The Press., 1901-12-26
A FISHING FICTION.
THE 'MAGlC EVE" OF THE sAULT
 STE. MARIE INDIANS.

THE "MAGlC EVE" OF THE sAULT STE. MARIE INDIANS.
 Am Old Guides Explanation of the Indian Whfteash Hunters Method of Getting His GIiatening Catch From Under the Rapids.
 "The first time fished in the Sault Ste. Marie rapids" said well known Lake Keuka sportsman, 'I landed in an hour twenty-one brook trout that weighed forty-five pounds; so I was ready and willing to believe anything heard or read about the possibilities of those waters or the astounding things that men who fished in them were able to do.
 Consequently believed what they told me about the marvellous feats the Indian fishermen of the Sault Ste. Marie could perform in the way of netting whitefish. Few who have tour ed the great lakes have not heard of those same feats, witnessed them and, of course, could do nothing but go away believing that they were all they seemed to be.
 Particularly will they marvel. as did, at the Indian whitefish fisherman's magic eye with which he seems to look down through ten feet or more of fOaming, rushing water and see white fish that to the white mans eye would be invisible five inches beneath the surface. It would have been strange if I had not marveled at 1t, having witnessed more than once manifesto tions of its alleged power. That was before talked with old Guide Garron.
 The astounding feats of the Indian Whitefish netters of the Sault Ste. Marie that the guidebooks and the hotel keepers and steamboatmen insist on telling tourists about are performed by two Indians in canoe. One occu- pies the stern and manipulates the paddle to keep the canoes head point ed up stream. The Indian in the bow, standing upright, uses pole to aid in propelling the canoe or in keeping 1t steady. ..
 Lying ready to his hand is dip net four feet in diameter, fastened to the end of pole perhaps fifteen feet long. The fishing is done at the foot of the rapids, where the water boils and tuIn- bles furiously. With his poIe-the Ih- |sdian in the bow keeps the boatamoving |About in the rapids and gazes' constant Fly into the water. which 'iis4 efted ten feet or more deep.
 Suddenly the Indian in the bow will
 seize the net handle with one hand, never ceasing to manipulate the canoe with his pole in the other nor for an instant removing his staring gaze from the water. The net is not more than in his hand before he has plunged it perhaps ten feet distant from the boat, thrusting it at the same instant to the bottom. Then he gives it a peculiar twist, draws it up and, surrendering the care of the canoe for the moment to the Indian with the paddle, he draws the net up, never without from three to half dozen glistening white fish in it, frequently weighing five pounds each.
 'The wondering spectator, seeing nothing but the boiling water, the sud- den start of the Indian and his quick and dexterous plunging and drawing up of the net with it's invariable load of whitefish, can do nothing but ac- knowledge to himself the neeromancy of the Indians piscatorial art. I know that did, and for two seasons gave myself away to the fascination of that mysterious fishing. Then one day I marveled at it greatly to Guide Garron, the shrewd and cunning old French man who knows every rock and eddy and whirlpool of the rapids and all the wiles and tricks that any other guide knows and a whole lot that no other one does know, and Garron's little black eyes twinkled.
 "'Ahv he chuckled. 'Zat mageeck hye. He von gr-r-rand homboag!
 "Then he explained in his voluble
 and picturesque patois the apparent mystery of the Indian whitefish fisher mans magic eye. Whitefish are natu- ral denizens of the still silent wate~s of the great lakes. To get from Lake Huron to Lake Superior these fish must fight their way up the fierce and stubborn Sault Ste. Marie rapids. In doing this they travel by easy stages. They can brave the rapids but short distance at a time, when, almost ex- hausted, they drop into the shelter of the friendly rocks that pile the bottom of the rapids.
 "Huddled sometimes by the score be- hind these rocks, getting wind, as 1t were, to overcome another stage of their journey, the whitefish, if the wa ter is not too deep, can be lifted out by the hand of the fisherman, they are so nearly exhausted. The Indians as we'll as the white fishermen know this and, knowing we'll the location of these sheltering rocks, have only to thrust their nets down behind them and draw them up filled with fish.
 "The cunning of the Indian led him long ago to give visitors the impression that he could penetrate the troubled depths of the rapids with his gaze and discover the whitefsh on the bottom.
 The wonder of it spread, and 1t has been one of the fondest and best pay ing Actions of Susan Mary as the na- lives give you the pronunciation of the Sault Ste Marie. ."-New York Times. $1OO Reward $1OO.
 The reader of this paper will be pleased tt Gaa%A