FORESTS, STREAMS, LAKES, AND RESOURCES OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN, MATTHEWS, NORTHPUP A CO,, PR3, & EHOR'8 BUFFAW, Mtf» On Line of M i l w a u k e e , Lake Shore & W e s t e r n Railway. FORESTS, STREAMS, LAKES, AND RESOURCES OF In the columns of the American Field, issued under dates of January l£th and 26th, and February 2d, 9th and 16th) appeared a series of articles entitled l< A Bohemian Adrift in a Wonderland of Lakes," contributed by a prominent sportsman, over the nom deplume of "CareyV and covering the details of his personal experience during a month's tour of the fishing and htihting region reached by the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway. PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. J. M. LONGYEAR AND J. M. CASE, MARQUETTE, MICH. t,. P. CRARY, BOOK AND JOB -PRIN'i'Ell* 1884, A BOHEMIAN ADRIFT IN A WONDERLAND ®P LJ^KE3. f UE wonders and splendors of foreign lands—the mysteries of fardistant forests and tangled everglades—the sublimity of mountain heights, and a desire to set the foot where man ne'er trod before—have lured their thousands. But these objects of ambitious tourists and explorers are.attainable only by the children of fortune, and not by the masses. To the latter, therefore, and to all those who annually seek surcease from toil and overtaxed nerves, be it known that, almost at their doorway and on the threshold of the great central cities of the West, lies a land of rare beauty around and beyond which swept the flowing tide of progress and achievement, leaving its depths unexplored, its mysteries unrevealed and its solitude undisturbed. Until within a very recent period encroachment on its territory has been slow, as though some'mighty spirit of the forest kept watch along the borders to prevent intrusion within its shadowy precincts. This region, which furnishes opportunities for a wide range of exploration, sporting, and pleasure-seeking, covers a large portion of central north Wisconsin and all the west point of the Michigan peninsula, and is practically uninhabited It is a vast expanse of forest, gemmed with countless lakes of incomparable beauty, and laced and fringed with brooks and rivers, whose waters are thronged with bass, perch, pickerel, and the giant muskallonge, those streams whose outlet is Lake Superior abounding in brook trout. A bird's-eye view from above would present a verdant carpet, spangled with silver stars and glowing streams, extending 150 miles from north to south and 100 miles from east to west. Across the centre of this emerald sky would be seen a Milky 5 Way—so innumerable are its lakes—while near its northei'n limit would gleam one larger than a star—Lake Gogebic, which must be the crescent of a new moon to our imaginary heavens. How often had I longed to penetrate the mystic depths of this sealed book of forest and stream and lake! The insatiate saw and devouring ax, with inconoclastic intent, had cleft and mutilated but few of " God's first temples," the embracing trees. No intruding steamboat had startled the water-fowl that lightly floated on the bosom of its lakes or awakened the echoes slumbering in their peaceful coves. And when it was announced that some adventurous capitalists had invaded its sacred aisles with a railway, I forthwith sharpened my Faber, drew from their hidings my tackle, rubbed to steely brightness my trusty Winchester, secured an outfit for taking photographs, packed my traveling-bag, and bade a hasty adieu to home friends for a month's vacation in lakeland And what a month it was ! It was in u yellow-haired October," that month when joys may ripen as do all fruits, when the air is nectar, the sunlight a benediction, when peace flows to the heart as gently as dew upon flowers—a time for leisure, meditation and rest. By previous arrangement, a small party of friends, whose4 tastes were con* genial—a railway official, a gentlemen of the cloth, a dealer in shekels, a copyist, and your Bohemian—met at Milwaukee. A few hours sufficed to collect such edibles as the commissary department was supposed to need—aromatic coffee, oleaginous bacon, unctuous butter, etc.—for camping out, together with camp equipage and baggage, and store them in the baggage room at the depot. While waiting for the train the trip is discussed, and it is decided to go to the extreme end of the railroad—the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western, whose southern terminus is Milwaukee, and whose northern extension is yet cutting its way through the pathless woods of the Lake Superior country—and thence to turn pedestrians and* visit Lake Gogebic;. But little could be learned of the latter, except that it was surrounded by hills containing rich mineral deposits, and that it was the largest of the almost innumerable company that filled this pastureland of lakes. The train arrived, and we were soon snugly tucked away in the berth of a sleeper, whose cozy luxury rendered us oblivious to all things except intangible dreams, until morning, when " Ledyard " was announced. A hasty toilet completed, we inspected the new town, while engines were being changed. Everything here is new and on a grand scale. " The output," to use the nomenclature of the mining camps, is immense. The water-power, the railroad shops, the foundations for manufacturing—everything is on a massive scale, and the indications are that here, in the near future, will be found a populous, prosperous city. 6 Once more on the road, and thirty miles further on, we bear the welcome call, "New London Junction—twenty minutes for breakfast,'7 and this touches the enthusiasm of everyone. By mid-afternoon we are at the then terminus, Watersmeet, Mich., where the only hotels or even railway stations are freight cars, The Superintendent of construction—Rummele, a gentleman of boundless fertility of resource in devising ways and means for look-4 ing after the comfort of whomsoever strays into this pathless wilderness— puts the party under lasting obligations, providing beds and board, and; arranging to furnish us guides and "packers." These last are simply human pack-horses, trained and inured to march and carry baggage, sixty to eighty or more pounds to the man. They are better than horses, for they can traverse pathless grounds over which horses could not pass. Before it is yet light, the next morning, all are on the construction train r.n route for the end of the track,- from which point our way lies along the new roadbed, just ready for the iron, for fifteen miles, and then across hills some five miles >'• ' This day's tramp gives us a practical insight into the work of modern railroad construction, and here it is brought to such a degree of perfection as to merit the designation of a science. Let it not be forgotten, meanwhile, that "tender-foot" excursionists are plodding along on the soft mold of a new grade, and that all streams tend to Lake Superior ; furthermore, that every lakelet of ribbon of a . brook holds within its pellucid depths a wealth of trout never yet tempted by sportsman's lure. Were this but the season—in glorious May or June—when "Woods in early green are dressed And, from the chambers of the West The warmer breezes, traveling out, Breath the scent of flowers about," what riches of spotted wealth might be captured here f We pass the "graders" and are on the threshold of the "choppers/' when we stop at one of the boarding "shanties" and dine with threescore lusty fellows for company. At this point we leave the road and take a '"blazed" path for the surveyor's campr reaching it weary and foot-sore, the nervy clergyman excepted, who was as vigorous and fresh at the close of the tramp as an oldtimer. By 10 A, M. we arrived at what is called the "landing," the point to which boats ascend from Lake Gogebic, some two miles below. While waiting the arrival of the guides, who had gone to the lake for boats, a visit is made to the "Cascade," or, as we name it in honor of one of 7 our party, " Judsoh Falls." To the latter no path has yet been made, but its charming callfillswith music every nook for the circuit of more than a mile. It is a spot fit for the fairies. Its seclusion and the utter wildness and picturesqueness of the gray rocks, glorified with moss-plush or fringed with JUDSON FALLS vines and feathery ferns, overhung by such a mat of evergreens as to clothe it in perpetual mourning, with complaining rapids above and below, combine to produce a rarely attractive picture, Our joys here are too deep for utterance, and each takes his seat in some spot favorable for a view and 8 throws open his every faculty to absorb the beauty of the scene. The fall is only a cascade of perhaps twenty feet, but its accessories enhance the picturesque loveliness of the scene. The erosion of the falling stream has chiseled out a deep basin-at its foot where myriads of trout are seen, which did not rise to the lure of our clerical Izaak Walton, though he tempted them with most appetizing flies In season they are taken herein great numbers. Upon returning, the boat is found at the landing, already loaded with baggage, and all are soon floating down what is variously called "The Inlet," '-Gogebic River" and "Slate River." It is a deep, dark, narrow stream, the largest emptying into the lake. Dr. E. R. S. Carpenter, of Chicago, with a party, fished here last summer and caught a large number of trout, averaging three pounds each in weight, Its deep, cool, willow-fringed pools certainly afford admirable locations for trout farming. While we float along, alive to every sentiment of pleasure, a voice exclaims, " A deer ! a deer ! There's two ! Why don't you shoot?" The minister is loaded for ducks and does not draw ; the Winchester is in reach of the surveyor, who, after they are bounding off over a grassy marsh, fires several ineffectual shots, while the railway official is making the valley ring with a small revolver. Soon we reach the spot where we had previously arranged to establish our head-quarters while in this vicinity, and, while dinner is in preparation, rods, reels, lines and lures are brought forth.from their nooks in cozy cases, and properly.adjusted. After hastily dispatching a savory meal we re-enter the boat and our sturdy oarsman giving just enough attention to his oars to keep the centre of the stream, we drift smoothly on our way between banks covered with autumnal foliage whose mellow tints cast —"through deeps below A duplicated golden glow." For a distance of forty rods from camp the river runs due north to a point where we find its course obstructed and turned abruptly east by a massive rock, doubtless in some past age of cataclysm and internal convulsion thrown with resistless force from its quarry below, and which now lifts on high its frowning head as though to guard the approach to the lovely sheet of water beyond. In its general contour it so greatly resembles the pilot of a gigantic locomotive that, as we pass, we splash a few sparkling drops upon its rugged face and, with one accord, christen it "Pilot Rock." Here the river widens and, flowing thence on with more dignity and grace than hitherto, as though conscious of a near espousal with greater though not fairer waters, its crystal i) tide soon bore us out upon the broad expanse of Gogebic, whose surface, bright as burnished silver, glowed like a giant's scimiter far to the north. By gentle grades, from either shore to the right and left, rose lofty hills, covered with a dense, primeval forest of maples, with a sprinkling of evergreens—pine and hemlock—for emerald fringes and settings. W h a t can be more gorgeous than the colorings of maple foliage in this glowing month? But here, with every window of the soul open, every sensibility to beauty d i v e and alert, how transcendent was the scene! The sun's flaming chariot had wheeled into the western sky. Mimic cloud-mountains, like gigantic fleeces of whitest wool, roll on roll, rose in the northeast, their edges fringed with ruby and gold ; while the face of the forest was redolent with blushes from the kiss of the sun. The entire forest eastward was a mass of brilliant colors. Its trees seemed like hosts of Titanic warriors, decked with flashing plumes and glistening helmets, drawn up in serried ranks to receive some Cleopatra, whose galleys, with Oriental magnificence, should pass in review. The name Gogebic, sometimes called Agogebic, is supposed to be a corruption of its Indian name, A~go-ge-bing (the accent on the last syllable) Diligent inquiry among the Chippewas and half-breeds failed to obtain a .satisfactory derivation or definition of the word. An Indian of exceptional intelligence, however, who refused to be called a Chippewa, contending that Ojibeway was the correct name of his tribe, gave it as his opinion that the word was a corruption of the name of a berry, A-go-ge-minnon, that once grew in abundance around the lake. The lake resembles in shape a human leg and foot, the knee being the mouth of Slate River, the heel the mouth o* Merriweather Creek, and the toe the outlet. The distance from knee to toe is eighteen to twenty miles, with a width varying from one to three miles, while its general direction is from north to south. I t is shut in on all sides by high hills, upon the slopes and crowns of which is a marvelous growth ^ of hard maple, while in their secret depths untold mineral wealth awaits the miner's enterprise and toil Upon entering the lake, the subtle spell of the scene dispelled all thought of rod or reelAfter a mile's float, however, we turn our attention to more practical matters and commence trolling, the Skinner spoon being the lure. Hardly has the first line been cast 10 when the thrilling sport begins. See the ';fisher of men," reel humming, line singing, rod bending to a crescent, his eyes flashing, as a black beauty far to the rear shows tail, leaps in air or dashes to the right or left in his gallant fight to be free ! Maurice Thompson's lines are fitting : "Patiently I draw and cast, Keen, expectant, till, at last, Comes a flash, down in the stream, Never made by perch or bream; Then a mighty weight I feel, Sings the line and whirs the reel." We had room but for three lines to troll successfully, and these are aliriost constantly playing. How very black the handsome fellows are, these piscatorial Ethiopians, and they are so nearly of one weight--three to four pounds ! Always gamy, these boreal heroes fight with the pluck, spirit and endurance of old Norsemen. We have been out an hour, and, as the catch, some sixty to seventy pounds weight, already exceeds our wants, the lines are drawn, our prow is turned towards the south, and, as the artistic sun gives some extra touches to clouds and tallest tree tops on the loftiest hills, by way of good night, we hoist a sail and skim over the murmuring surface of the lake to the camp. "Jim"—James Lyons—had been detailed as guide, oarsman, packer, chief of the commissary and culinary departments, chambermaid and general utility man. As he was my companion and faithful ally on tedious marches, over lakes, along streams and by devious forest trails, it is fitting that his fidelity, nerve and endurance should have acknowledgment. During our absence he had improvised "downy" couches of hemlock boughs on the floor of the rear room, our bed chamber; had built an ample fire of huge logs on the "lawn" in front of the cabin, and had a supper in steaming pans on the embers, awaiting our coming. The con|n%t that ensued was "short, sharp and decisive," the pans and spoons ^emainir)g as'evidence of the contest. Evenings in camp are distinct experiences. They are unique and fun-inspiring. Restraints, conventionalities, cares and weights of business are left behind with the starch of Sunday clothes. All day you have been immersed in an ocean of Nature's boundless stores, and she bade you be her happy guest. Her brightest waves beckoned you ; her unscared birds trilled their choicest choruses to you ; her myriad leaves sang to you ; her cascades shouted a joyous welcome; her doors to galleries and cathedrals in pathless woods were opened, and pictures, such as hang on the walls of no Louvre, 11 smiled in beauty above and around you ; her rocks and sleeping monarehs, the logs, were pluslied with softest moss and invited you to sit down and ^enjoy the paintings, Returning to camp, after such a revel^ you are a new being. Is it any marvel with such companionship, that every heart bubbles over with joys, as fountains spout their laughing waters, and that royal goodwill and sparkling wit rule the hours of every evening in camp ? Itwould be much more of a marvel if a genuine sportsman could not heartily -enter into the sport of such an evening. PILOT ROCK NEAR GOGEBIC The morning dawns on the following day auspiciously, and it is decided to TOW up the east shore of the lake on a tour of exploration and pleasure. Upon our first landing, the sun was glorifying the Western hills across the :Jake, the range rising like the body of a giant camel against the horizon, a .lofty hill A the center suggesting the figure. An occasional line is cast and n 12 a bass taken, as we expect to make a circuit of the lake if we have fair weather, and shall need a few for the pan A few small streams are found, but none of sufficient depth for trout until we enter a pretty cove or bay midway of the lake, and discover the mouth of Trout brook. We follow its course back a little, and find it almost hid in willows and aquatic bushes, and discover just such dark pools as would be suggestive of home comforts to a wide-awake trout couple in search of a homestead. While in camp here, great inky clouds gather rapidly on the horizon, and soon a sharp, fierce storm is upon us, obliging us to improvise a shelter with rubber blankets and wraps. We soon decide to return to our first and more comfortable camp, which is reached with several quite chilled with the rain The morning following the storm, I took negatives of u Pilot Rock " from two points of the compass, after which, anchoring my boat, I climbed to a seat overlooking the deep pool at its base, and gave myself over to reveries and unalloyed joy How many deer have browsed around its mighty base, or cooled their pliant limbs and parched throats in the crystal water ! The stealthy hunter has crept to its heights to mark his game, and the wily warrior built here his signal fire. This lake was a rallying point when the Ojibeways wrested the country from their hereditary enemies the Sioux. These almost limitless forests yet hide in their fastnesses great wealth of fur and feather, and a still greater wealth of rare pleasure will sportsmen garner in days to come Under the spell the mind grows prophetic. : A modern hotel rises near this spot; gay parties come to this pool, trouting, and the speckled, polka-dotted fellows, that now float along in dreamless languor, will be the victims of a " vaunting ambition " and a too vigorous appetite Lovers will come to these heights to talk their weighty nothings ; steamers will make the round of the lake for summer excursionists ; while the rounded hills that now frown upon the imprisoned lake will be blazing with furnaces and honeycombed with shafts, from whose throats will come fabulous mineral wealth now known to be hidden in their sealed bosoms. This is not fancy sketching; deposits of galena have been discovered on the west, copper on the north in great abundance, and, while we were encamped on the lake, a very rich vein of magnetic iron was struck at the Mitchell mine on the east. The railroad is just at the door, and this latent wealth will soon be developed and utilized. Nature, in preparation for the coming time when her stores should be needed, has placed above this mineral the hardwood needed for charcoal. Standing on the threshold of this future, its name now scarcely known, 13 the prediction is made that Lake Gogebic will become one of the most popular of Northwestern summer resorts. Aside from its just claim to be the first in all the country for black bass, and its tributaries for brook trout, its seclusion, newness, wilclness, charming scenery, ample dimensions, and the proximity of Western cities, together with the cold pure air and invigorating climate of this region, insure a great future for Gogebic, the largest and most beautiful of the many gems sparkling on the bosom of this monarch forest. Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, and the scores of smaller cities intervening, are comparatively near. Their people flock northward during the heated season, as naturally as do the birds in spring. " Where shall we go ?" is the universal and important query. With emphasis and decision the question can be answered, by pointing to this"lake country, whether the person be seeking rest, sport, or is on a tour of sight-seeing and pleasure. In its wide and far-reaching expanse it holds every attraction. Early in the second week the party divided, all returning except Jim and the writer, and on the day following the departure of our friends we planned a tour of the west shore to the foot of the lake. The hills on the north side of the lake are of a loftier pattern than those on the opposite shore, and are called bluffs—Merriweather Bluff, Gogebic Bluff, etc. Copper ore is found in each. We inspected several of the deserted shafts, which had been only abandoned awaiting the advent of cheaper transportation. The cost of hauling supplies to the few camps now in operation is excessive. With the advent of the railroad, what a magical revolution, a resurrection of dead values, will occur ! Merriweather Creek puts into the lake near the northwest corner, its pools being rich trout pasturage. Near the foot of the lake we found a deserted cabin, and established head-quarters until morning. The following morning our voyage is resumed. Never had I sailed with such a multitude of pleasant associations. Every sense was calmly alive, and every faculty that lies back of sense was quietly exultant. What a panacea for overwrought bodies or brains is the wine distilled in this pure air ! 0 ye business-burdened, brain-weary disciples of Mammon, whose overtaxed strength all the nostrums of the schools have failed to vitalize, here is a sanitarium of miraculous healing powers. Divorce yourselves from bank accounts, stocks, margins, corners, sales or merchandise ; turn key on care, and your backs to the discordant din of streets; come to this secluded spot, and, day by day, bare cheek and brow to the sun until they are as brown as the chipmunk which chits at you, and see what Nature—the great magician— 14 can do for you. No monopoly can control her supplies or corner her storey and no panic disturbs her values. Meanwhile our boat has entered the charming bay of Trout Brook, where we lunch, after which Jim inquired : '•; Shall we camp, or push to Mitchell's ?" " As you like, Jim," I replied. ,l We'll go to the landing, anyway, and mebbe camp there." RAPIDS ON WISCONSIN RIVER, RHINELANDER. On Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway Trie landing, a pull of six miles, was reaehed by sundown, but the stars' were blinking before the packs were adjusted. Winding our way along the dim trail, we found a deserted camp. u Let's roost in this ranch," proposed my companion, and I heartily assented. 15 A monstrous fire was soon fiercely roaring immediately in front of the camp—one of such magnitude and powor as I had not seen since boyhood in sugar-making time. This was not a mere pile of logs thrown upon each other without plan or order, but was constructed with the skill of a veteran artisan. Two stout poles were cut, sharpened and driven into the ground about six feet from the open side of the camp, and four feet apart. Against these, logs six or eight feet in length were laid, one upon another, to the height of four feet; this was the back wall of our fire, which reflected its heat into the camp with such power as to make it comfortable in the frostiest nights. This great fire, darting its lurid tongues and burning sparks among the embracing leaves ; a sturdy, broad-shouldered man, his face as red as the glowing embers, moving here and there, in and out of the shadowy night, his guttural, spontaneous laugh and voluble tongue as steady as the cracking flame ; a second man, under the shelter of the camp, reclining on his pack, his feet toward the fire, and gazing at the fantastic, ever-varying shapes wrought in the embers on the burning logs or into the weird shadows among the tree-tops—this is the scene. It changed only once, and that, when the worker took a position by the side of the idler, while the talk flowed as steadily as the ascending sparks. He discoursed of men, women, war, home, lumbering, railroading; of long tramps through this region, with nothing but an occasional Indian trail to direct his course, with a heavy pack on a stubborn pack-mule, and the mercury meanwhile dancing between the twenties; and finally he dropped asleep while taking a turn at theology, having demonstrated to his entire satisfaction that there was no such tropical clime beyond the grave as the place where, it is alleged, stoves, furnaces, and log-heap fires are unnecessary. As the stars faded in the early morning, we shouldered our packs and vsoon reached Mitchell's mine, where a rich vein of magnetic ore, containing about seventy per cent, of pure metal, had been recently discovered at a depth of only thirty-five feet below the surface. Taking our compasses, we concluded to cut across the country without a trail, rather than make a long circuit. We encountered a cedar swamp, which was next to impassable, but arrived the following day at Watersmeet without any serious mishap or delay, Details of my journeyings will now cease, except as incidents of the trip shall be mentioned in describing points of interest, and by saying that during a month's ramble almost all principal lakes and streams in this portion of the country were visited. The tourist or pleasure-seeker who desires the novelty of seeing a wilder^ 16 ness in its primitive dress, interspersed with the pleasures of boating, will find ample satisfaction and a wide field in this region. The outfit for an excursion to this country depends somewhat upon the season and the anticipated sport. If fishing is the object, a party should come prepared to camp out even if it is expected to spend the major part of the time in a hotel. Excursions will, as a rule, be desirable beyond the bounds of a day's tour, and it is well to be prepared for these emergencies. YELLOW BIRCH LAKE On Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway. The indispensables for such tours are a light, short-handled ax ; a rubber and wool blanket to each man ; stout, light-colored clothing ; rubber wading pants ; loose, water-tight boots; a light wherry—canvas is the least weighty—or an Indian birch canoe ; a camp-kettle ; a pot for drawing tea or making coffee ; tin cups and plates, knives and forks The larder should be supplied only with what may be termed the necessities, and they need hardly be enumerated here. Bacon, a most invaluable article, flour, crackers, rice, sugar, and tea or coffee fthe former, owing to its lightness and being less liable to damage by water or otherwise, being preferable). These 17 articles pack and transport best in a thick canvas sack, which is not easily torn and is impervious to dampness and light rains. A gun—a shotgun is the best for a fishing party—should be taken, as something in the way of game will always be seen in this wild country. Such rod, line and lure will be taken as suits the fancy or taste of the fisherman The lures for trout vary with the season. For general fishing for large fish the Skinner spoon is in almost universal use in this country, The first in season, and first in interest, also, with a very numerous class of sportsmen, is the capture of brook trout. This line opens a new field and offers a decided treat to all lovers of the fascinating sport. A glance at the map of the western portion of the Michigan peninsula will show that the railway crosses the streams forming the sources of the Gogebic, Presque Isle, and other rivers flowing into Lake Superior. These cold streams and the mimic lakes from which they flow, abound in trout. The surfaces of but few were ever rippled by an artificial lure, Only the fluttering moth, skittering cricket, or struggling beetle have tempted from their secluded pools the idlers that lurk in their depths. Since so few have ever fished here, when trout rise to a fly, but little can be said of results. At the time of our visit they were spawning, and, in places favorable for inspection, immense numbers could be seen, floating as if asleep in their beds, I have already alluded to Dr. Carpenter's party fishing in the Gogebic streams. He informed me that they put back many more than they kept, rejecting everything less than a standard weight. if: >J< >}J $i ^ It must not be inferred that the lakes mentioned are the only ones in which fish are found. The railroad above Monico was completed last year, and only such as were immediately on the line, or quite near it, have been tested. A considerable number have never been invaded by an angler's boat, and not even a trail marks the way to their hiding-places in the forest. * * * * * The source of the Wisconsin River is Lake Vieux Desert, which lies about four miles east of the track. The State line runs near, or perhaps outs through, its north shore. A supply road from State Line station reaches it by a circuitous route, and the old military road, cut through prior to the war, for carrying mail and military supplies, passes along its west shore. The history and size of Vieux Desert, coupled with the fact of its being the source of the Wisconsin River, clothed it with sufficient novelty to inspire a visit. The lake is not a first-class fishing resort, being comparatively shallow, but this will eventually make it a great duck lake, as wild rice grows here 18 now and will increase in abundance. Quite a number of flocks of ducks were sailing about during the few hours of the evening and morning we were there, and a few brace we shot. The scenery is quite pretty—rounded hills and grassy slopes meeting the eye from almost every point of the compass. Bears, wolves, mink, martens, weasels and an occasional wild-cat, lynx, otter, beaver and fisher are the fur-bearing animals found in this region, The musk-rat—" rat " simply he is called by trappers and Indians—is yet taken in large numbers, and is found in the banks of shallow streams, lakes and swamps. The American black bear is more numerous than I had found it elsewhere, I had frequent sights of them and often noted their signs. This may have been due to the fact that at that season of the year they were subsisting from the " slop-pits " of the abandoned boarding shanties along the railroad. I saw them scamper, with their peculiar shambling pace, from these u pits " at three different times, while passing on the cars. I also saw, on separate occasions, two which had been caught in traps, killed and dragged to the side of the track. * * * * He is an extremely wary animal, except when in great hunger, and is usually too shrewd to be killed by the ball of the hunter. The trap, a No. 5 Newhouse, is the most effective means of capture. To the trap is attached a stout log, six to eight feet in length, which he will often dragto a great distance. Any fresh meat, a rabbit or piece of venison, can be used as bait, but the trap must be so placed that a man cannot step in it unawares, as the spring will crush the bones of the ankle or \e