ten weeks sufficed for the collecting of 36 species of these insects, and in his quanti- tative studies along Little Clear Creek, he found that their nymphs were exceed- ingly abundant. For example, in one small fishpond, made by impounding the

creek with its eastern side boarded up toa height of 15 or 20 inches above the

510 REPORT OF THE

level of the water for a distance of perhaps 20 yards, he was able during the month of June to collect 170 cast skins from the boarded side. This number may possibly represent one-half of the nymphs which found sustenance in this limited area of water, figure 1. Still further evidence of the abundance of these insects was observed by the writer a little later in the season, when this portion of the stream was cleaned out and the mud and accumulated debris on the bottom were thrown upon the bank. Only a few minutes after this fluid or semi-fluid matter had been cast upon the land one could see here and there a movement, and out would wriggle a dragon fly nymph. These creatures were so abundant that it was very casy to collect a quart or more by picking them from the material shoveled out of the creek. Some quantitative studies made by Dr. Needham a little lower down on this same stream showed that in a space of only 15 square feet, extending from the bank out into the stream, there were 26 nymphs of these larger dragon flies.

These figures give some idea of the immense numbers of these forms which exist under favorable conditions, and as they are very voracious, they require a large amount of food. They prey not only upon themselves but upon other insects and to some extent upon smaller fishes and in turn fall viccims to larger fish and other inhabitants of the stream that may be powerful enough to overcome them and keen enough to detect them. The studies of Prof. Forbes show that dragon fly nymphs comprise 25 per cent of the food of the grass pickerel, and in the croppie, the pirate perch and the common perch the proportion ranges from Io to 13 per cent.

The following brief notes on various dragon flies, studied at Saranac Inn, were taken from Dr. Needham’s report on the work done in 1900. See Bulletin 47 of the New York State Museum for tables for the separation of the species and other ~ detauls.

Ophiogomphus aspersus Morse. This form, hitherto known as a very rare species, was common at Saranac Inn. Many imagos of both sexes were observed flying over Little Clear Creek in places where the shallow current rippled over sand. The males would fly back and forth a few times and then rest for a while on some promi- nent twig near shore, generally on the higher bank. They were not difficult to approach or to capture when at rest. Except when ovipositing, the female seemed to remain less of the time in the vicinity of the water, and then she makes a suc- cession of sweeps back and forth near the head of some little ripple, striking the water, after a few short flights, again and again near the same place and leaving her eggs in it. The nymphs, plate 3, figure 5, were very common in the sandy bed of the creek, and their cast skins were abundant along the banks through the months

of June and July, sticking to some support within a foot of the edge of the water.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Sylel

Hagenius brevistylus Selys. This species was common along Little Clear Creek. The nymphs, plate 3, figure 7, were found in the midst of trash on the bed of the stream, and during the season of transformation exuvie dotted the banks rather conspicuously. Few adults were seen at large. These fly swiftly about the stream from one resting place to another. They are easy to approach and not very diffi- cult to capture when resting on the bridges crossing the stream. The eggs are dropped by the female during flight. She descends and strikes the water repeat- edly at points wide apart and from 10 to 20 eggs are liberated at each descent. Nymphs of various sizes are always found together, and as they are easily divided by size into three or more groups, this species may have a developmental period of four or more years duration.

Gomphus brevis Hagen. This species was common at Saranac Inn though but a single imago was captured, very few being seen. The nymphs, plate 3, figure 3, were very plentiful in Little Clear Creek. The season of transformation was appar- ently about ended on our arrival at Saranac Inn, June 12.

Gomphus descriptus var. borealis Ndm. This interesting variety was not uncom- mon at Saranac Inn. A few were observed on the Otisville road, and others were seen resting on the bare sand near the outlet of Little Clear Pond.

Gomphus exilis Selys. This species was abundant at Saranac Inn, flitting by every roadside through the month of June and well along into July. The nymphs were found in all waters, and about the first of July the exuvie freely sprinkled the banks. Few adults were observed in the immediate vicinity of the water, and these were mostly females ovipositing. They spun along over the water at a lively rate, unattended by the male, descending here and there to strike the surface and liberate eggs, making but one or two dips in a place, and flying some distance before descending again. The nymphs transformed at the very edge of the water, seldom crawling more than an inch or two above its surface. Moss-grown logs on the edges of Little Clear Pond were in many places covered several layers deep with the exuviz of this species.

Gomphus scuddert Selys. This handsome black species, plate 3, figure 10, was common at Saranac Inn and even more so, judging from the numbers of exuvie in evidence along the bank, at Axton, but few imagos were seen at large, though many

-were bred from nymphs, plate 3, figure 2, taken from Little Clear Creek beside the hatchery. ®

Gomphus spicatus Hagen. This species, next to G. erzlis, was the commonest gomphine at Saranac Inn, where it frequented all sorts of waters. Adults were com-

mon during the latter part of June and the first two weeks of July along the wagon

oat

Sy

10.

Nymph Nymph Nymph Nymph Nymph Nymph

Nymph

of of of of of of

of

Explanation of Plate 3.

Dragon Flies and their Nympbs.~ Dromogomphus spinosus Selys Gomphus scudderi Selys G. brevis Selys G. spicatus Selys Ophiogomphus aspersus Morse Lanthus parvulus Selys

Hagenius brevistylus Selys

Aeschna constricta Say

Nymph of Didymops transversa Say

Gomphus scudderi Selys

512

* All from photos by Dr J. G. Needham.

PLATE 3:

DRAGON FLIES AND THEIR NYMPHS.

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 513

road and railroad between Little Clear and Big Clear Creeks. A goodly number of nymphs, plate 3, figure 4, was collected from Little Clear Creek on the hatchery grounds, Little Clear Pond near its outlet and from Bone Pond.

Dromogomphus spinosus Selys. This species was taken at Saranac Inn only during the week which included June 30th in Little Clear Pond near the outlet. The nymphs, plate 3, figure I, were crawling onto stumps and logs from the rather deep water along the bank. A big pine stump that stood partly in the water halfway between the outlet and the cold water pipe seemed a favorite place for transforma- tion. It was fairly dotted with exuvie.

Boyeria vinosa Say. This species was very common at Saranac Inn in Little Clear Creek and in the borders of the pond above. The nymphs were transforming commonly on the sides of the timbers along the edge of the water from the middle of June until the latter end of July.

Basiaeschna ganata Say. This species was common about the hatchery grounds June 12th and had about disappeared by midsummer. Mostly immature nymphs were found at this time at Saranac Inn. Females were observed ovipositing several times, and in each instance the eggs were deposited in leaves of bur-reed, Sparganium, which, where it occurred in the deeper water of the creek, trailed its long leaves on the surface of the stream. The female flitted from plant to plant, making a few thrusts with her ovipositor into each at the water line and then settled and balanced herself carefully on a long floating ‘leaf and began more extensive operations. Backing down into the water until her abdomen was almost wholly submerged, she began thrusting with her ovipositor, first to right, then to left, moving forward a little between the thrusts and leaving behind a double row of stitches as regular as the neatest double stitching done with a needle. Several such double rows of eggs were placed in the tissues of one leaf before it was left.

Epiaeschna heros Fabr. is the largest of our dragon flies, and is widely distributed throughout the state. It not infrequently enters houses and apparently migrates in numbers.

Aeschna constricta Say, plate 3, figure 8, and A. clepsydra Say, were both common at Saranac Inn during the latter half of the summer.

Anax junius Drury. This well-known species, which is very common in most parts of the State, was rather rare at Saranac Inn. The nymph is probably better known than that of any other species, as it is sure to come into the net of the aquatic collector. It usually clings to water weeds nearer the surface than the bot- tom in an attitude of alertness, with head poised low and abdomen slightly elevated.

Cordulegaster maculatus Selys. This species was not uncommon at Saranac Inn.

22 OS)

514 REPORT OF THE

It was to be seen during the greater part of the summer on sunshiny days coursing up and down Little Clear Creek on the hatchery grounds. It was observed nowhere else, and it has not been hitherto reported from New York State.

Didymops transversa Say. This form was not very common at Saranac Inn, but nymphs, plate 3, figure 9, were taken in the borders of Little Clear Pond and Creek, and exuvie were found along the eastern shore of Lake Clear, hung up in the bushes or attached to large logs several yards from the water’s edge.

Epicordulia princeps Hagen. This species was seen but a few times at Saranac Inn, and no specimens were taken either as nymphs or imagos. It is not uncom- mon in other places in the State, and will probably be found quite generally dis-

tributed when proper search is made for it.

FIG. 2. EPICORDULIA PRINCEPS HAGEN,. ADULT AND NYMPH.

DRAWING BY MRS. J. G. NEEDHAM.

Tetragoneura. Four species of this genus were all common at Saranac Inn, and Dr. Needham found eggs laid in strings, which probably belong to this genus. They were attached together in masses and hung on partly submerged twigs at the surface of the water, and were very common objects about the shores of Little Clear Pond. While their identity cannot be absolutely proven it is very probably as stated.

Tetragoneura spinigera Selys. This dragon fly was exceedingly abundant at Saranac Inn during the month of June, flying about the hatchery grounds in com- mon with the other species, and occurring also about every little clearing in the forest.

Tetragoneura cynosura Say or dog-tail. This species, which has hitherto been

recorded from but few localities within the State, is likely to be found in most

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 515

large ponds in central and western New York. The typical form was not common at Saranac Inn.

Tetragoneura semiaquea Burm. This form was found associated with the others at Saranac Inn.

Tetragoneura spinosa Hagen. This dragon fly was less abundant at Saranac Inn than other members of the genus listed as occurring there.

Flelocordulia uhlert Selys. his species was not uncommon in Little Clear Creek on the hatchery grounds. lIinagos were seen flying a few times about the banks of Little Clear Pond close in shore and well above the water. The nymphs live in the borders of the creek, mainly in the shallow places in red-rotten vegetable debris.

Somatochlora elongata Scudd. A few imagos of this species were seen flying with great swiftness about the borders of Bone Pond. A nymph was taken from Little Clear Pond and a cast skin was found later in the season on the north side of the outlet of Little Clear Pond on a bed of moss a few inches above the water line.

Somatochlora walshit Scudd. has been recorded from Keene valley and probably occurs in the Saranac region.

Cordulia shurtleffi Scudd. This species was common at Saranac Inn. A few imagos were observed flying about the hatchery grounds and the creek, but their favorite resort for foraging and support was the edge of a bog pond hidden in the deep woods. The nymphs were found in a shaded trashy place on the edge of Lit- tle Clear Pond and also in Bone Pond.

Dorocordulia libera Selys. This dainty and beautiful dragon fly was not uncom-

-mon at Saranac Inn. The imagos were taken about the borders of bog ponds. One nymph was found in the edge of Little Clear Pond at its outlet.

Leucorhinia glacialis Uagen. This beautiful species, previously only known from a few males, was common at Saranac Inn. Early in July it was easily found about the outlet of Little Clear Pond, and nymphs were obtained and the oviposition of females observed. Its various stages and the two sexes are illus- trated on plate 4.

Sympetrum costiferum Hagen. One example of this species was unexpectedly obtained on August 8 in one of the breeding cages. No imagos were seen at large.

Sympetrum vicinum Hagen. The nymphs of this form were found on the north

~ side of the outlet of Little Clear Pond, on a shelving bank behind hummocks of cat tails.

Sympetrum assimiuatum Uhler. This dragon fly was very common in Little

Clear Creek, and during the latter part of July the nymphs could be seen in the

morning climbing up the Sparganium stems and transforming.

Explanation of Plate ee

——- Beacorbinia gtlaciatis | FIG. 7 peri

Tees Two nymphs on the bottom of the pond.

Hagen

- The empty nymph skin, left clinging to a branch after transformation .

The female imago.

5. Dorsal and lateral views of the male imago.

516

Plate 4

L. H. Joutel, 1900 James B. Lyon, State Printer

LEUCORHINIA GLACIALIS

( Reprint from N.Y. State Museum Bulletin, 47. }

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Sy

Sympetrum rubicundulum Say. Occurs in the Saranac region. It is a common species.

Synipetrum obtrusum Hagen. Occurs in the Saranac region and is a common species.

Mesothemts stmplicicollis Say. This widely distributed species is much more common southward and westward. A single specimen was seen at Saranac Inn.

Ladonia julia Uhler. This dragon fly was very common at Saranac Inn. It began to appear in numbers June 13, and the imagos were abundant along every roadside during the remainder.of the month. Females were only a little less abundant than males. Nymphs were numerous in trashy places in the borders of Little Clear and Bone Ponds, and few were found in Little Clear Creek.

Libellula basalis Say. One imago and one nymph were taken at Saranac Inn.

FIG. 3. LIBELLULA PULCHELLA DRURY.

Libellula quadrimaculata Linn. This form occurred sparingly at Saranac Inn. A few imagos were observed sitting on twigs which rose directly a few feet out of the water. They were shy and difficult to capture, and when disturbed would rarely return to the same vicinity.

Libellula pulchella Drury. This dragon fly was not common at Saranac Inn,

and but few specimens were seen.

Tish Plics, Dobson and Others.

This group as now defined includes such well-known insects as ant lions, aphis lions, the dobson and other allied species, and while the appearance of these various forms differs in many respects, still they have certain affinities which have led to

their being placed in a single order.

518 REPORT OF THE

The aquatic members of this family comprise the alder or orl fiies, fish flies, the: dobson and the smaller forms to which Dr. Needham has given the common name of Spongilla or Sponge flies.

The family Sza/zd@ includes some of the more common aquatic species, such as the fish flies, and in particular the dobson, an insect whose larva is highly valued by fishermen as bait. Few insects of such inconspicuous coloration and secretive habits are so well known as these. The adults do not ordinarily wander far from their native streams or ponds, and they are generally found sitting closely on some sup- port with wings folded like a roof over the back.

Szalis infumata Newm. This species is known as the smoky orl fly, and several adults were taken on both Little and Big Clear Creeks during the latter half of June. Larve were obtained in small numbers from Little Clear Creek on the hatch- ery grounds. They live in the borders of streams and ponds in trashy places filled with aquatic plants and clamber through the falling vegetation with great agility.

Transformation from the larve to the adult takes place in moist soil at some little distance from the edge of the water. An oval cell is formed in the soil from several inches to a foot or more beneath the surface, in which the larva curls itself up, and without making a cocoon becomes a pupa, the adult emerging two or three weeks later.

The genus Chauliodes includes eight North American species, but two of which had previously been recorded from this State. These and another were found by Dr. Needham at Saranac Inn. The adults are less retiring than those in other genera of the family, and some species at least are habitually abroad during the hours of sunshine, making short fluttering flights from stem to stem. The eggs are placed in somewhat regular rows on the surface of a leaf or other support, sometimes over the water, but oftener at a short distance from it. The larve live in wet places at the edge of the water or in the water close to the surface, and are perhaps oftenest found clinging to the under side of floating logs or crawling beneath loosened bark. The full-grown larva excavates a cell in a layer of moss or in rotten wood, just above the level of the water, in which it transforms to the adult without spinning a cocoon.

Chaultodes rastricornis Ramb. The adult of this species was not observed out- side of the breeding cages, though larve and pupz were obtained in several places about the shore of Little Clear Pond. The latter were so abundant that in one small bay 25 pupz were obtained in a very little while. Eggs, which apparently

belong to this species, were not uncommonly found attached to the flat surface of

some board several feet above the surface of the water. They were more grayish in.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 519

color than those of C. serrzcornis, and were arranged in somewhat more regular V-shaped rows, never more than one layer in depth. The minute egg parasite, Trichogramma minutum Riley, destroyed a great many eggs of this species. In a

number of clusters over 70 per cent were attacked.

FIG. 4. LARVA OF CHAULIODES PECTINICORNIS. a, side view; 2, dorsal view; ¢, an abdominal segment enlarged; ¢, anal segment with appendages similarly enlarged.

AFTER LINTNER,

Chauliodes pectinicornts Linn. This species is known as the comb-horned fish fly, and a single female specimen was bred from a pupa found in an old pine stump in the edge of the water near the outlet of Little (Cleave Pomel - Iinvis

is the largest of the ashen

FIG. 5. THE COMB-HORNED FISH-FLY, CHAULIODES PECTINICORNIS, NATURAL SIZE: gray species of Chauliodes. AFTER LINTNER.

Chauliodes serricornis Say. This form, known as the saw-horned fish fly, was

very common along Little Clear Creek between the hatchery and the railroad. Half

520 RERORD OF HE

a dozen specimens could be picked any day in July from the sedges and flower- ing ferns in walking across this short open space. A large number of egg clusters were seen, all of them on the under side of the leaves of the flowering fern, Osmunda regalis. One cluster was found to contain 900 eggs, | and, while others were larger, many of them were smaller. The period of incubation is about 17 days,

and there appears to bea great uniformity in all eggs

a OG T ~ a ae 1 > FIG. 6, THE SAW-HORNED FISH FLY, Of the same mass. Numerous clusters were picked

CHAULIODES SERRICORNIS, NATU- with the eggs all hatching at once, heads protruding BE SES prea AN ENE and jaws widely swung open, a most curious sight, a veritable cheval de frise of great rapacious mandibles.

Corydalus cornuta Linn. This is the giant member of the family, and is known

re

=e Ta ee Oe

35 SS

= =

FIG. 7, HORNED CORYDALIS, CORYDALIS CORNUTA LINN.

a, the larva; 6, the pupa; c, the male imago; d, head and thorax of the female.

AFTER RILEY.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. V2 il

dobson of the fishermen. This species is easily identified by the accompanying figures, and it is so well known that further notice is hardly necessary in this connection.

The family MHemerobiide is familiar through one of its larger and a number of its medium sized species. The large Polystachotes is a very characteristic insect of the Adirondacks, and in certain sections, at least, it occurs in enormous numbers. It was abundant at the railway station at Saranac Inn, and Dr. Lintner found it in immense numbers at Keene valley. Nothing is known regarding its larval life, though probably it is terrestrial. Dr. Needham succeeded in obtaining eggs.

The medium sized species of this family are well known as lace-winged flies, and they, like the Chrysopide, the more common lace-winged flies, known in the larval state as aphis lions, are terrestrial in habit. Two genera of the smallest forms were reared by Dr. Needham, the larve of both being aquatic and living at Saranac Inn in fresh water sponges.

Sisyra umbrata Ndm. Plate 5. A few of the larve of this species were found on fresh water sponges living in the hatchery and about the middle of June their cocoons began to appear on the sides of the supply trough in such numbers that it was evident that the larve were coming in from the supply pipes. This larva is peculiar in that it possesses paired, jointed appendages beneath the abdominal seg- ments and on account of its long downward-curved, piercing mouth parts which are of a unique suctorial type. The cocoons spun in the hatchery were located just above the water on the smooth tarred vertical sides, some on the upper edges, some on the sides and edges of the hatching trough below, but mostly on the outside of the supply trough and in the angles which they make with the hatching troughs or in the thread grooves at the base of the faucets. The larva spins over itself a hemispheric cover of close woven silk attached by its edges to the supporting sur- face and a complete inner cocoon of considerably smaller size, likewise close woven. Adults were present in the hatchery in vast numbers, hundreds of them being easily collected from the ceiling in the best lighted portions of the room. A few were taken in trap lanterns placed near the outlet of Little Clear Pond. One or two specimens were caught while sweeping aquatic vegetation in Little Clear Creek.

Climacia dictyona Ndm. Plate 5. The cocoons of this species, like those of the ' preceding, were also very common in the hatchery troughs and they are easily recog- nized by the outer covering of coarse silk woven in hexagonal meshes like bobinet within which is the inner cocoon of closely woven finer threads. Adults reared from these beautiful cocoons proved to be this species. The first appeared on June 18

and throughout the remainder of the month they were fairly common. Then they

Fic.

N

Ope Pe ENO)

10.

Explanation of Plate 5.

Climacia dictyona Needham.

Imago, lateral view, x 4. Imago, dorsal view, x 3. Larva, dorsal view, x 6. Pupal cases, in situ, natural size.

One of the same, enlarged, showing the hexagonal meshes of the outer covering.

Sisyra ambrata Needham. Imago, lateral view, x 4.

Imago, dorsal view, x 3.

Two newly formed pupe, lateral and ventral views, x 6.

Macronychus glabratus Say (Coleoptera: Parnidz); an associate of the sponge fly larva, on submerged timbers.

Fresh-water sponges (Spongilla ? fragilis Leidy) in situ. with the sponge fly

larve crawling about over them.

11. Two pupal cases of S. umbrata, showing the closely woven outer covering, nat-

ural size.

522

Plate 5

a = =

L. H. Joutel, 1900 James B. Lyon, State Printer

SPONGILLA FLIES

(Reprint from N.Y. State Museum Bulletin, 47.]

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 523

disappeared for a time but were present in some numbers about the middle of August. They were taken a few times in trap lanterns and also in sweeping aquatic vegetation, but the hatchery ceiling was the best collecting ground. The larve and

pupe are very similar in form and habits to those of Szsyra described above.

Caddis Flies.

The caddis flies are known to lovers of nature as case worms, so frequently seen at the bottom of streams. Fishermen are also acquainted with these curious larve, and if one has never seen them, they are comparatively easy to find by examining closely the bottom of almost any body of water. One may see here and there a peculiar, usually somewhat cylindrical case, made of some of the materials found at hand. For example, these cases are not infrequently made of two sticks of wood, one longer than the other, the longer one usually projecting quite a little distance beyond the end of the case proper, and with the intervening space filled by smaller particles of vegetable debris and the interior lined with silk. This species is exceedingly common in many of the brooks of New York State. Other forms use, instead of vegetable matter, grains of sand, small shells or pebbles, and in some species there is no tube, but the larve lurk in rapidly rushing water under stones, and depend for sustenance upon the exceedingly interesting web of net which is stretched across a very small portion of the running stream. This little creature is predaceous, and catches its food in what is really a water net. The adult insects look very much like moths. They are soft creatures with four large wings, which are more or less densely closed with hairs or scale-like hairs. They are considered as being closely related to the moths and butterflies, and when one examines both the adults and the case worms themselves this relationship is quite evident. The English fishermen, according to Prof. Miall, know some of these insects under the following names: Blue Dun, Little Red Spinner, Sand Fly, Gran- nom, Turkey Brown, Dark Spinner, Silver Horns and Cinnamon Fly. They are also known as Duns. The inhabitants of these cases are interesting, and resemble cater- pillars very much indeed, though, of course, they have become adapted to living under water. Two forms of these interesting larve are represented at figures 1, 2 and*8 on plate 6. These case worms are fed upon by fish to some extent. The studies of Prof. Forbes show that they occurred somewhat rarely in the stomach of the rock bass, forming, perhaps, 15 per cent of its food and but 12 per cent of the food in minnows of the Hydopsis group. Apart from these, they averaged from 1 to

6 per cent of the food in less than half of the species studied by Prof. Forbes. Mr.

Wits

Explanation of Plate 6.

Caddis Flies.

Dorsal view of larva of Molanna cinerea Hagen, x 4.

Lateral view of larva of M. cinerea, x 5.

Lateral view of the pupa of M. cinerea, x 4%.

Dorsal view of imago of M. cinerea, x 4.

The accustomed resting position of the imago of M. cinerea.

Ventral view of the flat larval case of M. cinerea, x 2.

Lateral view of larva of Polycentropus lucidus Hagen, showing the very long anal prolegs, and the absence of gill filaments, x 5.

Lateral view of pupa of P. lucidus, x 6.

Dorsal view of imago of P. lucidus, x 3%.

Larval case of P. lucidus; tube composed of sand and silk; the enlargement near the end is two layered, and contains the pupa.

Eggs laid by P. lucidus female on a stick protruding from the water in a breed-

ing cage.

524

Plate 6

L. H, Joutel, 1900 : James B, Lyon, State Printer

CADDIS FLIES

( Reprint from N.Y. State Museum Bulletin, 47.

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 525

Cheney, quoting Lanman, states that trout which feed extensively on caddis worms have red flesh and are of a golden hue, with an increased number of red spots. As many as 588 caddis-worm cases have been found in the stomach of one trout. These insects were very abundant at Saranac Inn, and the following notes are taken almost entirely from Mr. Betten’s report on this interesting group. He reared several species from the egg, and found that hydras killed many of the young but were unable to use them as food because of their size. He observed several species feed on stone wort, We¢e//a, and river weed, Potamogeton, which flourished in Little Clear Creek. .

A large number of adults were taken in trap lanterns, and though the laying of eggs was not observed, many clusters were found on the bark of submerged trees, which lead to the conclusion

that in some cases the female goes under water

to deposit the eggs. The circular cluster of eggs

shown in figure 4 was found suspended on a sub-

; ctu FIG. 8. EGGS OF AN UNKNOWN merged twig under a log floating in deep water. The CADDIS FLY.

number of eggs in this cluster was estimated at 450. ARTE PELTEN.

Molanna cinerea Hagen. Larve and pupe of this form were found in great abundance on sand bottoms with little or no vegetation. The adults, plate 6, figure 4, rest on vegetation or other support near the place of emergence. They are shown in the natural resting position on plate 6, figure 5, with antennz laid flat on the sup- port, the wings and the abdomen level, which causes them to be easily mistaken for small snags. They were abundant from the early part of June to the latter part of August. The case isa flat one covered with sand and very fine stones, plate 6, figure 6, and the larva is represented at figures 1 and 2, plate 6.

Polycentropus lucidus Hagen? Larve and pupe were found in sand bottoms where there was little or no vegetation and adults were commonly seen resting on plants in the creek and on the side of the hatchery near the stream. This species was abundant throughout the period mentioned above. The case, plate 6, figure 10, is a very soft tubular one of fine sand. It is frequently branched and the caterpillar occupies the enlarged portion of the tube which is composed of two distinct layers.. This retreat is much larger than the larva and is not portable. The caterpillar is represented at plate 6, figure 7, and attention is called to the large terminal hooks on the very long pro-legs. The eggs of this species are represented at figure IT, plate 6.

Hydropsyche species (near phalerata Hagen). Plate 1, figures 1,2. The larve

526 REPORT OF THE

and pupe of this predaceous form were found in rapid currents in Little Clear Creek, and adults settled in great numbers on the hatchery windows. This insect was abundant throughout the period of work. No larval case was made, but strands of silk were stretched between stones lying in the rapids. The caterpillar is

represented at plate 1, figure 3, and the pupal case at figure 4.

FIG.9. HYDROPSYCHE SCALARIS HAGEN.

DRAWING BY MRS. J. H. COMSTOCK.

ee

FIG. 1. HALESUS HOSTIS HAGEN.

DRAWING BY MRS, COMSTOCK,

1 Halesus species. Larve and pupe were found in Little Clear Creek and along the shore of Little Clear Lake, especially on wood-strewn bottoms. The caterpillars were quite plentiful during the entire period of work, but pup were obtained during the latter part of the season, and a single specimen was bred August 31. The case consists of thin pieces of wood, placed at right angles to the length of the case, with their ends crossed. The coarseness of the material used varies, but it is uniform for each case. The eggs of this species are laid in a compact cluster with abundant gelatine. A cluster of about 300 was kept until the larve hatched, and their identity was shown by the characteristic cases made.

2 Halesus species. Larve and pupe were found in Little Clear Creek. The

pupz are commonly fastened to submerged tree branches, and closely resemble

FIG. 11. CASE, LARVA AND PUPA OF 1 HALESUS.

DRAWING BY MRS. COMSTOCK.

CASE, LARVA AND PUPA OF 2 HALESUS.

PIG... 12.

2

DRAWING BY MRS. COMSTOCK,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 527

broken twigs. The former were common throughout the period of work, but the latter were not found till toward the end of August. The case consists of irregular

pieces of wood placed longitudinally, with a slender stick extending beyond the

posterior end.

FIG. 13. CASE, LARVA AND PUPA OF 3 HALESUS.

DRAWING BY MRS. COMSTOCK.

3 Halesus species. Larve were quite common throughout the period in Little Clear Creek, and pupz were found only from August 16th to the 20th. The case is a cylindrical one of wood and sand or small stones, and it is often finely colored.

4 Flalesus species.. Only one specimen was found which for a time was confused with number 3 of this genus. The cases and larve of other species were found by Mr. Betten, but he was able to refer them to their families only, and no further

mention of them will be made in this connection.

List of Adatt Caddis Flies Foand at Saranac Inn.

Phrywancidac.

Phryganea cinerea Hag. August 5. Phryganea vestita Walk. July 25. Neuronia dossuaria Say. August 10.

Neuronia postica Walk. July 16.

BOS REPORT OF THE

Dimnophitidac. Limnophilus ornatus Banks. July 18. Goniotaulius dispectus Walk. ? August 8. Goniotaulius pudicus Hag. July 18. Halesus indistinctus Hag. August 14. Halesus hostis Hag. July 30. Stenophylax scabripennis Ramb. July 22.

An undetermined Limnophilid. August 20.

Leptoceridac. , Molanna cinerea Hag. (reared) (pl. 6, fig. 1-6) July 6 to August 20. Triaenodes ignita Walk. July 16, 18. . Leptocerus speczes ? August 4. Leptocerus species ? (near flaveolata) June 20, July 7. Leptocerus resurgens Walk, July.2, August 8.

Mystacides nigra Linn. August |.

Hydropsychidac. Hydropsyche scalaris Hag. July 3, August 12. Hydropsyche speczes ? near phalerata (reared) July 5, August 14. Polycentropus lucidus Hag? (reared) (pl. 6, fig. 7-11) July 7, August Io.

Rbhyacophitidac.

Chimarrha aterrima Walk. July 15, Jo. Chimarrha speczes ? July 18.

FIG. 14. LEPTOCERUS RESURGENS WALK.

DRAWING BY MRS. COMSTOCK,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 529

Flies

The true flies, or Diptera as they are known to entomologists, comprise only those insects which have two membranous wings and a pair of what are believed to be modified wings, which are known as halteres or balancers. This order contains a very large number of insects, but for the present we are concerned only with those which are aquatic during a portion of their existence.

Crane flies, or 77zpulid@, were very abundant about Saranac Inn, and while no special attempt was made to identify the few specimens collected, the larve of the giant 77pula abdominals Say was determined by Dr. Needham as it is the only com- mon one which could produce the large adult which was caught so frequently about the hatchery during August.

Mosquitoes, or Cu/icid@, were present at Saranac Inn in considerable numbers, but so much time was given to the other orders of insects that they received com- paratively little attention, although a few species were bred.

The midges, or Chironomide, were also abundant at Saranac Inn, one of the most common forms being the harmless Szmulium venustum Say. An undeter- mined Szszu/zum was found by the writer August 24 in large numbers. It was very annoying about Axton to both man and beast. It was in all probability. Szwuleum zmvenustum Walk.

Horse flies, or Zabanide, were also very numerous at Saranac Inn and their larve were found abundant in the semi-stagnant waters in which they live. No attempt was made to rear them.

Soldier flies, or Stratzomyiid@, were taken in small numbers. Two very interest- ing species were studied and the larve of the larger and handsomer one, Stratzomyza badius Walk., were obtained and described by Dr. Needham. This fine soldier fly was not uncommon on Golden Rod along the railroad track east of the Saranac Inn station during August. It was associated with the wasp mimicking Conopid, Physocephala furcillata Will. One of the smaller members of the family was found by Mr. D. W. Coquillett to represent a new genus and species, and it was described and named by him as Zabrachia polita.

Empidide. A new genus and species belonging to this family was found in its immature stage in rapids associated with Szmmulium venustum Say and was reared. The larve and pupz of this species, Roederiodes juncta Coq., were discovered first, the former crawling among the pupal cases of Szwudizum and the latter usually rest- ing within an abandoned Szmulium pupal case. The flies were found clinging in companies to the under side of pieces of board which rested just above the level of

34

0 iii hh ile

Explanation of Plate 7.

Sepedon fascipennis Loew. Larva, dorsal view, x 5. Larva, lateral view, x 6. Puparium, dorsal view, x 5. Puparium, lateral view, x 5. Open puparium, x 5. A seed floating which the puparium simulates, x 5. Imago, dorsal view, x 5. Imago, lateral view, x 5. Tetanocera pictipes Loew. Larva, dorsal view, x 6. Larva; lateral view, x 6. Puparium, lateral view, x 6. Puparium, dorsal view, x 5. Imago, dorsal view, x 5. Imago, lateral view, x 5.

530

Plate 7

AN RN aE

L. H. Joutel, 1900 James B. Lyon, State Printer

SEPEDON AND TETANOCERA

{Reprint from N.Y.State Museum Bulletin, 47.]

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 531

the water. A score might occur on a piece of board within an area of a few square inches and as they flew only when disturbed, most of them easily could be collected in a cyanid bottle. The various stages of this interesting form are represented in figures 5-8 on plate I.

Sciomyszide. Two interesting swale flies, Sepedon fuscipennis Loew. and Tetan- occra pictipes Loew. were reared in large numbers. The former was quite common at Saranac Inn, in Little Clear Creek, in places where the creek flowed through beds of bur-reed, Sparganium, intermixed below the surface of the water with river weed, Potamogeton and Alge. The adults sit on the foliage with wings laid back, and they fly rarely and rather poorly. The larve when undisturbed lie commonly at the surface of the water, amid a tangle of vegetation. The various stages are represented at figures 1-5, 7 and 8 on plate 7. The puparium of this fly is remark- able for its resemblance to a floating seed, which was not uncommon in the creek. Compare figures 4 and 6 on plate 8, and though the enlargement has destroyed much of the resemblance, there is still considerable in common between the two. A single parasite was bred, which has been described by Mr. Ashmead as Atractodes sepedontis. The adults of Tetanocera pictipes Loew. are found in the same bur-reed beds, but they habitually rest on the leaves near the surface of the water, and are, therefore, seldom seen. The larve, pupe and imagos were common at Saranac Inn, associated in all stages with Sepedon fuscipennis. They are represented in figures Q-14 on plate he Sie :

The preceding account has been prepared for the purpose of emphasizing the value of our aquatic insects as food for fish and also to call attention to the impor- tant position this group occupies in nature. The numerous illustrations should render easy the identification of some of the more important forms. Considerable space has been given purposely to the habits of these insects because of the great value of such data to the student of nature. The study of the life history and the habits of any species is one of the most natural introductions to extended research. This broad and largely unoccupied field affords abundant opportunities to every lover of nature, and as the Saranac region is a well-known health and pleasure resort, it is expected that many students who spend a portion of their vacation in that section will doubtless be very ready to aid as far as opportunity permits in

extending these investigations.

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