The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-08-27
ourIponlence d Intelllggneef'
PEIosKEY, MIcnIoANl August .

From the contracted anu pegflmed
precincts Of an Ohio river city, given over
to smoke and toll, shut in by aggressive
hills and conopied by skies Of leaden hue
even at their brightest, to the breezy and
expansive wastes OF forest and water on
the northern shores Of Lake Michigan,
the contrast is refreshing and delightful,
especially in the middle Of the dog days
and when the transfer is made quickly by
rail. / write from point overlooking
an inlet ten miles long by four to five
wide, looking northwest into Lake Mich
igan where it rises in the dissOlying dis.
lance till water and sky melt into each
other, with only the fAintest line to show
where one ends and the other begins. AZ
ter 4 misty and lowering morning the
skies have cleared and the azure Of the
heavens is reflected in a sheet Of the
deepest ultramarine, ireshensd by a smart
breeze from the outer Lake into short
swells that frost little on their crests
and roll up on beach Of white pebbles
and sand with a rythmic swish " that is
musical and soothing to the incident ear,
speak with confidence from personal eX'
perience. II tie rhetoric is a little lofty,
Il may be excused as the first gush OF an
undisCiplined pen.
No correspondent endowed with a fair
sense Of equity, iniicts a letter on the
readers Of a newspaper without some
thing by way Of seli.justifcation. The
excuse in the present instance is that the
writer, by stress Of circumstances, over
which he has no control, finds himself
compelled to stay here twenty.four hours
when he expected to stay only so many
minutes. How else is fellow TO get even
with this kind Of adverse fortune, il he
may not write letter and transfer some
share Of his misfortune to others? ! am
encouraged in this malicious purpose by
an invitation given by you in an incon.
siderate moment, in the language OF the
voice that spoke to John the Revelatori
Tor was II John the Baptist? Well it was
John somebody; and lest some Of your
readers may not be so well up in their
scripural reading as your correspondent
he would remark that what the voice said
to John was that he should "write!")
Proceeding. then, with your gracious
permission, allow me to inform the read
ems Of your valuable family jOurnalwherC
the place Is, how ii may be reached, what
Il is when you do reach it, and how you
may get away again, with any other par
tlcularS that may be developed a. we &c
along.
Petoskey is a struggling mushroom vii
lage Of a years growth on Little Traverse
bay, Northwest Michigan, some sixty
miles south Of Mackinac straits. It is
the present terminus Of the Grand Rap
ids and Indiana Railroad, 100 miles north
from Grand Rapids and 33l from Fort
Wayne. The road was opened to travel
to this point year ago, at which time
there were but threeor four houses here
Now there are from fifty to seyenty.fvC
Among them four hotels, perhaps a dozen
stores, an equal number Of saloons, and
billiard rooms, and there are signs which
indicate "ice.cream," millinery real
estate and law. The houses are all
wood, some substantial and comfortable
Others mere shells. Corner lots range
high rs they used to at yourlate Ia
mented State Capital. ! learn from 4
real estate agent, who Of course takes at
impartial and disintercsted view, that The
place has a great future, and that Petoskey
actually mpires to become summer re-
sort; and Just outsideoi the village, over
looking the bay, Is a pretty residence
which looks as II some person Of means
were making the experiment.
A few miles south IL small lake
drained by little stream called Bear
Creek, which debouches into the bay
within the village limits This and all
the streams in the vicinity are reported
to contain trout. My trout lines and
flies were with the baggage whose mis-
carriage was keeping me here, but | did
not intend to be thus cheated out Of d
chance to catch my first trout; so man.
aged to rig tackle such as is used by
the natives. The trout here will not
take the artificial ay. A professional
trout fisher fshed this way last season
for two or three weeks, declaring that he
would catch a trout with hy. AT last
he gave It up, and had to resort to the
angleworm to catch one at all. The soil
Ia 40 poor here along the shore that
anglewofmS can only be had by going a
hali.mile back; but the clerk Of the Rose
House had a small supply, and kindly
divided with me. And SO, equipped with
my own rod, a coarse cotton line, and
red angleworms, set out for n raid on
the salmo toniHdiis otherwise, brook
trout, said TO be denizens Of the stream
yclept Utsa Minor. The result Of an
hours fishing, from the mouth Of the
stream a few hundred yards up was n
rise Of one trout, very little fellow,
only four or Eve inches long, but real
speckled ttout-and my first After ex-
aiming the little fellows points and adj.
miring his beauties l put him gently
back into the water, hoping he would get
bigger, and rejecting that II the Fates
ever threw me upon the shores Of Bear
Creek again ii might be pleasant to
renew the acquaintance. But there
is little probability Of that, as the
Indians here fish the stream every
day for mile or two, and doubtless
that Is what il the matter with il now.
The fact seems 10 be that there are no
large trout here. 50 far as can learn
the trout in all this section Of the State
are small, averaginga half to three.quar-
tiers Of a pound weight 1t il apparent
such small ones as they have here will
not take an artificial fly. They can be
caught with the tudest tackle just az
clubs can be anywhere. No large trout
would take bait as they are fshed for
here, but expert fishing with fine tackle
has been thoroughly tried without sue
cess, 80 1t must be the large ish are not
in these streams. A gentleman who, Wis
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