Morning journal and courier., 1885-08-28
CORREsPONDENCE.

the Camp-NIeetfng With the Guides
 Sleeping and Eating i'm Camp-Pro.
 visions, hc.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 "It is an i'll wind that blows nobody good" If we could not get accommoda- tions at Hollands we found more de- lightful place at the hotel kept by man from Durham, Conn.,, MT. Tyler P. Mer- win. Here we found Mrs. R. P. Cowles. Mrs. Luman Cowles and daughter and sev- eral other New Haven folks, and as I had late JOURNAL AND CoURIERs with me, they were eagerly sought for. From this hotels front MT. Baldwin says (upon authority of many trips experience in these woods) the prospect is the best he ever saw. Directly west lies the lake filled with islands of all sizes One small one looks so much like 8 yacht that it is only by glass you can un- deceive yourself. Across opposite us is the Prospect House five dollars per day, yet fiIled) This is the largest mountain hotel in the Adirondacks. Blue mountain is directly east, rising by rude path of two miles far up into the clouds We are over two thou sand feet above sea level at the lakes base and mountains rising one above the other as far as the eye can see oH to the southwest, and on other sides, save the lake before us, they come down to the hotels grounds Hunting and fishing is the topic here. One man told me he had, in company with his guide, just brought down a yearling buck while he was feeding upon the lily pods, be- fore he knew he was seen by man. As they were seven miles from camp they "backed" the meat home and had venison plenty. Some they s'jerked" (''oorned and smoked, ;, and sent home by express. Another told me few days ago he was tramping with party of friends and they came upon black bear by the roadside which they did not get, hay ing no guns, and that he saw another cross ing an open field in full view few days af- rewards, and within twenty rods of the large hotel near us they killed two in July. A horse had died and been drawn into the woods and that drew them i'll and they were shot. One had just been caught in trap, but escaped before he could be taken, al though he was seen by many. All agree that they are more numerous just now about here than they have been for many years.
 But we cannot spend all our time at Blue mountain. We hire team and are driven nine miles over to the Long Lake House. This is a new road opened last year, and for roughness has nothing so bad in this section
 It is not only over the mountain, which is almost solid rock, but it is through quag mired swamps and mud. At times we go over "corduroy," then down steep inclinss: then up again as we founder along, but in a few hours we are at our destination. Here we get dinner Although the hotel is small and there is a single boarder our meal is ex- cellent. Newly caught trout, fried crisp, is only one of the side dishes. The boarder spoken of had just returned with full bas- ket of these fish, taken only a short distance away Now we are excited. We dig our bait and get ready, but cannot stop to fish now Our guides are waiting to take us off to Dr. Sages camp, which is on the shore of the lake eight miles northward and reached only by boats. We start, stopping on the Tod yb0 horo New Haven to teach school and married & guide and now lives here. The day is calm and as we glide down the lake there IS not g ripple. We row on until we reach the ''set- dement," Here upon an island of about six ty acres is the camp. We arrive and find Dr. Sage and his son Henry and MT. Barker, also of New Haven. They arrived day ahead of us.
 The camp consists of cook-house and dining room made of rude boards brought from the village Qlong Lake) and built by the guides. Then there are three sleeping cabins, each of which will accommodate four persons. The beds are made of balsan boughs cut from the end of the branches of the tree, about foot long aud laiu on the ground as shingles are placed on the roof of a house, in layers four or five thick and thus make soft bed, and then rub Der blankets over them and large woolen blankets for covering. The roof, made of
 
 sides are made as log house, about five logs high, and the front of the cabin is ten feet high and wholly open, and slants backward so the back part is only the height of the foundation logs. All camps here are made after the same pattern. Near us are several others, of which we will speak hereafter.
 In front of each camp is rude fire place built of great stones and on these camp-fres (made of logs as large as mans body) are burned every night The wealth CT is not cold, but chilly at nightfall and fire is comfortable. We sleep we'll after the first night, for the change is great from a soft mattress to this rough bed.
 Now as to how our time is spent and how we live. We rise at about seven o'clock and are called to breakfast by the guides, who act as cooks. With us there are three, two of whom were with Mir. Murray and have been in the woods from boyhood. If you should hear their names you would easily fwith many of your readers) recognize them, for theyhave shown many Connecticut peo- nle about these woods, ladies as well as men. They are the best to be found here-O. D. Honph (stUncle Dite''), Francis Emberson csFrank'9 and t'ColoneP' McClokey. We wash for our first meal in tin basin set upon board foot square nailed upon a stake driven in the ground-out of doors ot course. All our table dishes are tin-noth- ing else-and one plate serves for all kinds of | courses. Fish we have all the while, various kinds according to our tastes. Plenty oi