Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-10-27
ADIRONDACK GUIDES.
Characteristics of a Class Of Men Now
Getting Scarce.
iErom the Boston Heraldl-

without guide. NOW guides are nee
esSary only OH water strips or hunting
expeditions. The mountains are now
so we'll surveyed and so thickly settled
that one can get about almost every
where without other than ordinary as
sistance. The race of guides has
multiplied during the last generation.
but their function has changed Form
erly, when the strangers who came into
the mountains were inevitably hunters
and fishermen, the guides were woods
men, educated to know and understand
every sight and sound peculiar to the
forests They could find the trail in
the widest region and in the blacklist
night They knew every pond and
stream and what there was in them
They knew all the meadows where the
deer came in at night to feed, and all
the rupways through which. when
driven by the dogs, they sought to
escape in the water This was the
generation of guides in which Paul
Smith stands as the most interesting
example. Sometimes. when they had
good wives, rs Paul had, they kept dur
ing the season what passed for Il hotel
1t was place where the tired city man,
worn out by the unusual eNertions of
the sport, knew he could get bed.
such as it was, and 4 comfortable din
ner. He made his guides home Il sort
of headquarters, with which. when II
supplies and every now and then for
that sort of :! meal which no one but 4
woman knows how to cook.
Guides of this quality are still to be
found. but they are deep in the wilder
ness, where they generally have Il little
preserve Of their own. a clearing where
they farm little. Il few extra beds for
whoever comes along, Il numbering con
nectiom, out OF which their money is
mostly derived, and a royal disposition
to let their women folks do most of
the work Its Il dern big chore,
said one of them whom l met back
in the woods, so miles from the nearest
settlement Ito take keer O. that there
dorg" | think it was really the --LATEST
speech | ever listened to. He was sit
ting on Il rack in the warm sunshine,
halfway up the mountain, WHITTIER he
had led me to set view of the coun-
| try. He was whiting and smoking
from Il cornCoD pipe. The dog WAS not
4 deerhOund, which does, in fact, require
some attention, but an ordinary mon
grcl that had never III it's life chased
anything but a CIT of Il chicken why,
| what do you have to do for him. |
asiicl wall" said the old fellow
slowly, he hc1 to be turned aout o
doors an fed. But take this man and
/ give him Il gun and a tishing-rod and
/ put Il boat on his back, and he is one
of the best guides in the woods. He
will carry boat 10 miles through the
primcval forest, along Il trail SO faint
! that Il stranger wouldn't know it,
over rocks and fallen trees, through
brush ;und strong rapids, and row it
half Il day while YOU troll without Il
murmur But he cant abide them
chores.
In the place of these old guides
there has grown up race OF what the
Woodsmen, with more contempt than
justice, deride as 'par.or guides.
They are more or less connected with
the hotels, and not all of them arc
competent men for any serious eNpedi-
ton. They all do well enough, q
course, for the ordinary services OF
ordinary hotel guests. They know the
country around the hotels. But persons
who want to hunt and fish. or go into
camp, if they need Il guide at all, rs
they certainly must unless they arc
expert hunters, know the woods ant
are willing to do their own work, re
quire to exercise careful judgment
in the choice of their guides, Compe
tency depends on the possession o
many qualifications. a guide is OK
pected to supply the boat and TIT
camping utensils. He is expected :
know the woods perfectly, and to
able to lead the way to suitable place.,
where there is plenty of wood and goo'
spring water, in the neighbOrhood, 0
course, of the forest and ponds Wher
game and fish may be surely found
That particular country he must know
; as a shoemaker knows his last. IL
IltlSI HIVE all Tic , IN Ii
mind as accurately as the colSt line /
shown on Il government chart ii
must know where to get live bait, i
the fisherman wants it. He must ROY
!, the boat on all occasions. He mus
know where to start the dogs TO
deer and where the rtrnways reach IL
water, for that is where the hunte
lies in wait to spring upon his game
He must know the grassy marshe
where the deer come in" to feed q
night, and how 10 steal in on them a
= silently as the movement OF the curtin
!, smoke from the chimney. He mus
take care Of the camp. fetch the WOO
II and water. and do the cooking. .
guide who cln do all this is a comps
tent man, and fully worth the So da
O which is the standard price of
a guides services. But such guides ar
r not numerous and the man who want
one has to look out for him. Sport
. men who come into the woods ever
a season take no chances on this prinl
matter. They engage the guides frol
8 year to year, and treat them with til
: consideration their experience an
ability deserve.