With gun and guide

Front matter

THOMAS MARTINDALE

' j ■ V

* es v x

Preface

For those men whose days are spent in the bus}* - counting-house or store, buying or selling merchandise, poring over ledgers, making out accounts, with their ears dinned with the click of cash carriers, the rat-a-tat of typewriters, the snapping noise of adding machines, the buzzing whir of electric fans, perhaps now giving ear to a life insurance agent, again Jo the honeyed words of the wily promoter, to theT appeal for charity, to the man wanting an ad for his paper, or to the committee begging money for a new church, while from outside of the business abode come the sounds of street cars crashing over intersections, the soul-torturing noises of itinerant street musicians, the chug-chug-chug of passing automobiles, the shrieking of newsboys, the shuffling of feet on the pavement as the surging multitudes pass and repass — for such men living in such a babel of discordant noises this book is written.

In it the author attempts so to picture life in the woods, in the marsh, on the lake, on the mountains, and through the bogs in pursuit of game, as to inspire his readers and coax them to leave their desks and counters for a while and live an active life in the open. In doing this they will forget their thousand and one

6 Preface

irritations and perplexities. The excitement of hunting will banish all their worries and fears ; the outdoor exercise will cure their pains and ills ; and the peace of nature will make their discontent give place to a serenity of disposition worth a hundred times the cost of the outing, for

"Hunting is the noblest exercise, Makes men laborious, active, wise, Brings health and doth the spirits delight, It helps the hearing and the sight ! It teacheth arts that never slip The memory, good horsemanship, Search, sharpness, courage and defense, And chaseth all ill habits thence."

— JonsorCs Masques.

PART I In the Wilds of New Brunswick and the Maine Woods

PAGB

I. Off for the Woods . . . 13

II. The Story of Lot's Wife . . . 18

III. A Wholesale Robbery ... 24

IV. Tracks of Big Game ... 36 V. The Lost Lakes . . . .4*

VI. The Old Scotch Colonel ... 47

VII. A Solitary Disciple of Bacchus . 53

VIII. A Famous Peribonca Portage . . 59

IX. Missing a Big Moose at Thirty Yards 67

X. The Wisdom of the Crow . . . 75

XI. Once More a Bad Miss ... 83

XII. Our Return to the Home Camp . 93

XIII. Fierce and Extensive Forest Fires . 105

XIV. A Night in the Open . . . 115 XV. A Smoky Atmosphere . . .124

XVI. Lost in a Cedar Swamp . . .136

XVII. A Romance of " Our Lake " . . 148

PART II A Hunting Trip in Northern British

Columbia

XVIII. Off for the Wilds . . . 177

XIX. Spearing Salmon in the Northwest . 200

XX. Watching for Bruin . . . 218

CONTENTS

XXI. The Lone Bull of Sandy Lake . . 229 XXII. The " Switzerland of America " . 241

XXIII. On the Trail of the Grizzly . .251

XXIV. How the Salmon is Vanishing . . 265 XXV. British Columbia Birds . . . 276

XXVI. The Mephitis-Mephitica . . .286 XXVII. Perils and Hardships that must be

XXVIII. An Exciting Trip Through a New

XXIX. The End of the Trip . . . 326

Illustrations

Calling the Moose

Bringing in a Pair of Deer .

One Way of Getting Out a Moose

Digging His Own Grave .

The Liberated Moose

Leaving the River End of Northeast Carry ....

Good-bye to Genial Joe Smith .

Arriving at " Our Lake " .

Distant View of Camp on " Our Lake '

The Martindale Camp in Maine

Well Stalked at Last .

Leaving Our Maine Camp for Home

A Stage Coach on the Famous Cariboo Road ....

Dr. Hughes on the Bear River Trail

A Pair of Doctors Spearing Salmon

Kibbie, Al, and Mr. Martindale at Upper Cabin on Bear River

Waiting for the Wind to Go Down

Crossing the Portage from Spectacle Lake to Little Lake

Two Sockeyes and a Big Spring Salmon

Frontispiece

Facing page 20

« u g 2

" " 50

" " 62

" " 78

" « 86

" « 96

" " no

" " 126

" " 140

" " 160

" " 180

" " 194

" " 210

« " 222

« " 236

" " 254

" " 268 io

ILLUSTRATIONS

Grizzly Bear Killed by Dr. Roe on Spectacle Lake ... *

Stretching the Skin of the Black Bear Killed by Dr. Hughes

Cooking a Meal at the Edge of the Timber Line

Preparing to Cross the Trail to Barkerville ......

Swimming and Wading Bear River

278 290 302

PART I

In the Wilds of New Brunswick and the Maine Woods

Chapter I Off For The Woods

" Are not these woods more free from peril than the envious court ? "

— As You Like It.

Enteking the close and heated train in Broad Street Station one Friday night in September, bound for New Brunswick via Boston, I was glad to fly for a time from the dirt and dust and the excruciating noises of our much-abused business street. The relaying of the paving blocks was being carried on in some places with the clicking of hammers and the pounding of rammers, while in other spots the street was being ruthlessly torn

up for the th time ; the blind mendicants, with

their discordant playing of the cornet, the fife, the flute, the accordion and the barrel organ, were moving at a snail-like pace, meandering in and out of the crowded throngs and adding their quota of noise to the other nerve-destroying conditions.

When the train pulled out the sleeper was well filled.

Three young actresses enlivened the spirits of the other passengers, for they were comely and exuberantly happy. A young farmer from Woodstown, N. J., was journeying all the way to Fort Fairfield, in the extreme northeast corner of Maine, in search of potatoes.

i 4 WITH GUN AND GUIDE

He had already purchased over two trainloads, but was now after more.

We made connection at Boston with the Boston and Maine through-train for St. Johns, N. B., the cars being well filled with tourists, business men, and prospective hunters.

The day was very hot and close, the thermometer at one time registering ninety degrees in the shade, so coats and vests were dispensed with, and to while away the passing minutes on the all-day ride the political situation was most constantly and thoroughly discussed, and the quaint observations of some of the citizens of the great state of Maine, through which we were passing, were decidedly amusing and original, and, as showing the trend of popular feeling, were interesting as well.

A sharp-voiced, sharp-chinned and sharp-tongued down east woman, in conversation with another housewife, gave to her copious extracts from her ripe experience as a cook.

Three women were aboard accompanied by their male protectors, and, as they were one and all loaded down with rifles and fishing-tackle, it was easy to see that they were hurrying to get into the woods so as to be there in time for the open season on deer, which is October 1st.

In spite of the extreme heat, some of them affected hunting boots and woolen stockings. One woman had

OFF FOR THE WOODS 15

her sweater resting upon her shoulder a good part of the journey, while her husband actually wore his sweater. How they must have suffered you can well judge.

' We found the streams through this country nearly dried up, the lakes looked more like stagnant ponds, the fields were burnt brown by the sun and the leaves of the trees were dull and lusterless with their covering of dust. All nature was crying for rain.

The quaint old city of Fredericton, our first stop, is garrisoned by a force of Canadian soldiers, who replaced the imperial troops shortly after the close of the Boer war. This has always been a garrison town from the earliest times. It is the capital of the province, and therefore the seat of government. There's a cathedral here of the established church and many other churches.

Upon a great occasion over a century ago, when a distinguished guest was to honor the settlement with his presence and a multitude of people had convened to give him welcome, and the St. Johns River, which flows by the town, was alive with gaily bedecked canoes and barges, while stately " four-masters," brigs and barks from many foreign and domestic ports helped with their festive display of bunting and with the thundering of small cannon to make the day and the occasion a memorable one in the history of the country, a raft was seen coming, which had put out from the mouth of the Tobique River, which enters the St. Johns over one hundred miles above. This raft was loaded with a cargo of one hundred and forty-one moose that had been killed on the upper waters of this renowned salmon and trout stream. And this lordly freightage of royal venison was to provide meat for a series of barbacues with which to satisfy the appetites and nourish the bodies of the host of visitors to this the capital of the province.

The first hunting accident of this season happened near here some two weeks before our arrival. A couple of brothers — young men — started in a wagon for a drive of twenty-five miles, where they were told they might get a moose. On reaching their camping spot they mutually agreed that one of them should keep near enough to watch a famous spring, while the other was to watch a slough where many moose tracks were seen. The one who was to watch the slough changed his mind without notifying the brother, and started for the spring. When he came near the spring he noticed some branches moving low down and saw an object through the leaves, which he at once fired at, and hit. It was his brother, who had been kneeling down.

When I looked out of my bedroom window my first morning in Fredericton, the light, by reason of the smoke from distant forest fires, was anything but good. A tall church steeple, crowning a comparatively new church, attracted my attention because of some indis-

OFF FOR THE WOODS 17

tinct object at the top of the spire. In the hazy atmosphere I imagined it any one of many improbable things ; as the light grew stronger, however, I made it out to be a reproduction of the human hand, necessarily constructed upon an enlarged scale, with the forefinger and thumb pointing upward in the direction of where heaven is popularly supposed to be located. My curiosity was excited to know how and why this object came to be placed away up there.

After thinking it over I decided that when the church was built the trustees concluded to have " something different," and picked out a well-known design in advertising that appropriately reminds the congregation that " there is hope."

The First Methodist Church of Fredericton is now popularly known as the " thumb-up church." So long live the power of virile and intelligent advertising and the First Methodist Church of Fredericton, which was bound to have "something different," for verily she has gotten it.

Chapter II The Story Of Lot's Wife

"Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green Sleeves." — Merry Wives of Windsor.

Theee lives in New Brunswick, Canada, a farmer, trapper, guide, naturalist and self-taught botanist whose name is Henry Braithwaite, and whose years number sixty-seven. Ten years ago I tried to obtain his services as a guide, but was informed by his spokesman, who acted for him in his absence, that he was engaged ahead for some three years. He is almost as well known among the sportsmen of Great Britain as he is among those of the United States. His clients from the "Tight Little Island" include many members of the British nobility, as well as business men, bankers and professional men of that sport-loving people.

Among the citizens of Fredericton he is familiarly known as "Uncle Henry," while to the natives, the guides and the trappers he is " Harry Birthrite."

That I might spend a short hunting season with him this year he managed, by cutting off a few days at the end of one engagement and a few days at the beginning of another, to give me thirteen days and a half during the latter part of September and the early days of October.

We left Fredericton at 6:30 P. M., September 28th,

THE STORY OF LOT'S WIFE 19

by the Intercolonial Railway of Canada, a railroad operated under government ownership, the only one, so far as I know, so owned and operated on this continent.

Those who imagine a multitude of good things to come from such ownership in the United States should surely take a trip to New Brunswick and see how their pet theory works out in practical operation. They will quickly be disillusioned. In the forty-seven miles over which we traveled, the road-bed was poorly ballasted, the rails were light and very carelessly laid. The cars were dirty and dilapidated, wash-bowls broken, toilet rooms filthy, windows dirty and the water coolers out of commission. The stations were decrepit in appearance and slovenly kept, everything betokening the fact that here was a road that had political sponsors, political favorites as operators and, perhaps, more or less, political graft in the purchase of supplies and in the appointment of the men.

Boisetown was the end of our railroad journey, and the beginning of the serious and rugged part of the trip. I wish that a faint picture could be given of the character of the road over which our course lay. The first day's journey was a gradual and lasting climb to a higher altitude, although we seemed to go up and up, only to come down again to the same level.

On some steep inclines the soil had washed away from the surface of the road, leaving a pathway of nothing but naked boulders of all sizes and shapes.

Over these the careful horses wended their way slowly and very cautiously. In many places springs discharged their waters into the road, thus making veritable seas of mud when helped, as in our case, by copious rains.

Our outfit consisted of two horses and a wagon, to haul the supplies, and a saddle horse for my convenience. Uncle Henry walked, along with the man who was to act as cook, and a boy who was to take the saddle horse back to the settlement. We were hardly on our way before a rain-storm came on, at first gently, but soon it became violent, being accompanied by fierce gusts of wind. Our oilskin clothes were but little protection, as the swirling drops trickled down our backs and down our legs over the boot tops.

We cheerily jogged on, despite the rain and the consequent discomfort, and the first day's trip ended at about dark at "Brown Camp." Being the first to arrive, I quickly had a fire burning in the stove, while " Henry " set about getting something cooked.

While we were doing this a middle-aged Englishman

entered and craved shelter for his wife, Mrs. B ,

who had ridden all day astride, and was drenched through and through. He said that his " cartmen " — cook, hostler and guides — were on the way, and would arrive about an hour later.

We, of course, said " yes " to his request and so he brought in a bonnie, rosy-cheeked little Englishwoman, who said she had enjoyed every minute of the trip.

Bringing in a Pair of Deer

THE STORY OF LOT'S WIFE 21

They had been in the woods for nearly thirty days, and were now on their way out. She and her husband were given seats by the stove, and their steaming clothes readily attested the efficiency of our fire.

But now I was in a dilemma. I wanted to remove my wet clothes and get on dry ones, but the woman was in the way. There was a bunk in the camp with one upper and one lower berth, each large enough for four men. Putting some dry clothes on the top berth I climbed up to it and thus addressed the lady :

"Mrs. B , do you remember what happened to

Lot's wife ? "

" Why, no ; I don't recollect ever having heard about her. Who was she ? "

"Well, she and her husband were ordered by the Lord to leave Sodom and Gomorrah because both of these cities were very wicked."

" Keally, now, is that so ? " said Kosy Cheeks.

" Yes, surely ; because the Bible says so."

" Did they leave then ? "

" Yes, but she looked back."

Mrs. B 's woman's curiosity compelled her to say :

" What happened to her then ? "

" She was turned into a pillar of salt."

" Keally, now, is that so ? "

" Yes, indeed," I replied, " and I'm going to change my wet clothes up here for dry ones, and if you look back you'll be turned into a pillar of salt."

" Really ? Well, I won't look back."

After I changed the clothes we— Henry's party — sat down to supper, and the " cartmen " and others of the Englishman's outfit having arrived, they pitched a couple of tents and started their fires. Their cook then came in to make use of our cooking facilities to prepare their supper.

Having been in the saddle all day, and naturally feeling very stiff and sore, I thought a sitz bath in hot water would be just the thing to take the stiffness out, provided I could find something to sit down in that would hold water. Outside I had noticed a deep oblong pan, which was used for feeding the horses. It was speedily washed out, and half filled with hot water of the right temperature, and I once more undressed and entered the improvised bathtub.

I asked the Englishman's cook if Mrs. B was

likely to come in before she was sent for. He said "no," because she was seated before a good fire of her own, and that supper wouldn't be ready for a quarter of an hour, so that I should have plenty of time to get the bath. Now here I sat perched in the upper berth as upon a pedestal and as naked as Adam was before his momentous fall from grace, when in walked Mrs. B .

" Really, now, Mrs. B ," I said, " you mustn't look

forward this time, but backward."

So right about face was the word, and she sat down laughing at the contretemps.

THE STORY OF LOT'S WIFE 23

Later on her husband complained bitterly about the " cartmen," who had allowed all of his dunnage to get wet, saying :

" In England, you know, ' cartmen ' are compelled to carry a tarpaulin and to use it, but these bloody ' cartmen ' only put a thin rubber sheet over the things, and they are all damnably wet. Don't you think I could recover from them ? "

"Perhaps," I replied, "but it will be the cheapest, the quickest and the best way to grin and bear it."

In the morning, the husband was still out of humor over the "bloody cartmen," but Rosy Cheeks was as chipper and joyous as ever, thanking God perhaps in her heart for the sunshine, which had now come, and for her ability to stand the cruel hardships of the journey. They mounted their horses and were soon lost to sight, but they are a lasting lesson that there's always a bright side to the darkest picture, if one will but look for it. And on this lovely morning even the much-abused " cartmen " were good humored and contented.

Chapter III

" Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen in murders and in outrage. ' ' — Richard II.

Many years ago I had a rainy day experience in the woods totally different from the above recital. The time was in August of the year 1871. I was then a resident of Oil City, Pa., and a month or so before that date a prominent lawyer of that town — whom I will call Larkin, although in reality that's not his name — filled my ears with stories of woodcock and pheasant shooting, with perhaps a chance at a bear, together with splendid trout fishing, and all to be found on the western slope of the Alleghanies. The station was about fourteen miles from the summit of the mountains. Larkin said we should find the best shooting and fishing upon a small run, which found its way into the Alleghany River, and this was to be our base of operations.

In due time we arrived at the flag station, and from there Ave lugged in our supplies — tent, rifle, shotgun, ammunition, etc. We soon found a likely spot to pitch our tent on the bank of a swift-running brook, where we were close to some fine trout pools, and also to some inarshy ground where we saw many borings made by the noblest game bird on the continent, the woodcock.

Our first day's sport resulted in the catching of a fine string of one hundred and ten speckled trout and a brace of woodcock. We hung the trout up on a leaning tree, but during the night an otter managed to get at them and ate the bodies, leaving only the heads strung on the cord from which they were hanging.

The next day we wandered off two or three miles, Larkin carrying a seven barreled revolving rifle made on the same principle as an ordinary revolver, while I had my shotgun. About four o'clock in the afternoon, a thunder-storm came on accompanied by a fierce downpour of rain. Almost simultaneously with the bursting of the shower, some lumbermen, who were running to their camp, hailed us and invited us to go with them so as to get under shelter. We gladly accepted their invitation, but when we reached the camp, we were soaked through with the rain.

The men made us welcome. We were told to take off our wet clothes and hang them up before the fire to dry, and they gave us some of their own clothes to sit around in while waiting for supper to be served. There were thirty-four men in the crew, including choppers, teamsters, cooks, etc. For the most part, they were a decent-looking lot of men, free of care and apparently contented with their work. The exceptions were five or six furtive-looking fellows whose faces betokened possible outlaws and outcasts from society.

Before the supper was announced, two more sportsmen entered the log shanty and craved shelter. They had with them nothing but their fishing-rods, creels, revolvers, and wallets. The men were made welcome the same as we had been. They doffed their wet garments and put on clothes loaned them by the lumbermen. ' When supper was ready, places were made for the four of us, and we all enjoyed the baked beans, boiled cabbage, tea sweetened with molasses, and johnny-cake in place of bread.

After supper the rain continued to pour as hard as ever, and Larkin undertook to entertain the men by narrating stories. He was a very eloquent and a very well-read man, thoroughly up in ancient Greek literature, in which language he was almost as much at home as in his mother tongue. He had his hobby like the most of us, and his - was a strong belief in the superiority of nerve force over physical force. In our walks he would start upon this, his favorite theme, and would illustrate it in some such manner as this : " Wow you see I'm six feet two in height and weigh two hundred and ten pounds. I take a great deal of exercise every day so that I am always in splendid physical condition. You are five feet eight and a half and weigh less than one hundred and fifty pounds.

You get little or no physical exercise, and, therefore, in a personal contest, I ought to have the advantage over you ; but if your nerve force dominated mine, you would surely conquer in the end."

This night he entranced his listeners with stories sustaining his favorite doctrine, showing that most of the really great men of the world had been men below the medium height and strength, but men endowed with great nerve force. He illustrated this doctrine by citing examples from life. [Napoleon Bonaparte, the Duke of Marlborough, Grant, Lord Nelson, Byron, Alexander the Great, and Sheridan, were small men both in stature and weight, yet in their day and generation these men helped to dominate the world.

Two of the ill-visaged men took exception to Larkin's conclusions, and so did one of the pair of hunters who happened to be a big strapping fellow, and who evidently couldn't see where a little " cuss " could get the better of him. The rain kept on, and we all finally turned in to our respective bunks, and soon were lulled to sleep by the rain pattering on the roof.

"W e awoke the next morning to find that each one of the four of us hunters had been robbed. Larkin had his wallet taken containing thirty-four dollars ; the other two men had each a revolver and these with their pocketbooks, which contained all their money, were also missing. The writer's watch was purloined but the robbers missed the money — thirty-one dollars

— which had been stowed away in a fob pocket. We held a council of war outside of the log shanty while the lumbermen were eating their breakfasts. We had informed them that we had been robbed, but they one and all protested their innocence, and assured us of their chagrin that such a thing should have happened in their camp. After they left the camp, we made a thorough search of the premises, but could find none of the stolen stuff.

We were now served with breakfast by the cookee — the cook's assistant — a lad of perhaps eighteen years of age. The evening when we arrived, this youngster had been quite kind and courteous to me, and I in consequence gave him a little present in return for his kindness, and now he motioned to me to go outside with him. There he informed me that there were five " Bushwhackers " in the crew of lumbermen who were out-and-out bad fellows, who would rob a man as quickly as any professional pickpocket, and that they each of them had " done time " in prison. These men he named, and gave it as his belief that they were the robbers. His description of the men satisfied me that they were the same men whose looks had made such an unpleasant impression upon us.

The county town was thirty miles away from where we were located, and but one passenger train each way a day stopped at our station — when flagged, — but there were many " Empire Line " fast freight trains which stopped a little way below our station for the engine to take on water.

When my conference with the cookee was ended, I called out my three companions in distress, told them of the boy's disclosures and asked them what they were going to do about the robbery. Larkin led off by saying that nothing could be done — that no constable could be found in the county town to serve a warrant, if one was sworn out, and that if one was found brave enough to come up and serve it, then if a search failed to find the booty, we would be in a bad strait, and he for one wouldn't be a party to any plan to arrest the five men on the simple say-so of a youth of eighteen. The other two men concurred in Larkin's decision.

I then told them that I had a different idea and should act upon it, and asked their aid and cooperation in carrying it out. The plan was that I should board an Empire Line freight at the water tank, explaining the situation to the train crew ; go down to the county court and swear out a warrant for four of the men — the youth was a bit doubtful about one of them being implicated in the robbery ; get a constable to come with me to serve the warrant ; obtain a permit to ride on an Empire Line train back again, and if necessary to flag one of the same line on the down trip the following morning if we succeeded in taking the four men as prisoners. This my companions agreed to, and they also promised to be waiting in some hidden place for a signal of four blasts of the locomotive whistle which I was to ask the engineer to blow on nearing the water tank coming back. Then they were to show themselves and we were to agree upon plans for the capture of the outlaws.

In carrying out this plan the train was successfully boarded ; an hour and a half afterward I landed in the town, found my way to the court-house and swore out a warrant. There were three constables in the town; two of them pleaded other important business, and declined to go with me. The third, a veteran of the Civil War, a small wiry " cuss," said that he was glad to have a chance to arrest that bunch, because he had a record of them which showed them to be " villains of the deepest dye." He took a revolver, a large sheath knife, and five pairs of handcuffs (" an extra pair, you see, if they should be needed," he said), and then we went to the superintendent of the railroad for the needed permits to flag and to ride on the trains. These having been procured, we had something to eat and then waited around the depot until a train was ready to start, for this town was a division point on the railroad.