Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1895-04-25
lock DARLING.
r,,r MOST FAMOUS GUIDE IN
N TUE MAINE WILDERNESS.
tx ABOUT THE CONDITION OF
THE BIG GAME IN THE PINE
TREE STATE.

Irpn
tol Notwithstanding man, with
,.oop in the shoulders, slight bend In
i.,ees and face with pleasant gray
aves and cheeks like winter apples
80, clock" Darling, of Nickatous, the
,,ors Maine guide. You'd think at
he WAS Texan. He wears light
-,a,,cb hat, his long moustache has
.ird Of cowbo droop on each side, and
80 carries around his store clothes in the
came spirit of half-hearted concession to
-sot. civilization as our Western third
cousins
ue aropped into Springfield early last
.u,ot on his way down to New York
90 visit the various friends he has
hore and later in the week he stopped
,,oin on the way home. He said the
front muscles Of his legs were as sore as
hollis. from humping up stairways and
thanking along stone pavements, and he
ranted to get up into the Maine woods
AGAIN and get rested up. He will be
hack again to New York in May to at
tend the sportsman's congress in Madi-
son Square Garden, and you really ought
"a On down and hear him tell about the
Maine woods, because there aren't six
mon alive who know so much about
them. He has been travelling over the
State since the time when he was first
ob,e to drag an old flintlock into the
woods until now that, in spite of his
black hair, he has grandson old enough
ha is
life he has killed 1000 moose, some 500
deer. and several hundred caribou and
bear.
He was born on a backwoods farm
thirty-five miles north OF Bangor, and
STAYED on it only until, at the age OF
seventeen, he was able to take to the
woods. Since then he has lived entirely
in them. trapping, numbering and guild
ing parties until probably no man in the
State Is 80 familiar with them as he. For
MANY years now he has made his head
quarters at Nickatous Lake in the country
northeast OF Bangor. But Darling is to
be the guardian saint OF the waters Of
Nickatous no longer, for he has already
practically closed the sale OF his property
there to the Sickatous club, OF New York,
and next summer proposes to fit away to
the head waters Of the Penobscot and
the Aroostook, where the woods are so
full OF deer and caribou that they would
crowd each other out into the lake ii the
latter weren't entirely occupied by five
pound trout impatiently waiting to be
discovered by some metropolitan explorer
with a fly rod 1t is such a wilderness
up there that the lakes are put down
miles wrong on the map; but Jock has
known about it since the time when,
thirty five years ago, he did most OF his
hunting there. He proposes to build a
camp on Grand Saboris Lake with &C
commodations for several tents on the
grounds. 1t is a fairly easy place to get to,
because passable wood road leads out
there, and he expects to prepare it so that
he can take women boarders: as well as
men. You will have to go we'll up on the
new Aroostook railroad and get off at
Crystal, the ride from there to the camp
being twenty-five miles.
But "Jock" Darling's whole reputation
was not obtained as guide. He is q
recognized authority on the Maine woods.
He was chosen, with one other man, to
select the States exhibit OF game at the
Worlds fair, and in the end did all the
selecting himself; he writes articles to
the sporting papers, and he has some
thing to say about the making OF the
State game laws, or he knows the reason
why. He is a warden himself, but he
isn't satisfied with the present arrange
ment OF things. He says the laws up to
date have been made by lot OF city
chaps who know nothing about it,
and thinks the present wardens are
picked out Unfortunately from "the
ruff-scutf OF hell"-his language is quite
picturesque at times. These wardens go
about practising a system OF blackmsil
on unfortunate tourists who transgress
the letter Of the law, and then proceed to
break its spirit into small bits them
selves. Mr.. Darling believes in enforcing
the spirit himself. He pounces down on
the men who come up to Wantonly
destroy the game, and let's alone the poor
man who takes an occasional meal OF
venison and fish out OF season to keep
him from starving.
Mr.. Darling believes good force OF
wardens will go far toward securing a
proper protection of the game interests,
but in addition has many ideas of his