Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-10

mon as about twice
the size of the SEN
ater, ana that when he saw the picture
he safd earnestly: THAT was just the way
| he looked to me?"
Stree that time Mr. Frye has taken a
great many salmon, and they look no
larger to him now than the tape and
scales will show them to be. He has
| caught great many trout. too. and shot
great deal of game, ard his exploits with
rod and gun have earned for him the repu-
tation of being one of the best spoptsmen
in the United States Senate. Mr.. Frye
| never misses 4 visit to his camp on one of
| the Range,ey lakes in the spring if public
business will per init him to escape from
Washington. When Congress takes long
recess. he seeks the lakes early in the sum-
mer and puts in two or three weeks brown
| ing his skin and Strengthening his sinews.
Sometimes some of the other members of
the Senate share his camp life with him.
The Rangeley lakes are about 100 miles
north of the town of Lewiston. which is
the Senator's home. There are four Of
| these lakes now. Once there were six, but
the building of dam raised the water
level and consolidated some of them. On
these four lakes are numerous hotels and
Gel ps. Five post offices handle the mail
lips and Rangeley road brings into Range
ley every evening at 40 o'clock. 1t is
funny little engine, running on fun
ny little road-the only road with two
foot gauge in the world, I believe. The
prime object of the road is the carrying of
visitors to the lakes; and it handles 10000
of these every year. But it hauls quite a
quantity of lumber from the saw mills
which abound all through the woods of
Maine-asencies which are fast depicting
our forests.
The little engine whisks the little cars,
around curves and trundies them over tres
ties which, in the light of the scale on
which everything is built, seem triumpns
of pigmy engineering.
The prairie may be as still as Rangeley
after midnight; it is no quiete- There is
dead silence in the air which is restful to
ti1ed nerves. 1t is not broken till the birds
begin to cheep in the early dawn; then the
saw mill starts and then at O'Clock a
sharp blast from the whistle of the little
steamboat Irene signals the beginning
of her tour of the first of the Rangeley
lakes -"Oquossoc," commonly called
Rangeley lake.
The densaly wooded hills rise directly
from the shores of Oquossoc in some
places: in others fertile fields break with
their brighter green the morotony OF the
wooded slopes. At short intervals along
the shore are cottages or Camps for I'M
destand that camping at Range!ey Is
not life in tent. The cottages are SUBJ
stantial and well furnished, and the own
plies from the farm houses which stand
back from the shore. The best potatoes
grown in America are to be had around
the Rangeleys and the mutton of the region
is said to be equal to the finest English
Southdown. Butter, cream and eggs can be
had in any quantity and the serious fea-
lures of camp life entirely lacking.
At the end of oquossoc lake is carry
about mile ana a quarter long. AS the
1rere puffs up to her little wharf, you see
blackboard waiting to carry passengers
across to the point on Mooseucmeguntc,
where another little steamer is to take
them to the club house at Camp Renne-
bago or to Senator Frye's camp or to the
second carry and the lake beyond.
Senator Frye's Camp.
Senator Frye. has the finest location for
a camp any of the lakes. 1t stands on
a point of land which is quite cut off from
the mainland since the dam was built and
the lake level was raised. On one side
stretches Mcoselucmeguntic-on the other,
Cupsuptic, and opposite is the club house.
The Senator's house is a five-room cottage
of logs, planks and shingles. There is no
attempt at ornamentation outside except
at the point of the roof, where one of the
Senator's hunt trophies-a deers head
has been nailed. The front door opens into
q wide hallway, in which there is fire.
place big enough to accommodate cord
wood. In front of this fireplace the Sena-
tor and his guests sit in the evening and
tell of the days sport or play rubber of
whist. The wood. burned in the big fire
place is birch, cut near the camp and
stored in the wood house until it is sea-
soned The wood house is one building in
quite little settlement. There is house
for the guides, kitchen house and boat
house, in addition to the wood house and
the cottage. Ice comes from the club
house two miles away. The Senator's table
is bountifully supplied with well-cooked
food in great variety. If any food supply
is lacking a guide is sent to the club
house to telephone to Range1ey for it.
When Mr.. Frye goes into camp, he cuts
himself off from the world as much as
possible. His private secretary has in
to answer only urgent letters with the
statement that the Senator is in the woods
and cut of reach of all communication.
Day in Camp.
The day at Camp Frye is divided much
like the Senator's day at Washington He
breakfasts at about 8 o'clock people
make mistake fishing in the early morn
Ing" he said to me- 1.-THE fish do not bite
well until the sun has been on the water
for an hour or two. Between and 10 and
between and Z are the best times for
fishing" After breakfast the Senator takes
guide and goes out in his boat to .eek
good fishing ground. He fishes altogether
with the fly, and plays his fish as long as
it has any fight left. He has the worlds
thing over ten pounds. He goes back to
camp for luncheon about 1 o'clock. The
afternoon he devotes to tinkering about the
camp-painting. doing carpenter work and
making himself generally useful-unless he
has visitors. A great deal of visiting Is
done on the Rangeleys, and often as mary
as fifteen or twenty canoes are moored at
the Frye camp landing. In the late after
noon the Senator sometimes goes fishing
again. At G:3O o'clock he has dinner. In
the evening he usually plays whist.
In September Mr.. Frye brings his wife
with him to his camp for the fall fishing.
The Rangeley camp is not the only sum-
mer camp which MI. Frye owns. He has
camp on the Reatigouche, where the sal
mon fishing is famous; and he owns place
on Squirrel Island. a resort on the Maine
coast, where he can have the satisfaction
of wearing flannel shirt and pair Of old
trousers His daughter and her seven chill
dren usually accompany Mr.. Frye and his
wife to Squirrel Island. That is where the
Frye family has gone since I visited the
Senator.
Fishing i'm Nova Scotia.
During the intervals Of sport the Sena-
tor told me something Of his experience in
fishing in Nova Scotia this spring.
foolr a oo,,pla of Todfop u1,;6ao 10