Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-03
STATE HOUSE.
Fly Rod" at State House After
Three Years Absence.
Her Interesting Views on Names
Game Resources.
Over $16,500 Thus Far Received from
Sale of Hunting Licenses.


Me-, better known as Fly Rod" was
visitor at the Capitol, yesterday. She
spent Sunday in Winthrop, as the guest
of Mr. and Mrs. L. T. Carleton. This
is the first visit Fly Rod has made to
the State House for three years, al
though she used to be a frequent visit
or there. and was as well known as
chairman Carleton himself. 1t was Fly
Rod who first awakened general inter-
| est in the beauties of Rangeley, and for
years people in New York and beyond
| thought that Rangeley was the only lake
and forest region in the whole state, so
| effective was the work of Fly Rods
pen. 1t was she who first called the
State of Maine the Nations play
ground" and the phrase has now be-
| come everybody's description of the
| Pine Tree State. She was the first
| champion of Woman's Rights in the
hunting and fishing line, and was the
| first to advocate that woman should go
| into the woods with rifle and shotgun
to enjoy the sport which the men had
pre-empted. She was also one Of the
| first agitators for the protection of song
| birds, gulls, etc, and had more, per-
| haps, to do with the passage Of the laws
on this subject than almost any other
person. In fact, Miss Crosby has given
| her life to the interests of Names for
ests, lakes and streams, and her love
for them is revealed in every word she
utters and in every line she writes.
| Miss Crosby has not hunted or fished,
| the past year, largely on account Of i'll
health, but she has devoted herself eX-
clusively to Journalism, contributing
constantly to the New York papers.
One New York man has said, jokingy
| but with more truth than jest, that
Maine is the Nations playground and
Fly Rod is the oracle of the playground.
Miss Crosby is now obliged to go about
on crutches, but only two years ago she
shot a deer from them, down in Wash
| ington county. A deer is nothing unus-
ual for her, however, for she has struck
| all kinds of game, and the collection of
| the fish and game department includes
| n number of her contributions. One of
| the most interesting of these is the
caribou head. Miss Crosby shot the
animal in December, 1897, and it was
one of the last. if not the last, ever
shot in this State, as the law has pro-
tected them since that year.
Fly Rod is a charming conversations
alist, and there is no limit to the inter-
esting things she can say about fish and
game. She is a woman, though, and
has a woman's Partially for her sex,
so one of her first remarks to the Jour-
nal man was about the number of Wom-
en- hunters who have purchased licenses,
| this year. There are about 90 thus
| far, and she thought that this proved.
both that women are good hunters and
that the license law is a good institu-
ton. She said that in all the hunting
women had done, they had never
shot human being, neither had they
ever proved wanton killers. She knew
of a lady who bought a license and
went deer hunting. She saw 4 great
many deer. but none with large head
and antlers, so she went away without
having fired a shot. She would not
destroy what she could not use. An
English girl had made her home with
Miss Crosby for some time, and tramp
ed through the woods for miles, every
day Her weapon was light rifle, and
she shot partridges' heads with the best
marksmen of the other sex.
She hadno end of praise for Mr.. Garlic
ton and the game laws. Mr.. Carleton,
she said, was invaluable to the State
of Maine He knew his business thor
oughly, was a persistent ard tireless
| worker and best Of all was good
fighter, sparing neither friend nor foe
when duty demanded action.
Miss Crosby is much interested in the
Maine log cabin at the st. Louis Expo
sition, and expressed hearty approval
| of it. 1t was not the only 100000 log
cabin in the world, however. she said
and here she began to drift on to her
beloved Rangeley again. One had re-
| Gently been built at Rangeley at the
same cost, magnificent structure, fit
ted with every convenience, and yet
| with the Wilderness at it's very door.
There were hundreds and hundreds of
thousands of dollars being put into just
such cabins at Rangeley, every year,
and she could not but feel gratified at
the way in which her hopes were being
realized.
| Asked what she thought about the
prospects for fishing and hunting in the
future she said that there need be no
fears as to the fishing at least. Any
body who thought that the big trout
were all gone from Rangeley should
have seen the 12-pound square tail in
the hatchery there, this fall. This was
almost up to the worlds record and was
much larger than the one Senator Frye
| caught. when he broke the record for
fly fishing, right in front of his camp
at Rangeley. She thought that the
conditions for deer had been so much
improved by the efforts of man that
there need be no fear of their extinction
for years to come. Moose We're little
more doubtful, but she did not think
that an absolutely prohibitive law need
be placed on them as yet, like that on
| Caribou. She thought that the protec-
ton afforded COW and calf moose was
sufficient to keep them on the increase,
at present Caribou We're practically
extinct and she had no doubt that the
close time on them would be EXTENDED
| for another term of years.
Miss Crosby was hardly in favor of
extending the license law to cover all
game. as she felt that sportSmen snouiu