Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-24


been one of the most famous goose grounds
in the whole world. The bird has been
widely distributed over this country and has
furnished grand sport in every state lying
between the two oceans but in no locality
| have they been more numerous or furnished
better or more thrilling or a greater variety
| Of shooting than the country traversed by
this erratic and legendary river. In the
spring ten or fifteen years ago they came up
from the south in countless millions-the
lordly Canada, the white and speckled front
and crowded the sandbars and dotted soping
shores and greening fields along this
| wondrous stream from source to mouth and
furnished such sport as could be found in
no other part OF the country. In the fall
| they came down from the north in a veritable
stream Of white and gray, and, lingering here
| until the very climax Of wlntry weather
| forced them on toward the temperate gulf
| states, made such sport as the modern gun
| ner only encounters in his dreams or ancient
literature Though fair shooting is yet to be
| found at different points along the Platte,
| nothing can give an adequate idea of the
| myrads of geese which once settled down in
| its shallow waters and swarmed its shores.
| In the vernal season the white geese bore
| down here in such hordes as to almost startle
the beholder. Like lines of summer clouds,
| they streamed along the distant sandhills,
| stood like banks of snow upon the sands and
tender shoots of the measureless prairie, filled
the channels or fioated lightly in the sloughs,
| like the foam along violently storm-beaten
oceans Shore Their changing cackle, inter
mingled with the sonorous honk of the Can
| adan, could be heard for miles.
| After a long winters arduous work at
your desk in Office or store, what is
sweeter to the ear when your vacation days
| come and you find yourself at the opening
of the budding year upon some favored hunt
| ing ground. than the far-reaching honk!
ahonk! honk! Of the wild goose? Do you
recall any sound that awakens such
| train of tender, yet exciting thought as
| this deep-toned and musical sound comes to
you from the distant sky, above your
| camp in the darkness of the night, or from
every quarter OF the compass as you crouch
in pit or blind in, the morning when the
birds laziy rise from their roosting
places along the bars and with measured
wing g-stroke start a-feld for the scattered
| kernels of the huskers' corn, for the ten
der grasses in the pasture lands or the wheat
| in the stubble?
And then in the evening when the
avalanches of white and gray return for
water and rest within the boisterous shores
| Of the river? ~, There they come, over the
glowering sandhlls from the distant fields
and pastures, line, after line, cloud after
cloud. UP they go, as they approach the
rivers valley, massing denser and denser,
preparing to descend upon wave and bar in
their own peculiar and amusing way. Once
over the middle of the broad and scattered
stream they seem to hang stationary mo-
sounding its thrilling note, down
they come tumbling, gyrating, dart
ing, pitching and falling to within few
yards Of the water, when they right them
selves form in long line, skim gracefully
up or down stream for a hundred yards or
more, then settle like softly falling autumn
leaves within the Plates crystal and cooling
depths.
Fond recollections, indeed, must the re-
countal of these sights and sounds bring to
many sportsman's heart, for, as said be-
fore, there are no sounds of such wondrous
sweetness to the gunner's ear as the honk
and the cackle of the wild goose.
Sailing in the solemn midnight, underneath
I can hear the, changing pinions of each
shadowy platoon,
Near the winged hosts, commotion, march
ing to the distant ocean,
File on file, rank on rank, speeding to some
reedy bank,
Oozy fens or marshes gray, far up
Honking, clamorng in their fight under the
black clouds of coming night
While geese have been known to breed in
the sloughs at different points along the
Platte and the Republican, it has only been
in isolated cases. Their natural breeding
grounds are in the far north, so far in fact
tndL tHey are SeluOll Ill udlBST VI Iloie5ta-
ton from their most destructive enemy,
man. In a measure, the same statement
holds good with most of the wild
fowl family, and at no distant
day l will give the readers
of these columns my idea of the breeding of
these birds. When the summer months have
faded away and November rolls round with
her hoar frosts, her mellow-tempered and
sunny days, with her cold and wind and
gloom alternating, we hear the familiar honk
- fn1 Ekv-
ward our anxious vision is rewarded by the
sight of the harrow-shapen flock, headed by |
some white collared old veteran, coming |
down from the north While the sight and |
the sound sets blood a-tingling, they |
also warn US that 1t is a good time to see |
that our coal sheds and CELLARS are well |
filled, that the days of gentle winds and |
golden weather are fast reaching their end |
And then again when the same thing !
occurs in blustery March, we know the |
goose is the sure forerunner Of warm rains, |
of springing grass, budding flowers, black |
birds, meadowlarks and soothing warmth.
But to go back to the Platte and its glories |
in wild goose way. Ever since that showery |
'65, when C. b. Hartwell opened the junction
ranch on the old Military road has the vi
cinity been one Of the most famous points, as
it is yet today. for wild goose shooting,
From Hartwell,s settlement sprang the thriv-
ing little village OF Clarks, namsd in honor |
of Hon. S. HI Clark. then the superin-
tendent of the luu1on Pacific railroad, now
its receiver, and frbm its very inception has
this station BEEN a favorite headquarters
for sportsmen from not only all over the
west. but the entipe country. Thousands of
shooters have stopped and fingered here, and
millions and millions of geese shipped hence
as the fruits of,their expeditions up or down
the river, or from rolling field and pasture
extending for miles and miles both to the
north and to the south Here is the cele-
brated hosiery of Uncle George West, with
It's cleanly and sumptuous bed chambers, its
excellent table, genial service, and Its
hostiqNo man along the Platte
Is better or more favorably known than
Uncle George uHe has presided there for
years and years and his name is revered by
the true goose hunter in all parts of the
broad land. And Uncle George is not the
only man known here. Clarks is also the
home of the redoubtable Sam Richmond the
champion goose killer of the Platte valley,
The master of wild fowl and hunting lore, a
crack shot with rife, shot gun or mouth,
and one of the most affabe. courteous and
men to be met with in 10 900
miles of travel j wish you could see Sam as
he crouches behind ice cake or driftwood
On bar, or peers wariy from pit in the
fields. He Is OF medium stature. with blue
,yes and brown hair wiry and athletic, with
ace bronzed by almost constant exposure, and
n his shooting togs, close fitting dun wammus,
naoklntoshes and slouch hat, he is the very
a. |