The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-11-16
PROFESSIONAL WOMEN GUIDES


pioneers and their descendants hunt
ed the deer and moose the bears and
the bobcats Of the Maine woods, and
in recent years have come thousands
of sportsmen from other States, while
now, with Pullman cars running to
the very edge of the forests, women
have Joined the chase for big game.
II is no uncommon thing to see, in
the lists of lucky hunters, the names
of Mrs. So-and-So or Miss So-and-So
as having killed a deer, a couple of
deer, or even big bull moose With
the coming of the modern Dianas,
with their short corduroy skirts and
repeating rifles, the woman guide
has appeared, and that she is a most
useful and valuable aid in the now
fashionable sport of big game hunt
ing is shown by the fact that the
three women guides of Maine are in
constant demand at pay equal to or
better than that received by the
1897 male guides who make liv-
ing by plotting city sportsmen to
success
There are only three women who
make n business of guiding now, but
the number Is bound to increase, for
the demand for their services Is
great, and there are hundreds of wo-
men in the baCkwoods of Maine who
are well equipped in every way for
this sort of service. These women,
reared in the woods, know every lake
and stream, and every forest path
and woodland trail, as well as their
husbands and their brothers They
have been from childhood schooled
in the use of the rife, rod and pad
die, and their practical knowledge of
fishing and hunting is as complete,
their skill and courage as great as
long experience and the spirit of the
Northern pioneers can make them.
The first woman to attain promi-
nence as a hunter and guide in Maine
is Miss Cornelia T. Crosby, of Phil
ips, Franklin County, who is known
to sportsmen all over the country
who have seen her skill tried in the
woods and on the trout streams.
while to many others she is known
through her connection with sports
mems exhibitions in the large cities,
and through her writings over the
nom de plume of Fly Rod" In early
childhood Miss Crosby whipped the
trout pools of Franklin County with
a success that excited the envy OF
city anglers with costly tackle, and
later she won at the Rangeleys and
elsewhere such success with the
square tailed trout and the big land
locked salmon as to arouse the ad-
miration of men who thought they
knew the whole book of fishing.
When the railroads found their
way into the Rangeleys and to other
sequestered spots in the sportmen's
paradise of Maine, ely Rod began
to find money where before she had
merely enjoyed sport. She was en-
ployed to point out good places to
fish and to tell newcomers and green
anglers how to make and cast a fly.
In canoe she was always perfectly
at home, and the way she would send
her birch or canvas boat through the
rough and quick waters would win
approval from a Penobscot Indian.
strong and athletic from constant
development of a fine constitution by
out of door sports, Fly Rod" is a
marvel of physical endurance, and
she is a very bright woman as we'll.
When it comes to shooting Miss
Crosby is almost as expert as she is
with the rod and line, and it Is said
she is the only woman who ever
killed a caribou in Maine. The deer
she has killed are without number;
those she has pointed out for other
people to kill would stock a forest,
and she has not been without luck in
knocking over bull moose, the king
game of the forest.
Over in the Dead River country
every one knows how to shoot and
fish-for shooting and fishing, next
to logging, are principal industries of
that far backwoods region. Miss
Ethel Harlow, bright and pretty
young woman now in her twenties,
has always had the reputation among
the Dead River people of being a
smart girl. She has none of the ap-
pearance of a backwoods woman,
and, while fond of fishing and hunt
ing, which take the place of golf and
bicycling on Dead River, she is not at
all lacking in the various relinements
common TO other young women. Be-
fore she was out of short skirts she
could paddle canoe, shoot true with
rifle and cast fly as skilfully as
any boy in her neighborhood. With
advancing years her skill in these
sports increased, and finally when
the registered guide system was in
troduced she applied for registration
and received a license.
She is quick and sure with the
rife, and has killed more game of all
kinds than most male hunters ever
saw, while in all the arts of wood
craft she is an adept.
Mrs. ]. S. Freese, of Riverton, Ar
gyle, takes a back seat for no man
on the Penobscot River when it
comes to padding a canoe, catching