The Republican journal., 1885-08-13
Our George With the Maine Press
Excursion.
KINEO House,

KINEO House,
MOOSEHEAD LAKE, July 80, 1885.
L can't help thinking what galoot the
Penobscot river was, that 1t didn't tap this
lake near the foot somewhere, instead of letting
the Kennebec do it. Just look at the map and
see for yourself. Here the Penobscot tapped
The little one horse Chesuncook, some fifty or
more miles from the foot of this lake, and then
Wlggled around, so that at one place the west
branch almost touches the upper end of Moose
head, when it might just as well have had this
Old millionaire lake for godfather, and got TO
the coast ever so much nearer by the way of
Bangor, than the kennebec has. | should
think every time it looked the ground over and
saw what soft snap it had and what fool it
made of itself. that it would want to lie down
In its little bed and die. It's too late now per-
haps to regret it, but it threw away the only
chance 1t will ever have, that's certain When
visitor gets mashed on this place he tends out
on 1t, and courts it, Just as IA fellow does girl
The same ones come here year after wear and
don't tire of it. | think our fellow townsman,
Chas. b. Hazeitine Esq. has been here once or
twice a year, for over 20 years. There is a
New York lady here now, who has been here
for fourteen years, usually spending the whole
season. Mr.. Dennen often finds some of the
regulars roosting on the piazza in the early
summer waiting for him to unlock the door,
It's different from most any resort | ever
struck. Here you are. out in the wilderness,
and yet surrounded with every luxury. If you
want quiet and rest, here YOU have it; if YOU
want scenery, Just let your eyes scoop it in; if
you want fishing and ginning. camping out,
roughlng it, you can find it all within "a few
hours OF you. If q lady, you Will find good
society, lawn tennis, boating, pleasant walks,
horse back rides and mountain climbs and in
the morning late breakfast If YOU desire il.
Ii l We're to have my measure taken for a
summer resort | think Moosehead would fit
me exactly. AS ] write party of tour, two
visitors ard two guides, who left the house this
morning, are just coming up from the wharf,
the guide carrying the days sport, two AS
handsome strings of brook trout, from nine to
| twelve inches long-not the strings but the
| trout weighing fifteen or eighteen pounds
each-not the trout but the strings. Two large
galvanized iron pans set on the piazza, and into
them the guides put the fish, and then the
crowd Of guests commenced fusilade of fool
ish questions, such as. "are these trout" did
you catch them 'did YOU get them in the
lake, ARE they black bass 7" II thought trout
were redf'"l didn't know trout We're spotted"
do you catch them with a nett - doesn't it
hurt them to stick nook in their mouth, -
| ''what are they good for:" &c &c. The fish
ermen careessly say that it has not been I.
very good day for fish, and they haven't had
very good luck, when they know they are lying
worse than a two dollar Waterbury watch.
There is great deal of nonsense about this
sporting. 1t is a business as much as roasting
peanuts or robbing banks. Under certain cir
cumstances person who never saw a fish be-
fore can get good string of trout here, but
such cases are rarer than beef steak ought TO
be. To catch fish, one needs to know how, to
| understand fish, where they are, what they like
for bait, their habits and freaks. for they Are
as full of whims as Il woman. He must know
the kind of day, and the time Of day when the
fish will bite; must have the hit kind of GEAR
and tackle, and last of all must have dead
loads of patience and know how to keep still
and keep still after he knows how. And then
he must know how to lie, but this can be ac-
qured by practice. Fly fishing, or rather east
ing the fly, is strictly scientific operation, and
the man who thinks he can take a rod weighing
seven or eight ounces, and ten feet long and
cast out forty or fifty feet of line. and not tan
gle it all up and tie it into every known kind of
a knot, and break the tip off from his pole, and
not do it all in |; IS than a minutes time has
only to try it to discover how tremendously
mistaken he can be. The green hand and aver
age fisherman had better take good stout rod
and line and 81 box of worms, and warn his fish
by main strength and stupdness Now provid-
ed man knows how to fish, and can cast Il tlv
and hook a fish when it strikes, and then can
play him and land him successfully, there is no
sort of doubt but what he can come here. and
with good guide go off and if willing to work
can get some fish not every time. but generally
But to come here not knowing ANYTHING about
it at all, and expect to take buShel basket aud
go down on the shore and pick it full of large
trout or sit on the piazza and have deer or IA
caribou come up and ask to be shot as a good
| many seem to think can be done, il lust asking
a little too much even of Mo0srhead. Probably
next to saving wood, there is no pleasure that
is such thoroughly hard work As sporting if
done properly, and If any one wants to come
here aud work there is an excellent openinr for
a young man. One can not sit here great
while and look at kineo looming up, without
having desire to climb it. A building or mon
| ument or flag pole 800 feet tall would look as
if it was terribly high but mountain of that
height does not look any great shakes and a.
YOU gaze at it you imagine you can run up 10
the top almost without stopping to take breath
My memory is little short wasted. but | had
| not forgotten climbing kineo a good many
years ago one hot SUNDAY afternoon. lafter haV-
ing attended church in the hotel parl0r). but two
gentlemen in our party seemed to yearn to see
the top of the mountain, and tried to awake
nv enthusiasm little on the subject but ii
slept if under the influence of morphine. FL
| nally consented to accompany them, assuring
them it would be quite "a rise in the world-for
them. There are two ways of getting up the
mountain. One is by direct path right up the
side behind the hotel, but that usually necps>-
tates either the purchase of a new pair of troWs-
ers, after the descent, or au Old pair badly
patched, for you have got to climb and shin and
stick your toe nails in and hang on for all y0ure
worth, and by the time you have lost your foot
hold half dozen times ana rolled and tumblrd
back piece and stuck few bouiders and prae.
and sharp rocks and old tree branches through
your clothes, YOU will look as if Won bad been
umpirng close game of base ball The 9TH
er way, though not so direct is easier 1t
is by taking boat and rowing abo ut a mile
around to point at another part of the noun
tain when you can 20 up by decentlv fair
path, though il is not concrete walk by good
deal. Boats by the way, row boats. are cheap
here. You can get Il nice little one all day for
80 cents. We had one about three hours for
the modest sum of % cents. 1T don't pay to try
to steal one at that price. Rowing to the pro
per point, we hauled the boat up on the beach
and | started up the path like chamoise,
think it was a chamoise, my two friends follow
ing behind me like yoke of oxen, that is they
didn't seem to have the gil" to them that /
had. Finding that they didn't appear to be
coming, sat down and waited for them to
come up to see why they fastened so SLOWLY
a I Al hat of hon