New-York daily tribune., 1843-08-29
Correspondence of the Albany American Citizen.
Fun, Fishing, Trout, Salmon and Forest.
Scenes in Hamilton County.


Correspondence of the Albany American Citizen
Fun, Fishing, Trout, Salmon. and Forest.
Scenes in Hamilton County.
In the Woods near Lake Pleasant, Hamilton Co.
August loth, 1913
DEAR SMITH OF course you are dear. Every
body is dear in episto!arv intercourse. Creditors
dun dear MIR. So.and-so, and remain dear Mr.
So-and SOS livery humble and obedient servants"
Captous and beligerant hot bloods challenge some
Dear SIR and request the inestiInabe privilege
of blowing out his brains. In fact, dear means
nothing unless coming from lady IN cores
pondence-that is to say, generdily; but Just at
present I 10 consider al! the world dear, and the
female portion in particular rery dear. This
sleeping out in the woods o. nights exercises
remarkable loving kindness influence towards all
created beings, human or inhuman, 'Skeeters and
gnats always excepted.
But where is Lake Pleasant? hear you ask
and what about it Well, most bcnighted SIT, it
is in Hamilton county-that county of Secen IN
habltants, Of mountains and lakes and marshes
the cattle ground, as Assemblyman Stetson SAID
ID debate last summer, of Mllton's angels, when
They piucked the seated hills with all their load
Rocks, waters, woods, and BY the shaggy tops
Uplifting bore them in their hands.
So kills amid the air encountered hills
Hurled and fro with jsculaion dire
Indeed, if not the battle. ground of the poets
angels, it must have been in time long agonc the
scene of convulsions scarcely less terrible. With
the exception Of a few isolated settlements, this
county, with portions of HcrlSimer, Franklin, st.
Lawrence, Clinton, Essex and Warren, is yet "a
wilderness, embracing an extent of country much
larger than many of the petty European sovc-
reignties, and whose primeval woods are un-
tracked save by the adventurous hunter and
fisher Lake Pleasant, the shire town Of the coun
4 , bo,c bei
is about 60 miles north of Amsterdam. ard is the
last settlement, with the exception OF Piseco,
(Which is eight miles beyond and where the true
jumping off place occurs,l on the head waters OF
the Hudson. Sixty miles further to the North,
beyond the high lands that separate the waters of
the Hudson from the st. Lawrence there
settlement en- Long Lake at the last accounts
and 1t probably is there still. A year since it
numbered three log huts and shed.
Jake Pleasant has won a considerable notorlety
as place of resort of those who delight in more
actiue and manly relaxation from the routine of
city life than sojourn at the springs affords; but
until recently no accommodations other than
those of the poor yet hospitable nhabitant were
to be had Within the present year, however, a
comfortable hotel, under the management of
Mr.. Phillips has been erected, and every facility
rs now offered to those who wish to indulge their
rambling, hunting, or fishing inclinations to the
fullest extent. And here, with the widest and
most romantic scenery around, hundreds of glim-
anering lakes rapid streams, and frowning noun
sains, and withal the finest trout fishing in the
world, the lover of nature and of manly exercises
cannot lack for enjoyment. Absolutely" to steal
aword from luminous Senator Scott, it does seem
scarcely credible to me that our young men IN
Albany and elsewhere can be content to try at
the springs when days Journey would bring
them to this wild and romantic region, where, If
they had an ounce of the marrow of manhood
aeft in their bones, II week of healthful and cxha-
rating exercise would more than repair the deadly
result of dissipation or of unwearlcd application
IN close counting houses and unventllated Offices
where the free air unpoued by the cXhalatonS Of
the city never reaches, and where the light even
comes dim and faint, after undergoing half
dozen reflections from tiled roofs and brick walls
Yet for ull this don't know but that 1t is bet
ter as it Is. 1t is most certainly for those who
have no,c the energy to launch OIL IN the wilder
ness. l can assure you there arc nincing,
be-staycd and be-strapped exquisites here no
'' fone fellaws," hollow.eyed and pale from
over.lndulgence but right Jolly set OF dogs,
ready for any thing, whether it be breakfast
walk OF eight or ten miles through the woods,
over mountains and through morasscs or a ten
day camp.out expedition 10 Racket Lake, Indian
Lake, or any of the hundred great fishing and
hunting localities within fifty miles Just think
OF two days trip to West River, or Joseph ;
River or the Fly" and return with 50 or so
pounds of fine gold sided, speckled, delicious trout.
OF "a fishing" on Piseco, or Round, or Long,
or Ok Bow, or Horse Shoe, or Cataract Lake,
and days spor, of eight or ten salmon trout,
weighing from five to twenty or thirty pounds
each say think of this IN your box of sane
Il
changes in the dog. days, with the " devils
eternal cry of copy" ringing in vour ears-l
say think of this and - work the harder, and
try TO forget that rivers run, and winds blow, and
lakes climmer, and fishes bite--as we'll as 'skee.
ters--lry to forget all these and discourse of
politics, and hunt for murders and horrid acci
dents TO exc out postscript, and curse Yourself
for an editor
have half mind-more than most people,
eh ito tell you where | am gong now, just to
make you as contented possible with voar
post, but won't---reserving the adventures ,ha,
NAV befal Tor another letter. But nevertheless |
wish you could see us 'just now. Ten miles
from human habtation, with a branch of the
Socandaga rushing and tumbling along before
us, and old Mount Marcy lifting its head in the
distance beyond, while high cliff of gray rocks
rises behind Just atfording room for our h,te en-
campment-here we arc, four of us including our
guides, with a bright blazing trc before us, and
the blue sky for our canopy. The time is early
evening. and the moon just rising over the tops
OF the old forest trees all gray and venerable with
the long pcndant moss that seems peculiar to this
section. and while the owl is sounding his lugu.
brious horn IN the adjacent swamp, Tim and his
fellow guide are roasting the Ave partridgcs tha,
we sho: drring the hour previous, and most cheer.
ing sound they give forth, and mos, delicious the