The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-24

beat on arriving at Memphis Tenn. Be-
sides myself on the boat were Mr. and
Mrs. George Fifield, my brother-in-law.
" Carr and some visitors who only went
part of the way. The party is not yet
made up for this year, there being plen-
ty of time for that. You who have never
dear houseboat can become to its
owners or how hard it is to travel back
home by rail after having gone down
by water. On the enc hand, cramped ac-
other, enjoyment in the open air, the
sort Of life that everyone ought to lead
as often as possible.
We will have good hunting and fish,
Ing all the way. On the upper river,
Woodcocks, jack snipes, teal ducks, wood
DUCKS and other game will be found on
our table. On the lower river. turkeys,
coons, ducks, geese and bear will con-
guns made especially for me, one Day.
idson hammerless and the other Marlin
rifle. l think much of my guns and they
are beauties. l forgot to tell you that
there are immense numbers of quail
commencing about Seventy-five miles this
side of St Louis. Below that city we
commence to have our fun hunting coons.
On the last trip I often went out with
parties of negroes Just to show them
how the thing was done, and they were
very much surprised at my methods
See, here is the rife. l used to take that
and this bullseye lantern and with the
two bring down the coonS l would fast
en- the lantern on the top of nv mead
and as soon as l could get bead on two
little eyes UP In a tree, bang and doEn
came the coon. We always had four or
five dogs on these night excursions. They
were of a MIXED breed, half hound and
the other half cur.
GOOD HUNTING AND FISHING.
There is a bear trap in the window.
The last time 1 used that was down in
Arkansas. 1t was the means of bringing
more than one bear to it's death. There
is good hunting of some kind all along
the river, and this always makes one of
the pleaSanteSt features of a down stream.
trip. AS for the fishing, it is good every
where. In this state it is nothing to
Drag Of but as soon as you get where
the stream broadens out there Is no
trouble In making big catches. The cat
fish grow to immense size in the lower
river, some of them weighing almost 100
pounds. 1t is best to do the fishing il
the night time. All that is necessary is
to hang out the lines before going to bed
and pull them UP with the fish in the
morning.
ION the last trip came out just about
even from financial point of view The
phis for about half that sum, and made
the amount lost by selling patent medi-
cines, groceries, fish, stationery articles
avn other things. The patent medicines
every man seems to carry bottle and a
spoon with him to avoid the malaria.
ought to have had the boat towed back
again. 1t would have cost about $780,
and then it could have been used again.
| will not sell the new boat, as it will
be too valuable to part with, and I in
tend to make more than one trip in It.
ut perhaps may seem surprising that
money can be made while living on q
house boat, but there is really nothing
strange in that when the 400 stations
along the upper river are taken into ac-
count. There are about that number.
to say nothing of the lower river, and
it is my habit to stop at every one of
them. At the larger places, such as
Dubuque, Burlington Muscatine, Gin
ton, Lyons, ST. Louis, Cairo and so on,
take my time in going tn ough AMI hardly
ever fail to clean up little money.
BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.
THAT there are interesting sites on
the river goes without saying. You know
as we'll as I that the upper river is
world-famed for its scenery, and there
are many people who travel it for this
reason as much as anything else. The
countless bluffs and caves and hills and