The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-09
NBESALEOH PRHSEREB OPEN.
IT rs PROBABLY NATURES LAST,
AND IT'S 4 FAT ONE.
Tee Par Pros Great cities - Encourage
the Pct HunteFs and Lens Way Even
fer apeFtsmen-The New Canadian
Grand Trunk Railway win Tap Il.


the Pot HmteFs and z Lens way Even
fer sportsmsn-The New Canadian
Grand Trunk Railway win Tap Il.
LAoHnE, Canada, April sit will be
unexpected news 10 many sportsmsn that
the new Grand Trunk Phoihe Railway Il
going % treble the available salmon fishing
waters Of the continent. The news Il
gathered from the reports Of engineering
parties who have bean ct work this winter
surveying for the protested road.
The main line Il 10 run across the Domin-
Ion considerably 10 the north Of the Cana
dian Paciho, a. far 10 the north. In fact, a.
possible without getting altogether beyond
the wheat producing bait. With great
foresight small parties Of surveyors have
also been At work examining promising
valleys running north and south, or follow
ing timber districts 10 their northern limits,
10 insure being able 10 establish, and keep
for the railway company. such feeding lines
Of rail as may be necessary.
These men have experienced much hard
ship and acquired some curious gsopaphi-
cal information. Often some Of them have
run out Of provisions owing to the inability
Of the Indians TO follow them through the
deep SHOWS. The preoence Of Indian guides
with a knowledge Of the district has been
the salvation Of life over and over again.
In one instance the guide located cache
Of dried and smoked fab at Just the critical
moment. The discovery that the hsh was
red salmon, fat and good and apparently
not long from the salt water when killed,
excited the curiosity Of the chief engineer
Of the party. As rule, landlocked salmon
do not attain the size Of most Of these fish,
and the lake beside which they were hidden
was a good two hundred miles south Of
James Bay. Their guide, however, in
formed the engineers that the OUtlet Of the
river dlscharging from II ives into the
great salt water TO the north. 30, although
their maps gave no inkling Of the fact, II
was decided that some little branch, prob
ably Of the Abittibi River, had lie rise there
about, and the fsh they were subsisting
upon had come in by way Of the great
Hudson Bay.
Another party sent out their Indian
to hunt for food from kinsmen. rabbits
being scarce, and were delighted when
he reappeared with another rodakin,
dragging q heavy load Of frossn salmon
upon toboggan. These were fine fish,
plump and good and full OF spawn. In
weight they ran from ten TO twenty-five
pounds. They were not Of the steel bead
Pacific Ocean variety. which Is supposed
not to be a sportaman's fish, since It ne
fuses to rise at flies. They were the true
Atlantic fish, exactly similar 10 those which
the engineer In charge Of this particular
party had taken on the Molsio In the Gulf
Of the 81. Lawrence the summer bef.re.
1t was evident from the marks upon them
that they had been speared, probably
while on the spawning beds. How they
oame 10 be 80 well preserved puExled the
white men, until the Indians explained
that in that latitude there are deep ravinea
caches exist, which have been used for
cold storage by certain families for years
beyond number, There are also deep
clefts between rocks and other seQuestered
hooks, where Il has long been the custom
70 cover over the snow and Toe with brush
wood 70 keep II for preserving food
In fishing through the Toe the favorite
hsh taken by the several parties was the
gray trout, which in size apr reached SAL
mon. Monster speokled trout were COM
mon enough, though the men did not CON
slider them to be Of the same variety as
those caught In the waters OF old Canada.
One man who caught a two pound salmon
was assured that IL he would come to that
lake In July he could get "a many as he
wanted OF the same kind OF hsh, only bigger
than he would care 70 carry away. His
informant. a gray old half-breed. said
be had conducted missionary to the same
lake late last summer and the missionary
had taken with ny more than fifty salmon
In two days, retaining none less than 8
feet inches In length. The lucky angler
told bis guide that this was his unvarying
This paTtv met afterWard with ona ~ the
devoted men who give their lives to the
work OF evangeliEtng the EsquimRux and
Indians Of the great Northland. From
him they learned that with the Indians Of
the interior, as distinguished from the
blubber eating tribesmen Of the seacoast
salmon and Wild geese are the staple articles
Of diet.
All the streams emptyinR into the bay
are salmon runs In the summer. Spawning
takes place about the end Of August, in some
seasons not until september; but the fsh
strike In from the salt water as soon as the
Ice begins 70 move. They rise well, and
do more leRping than In more southern
rivers, Mosquitoes are vicious In the
early part OF the summer until the leaves
harden, when they disappear. It Is almo I
impossible to cast effectively a. long as
that plague lasts.
In late years it has heen found possible
10 flsh for salmon In the open sea, at the
mouths Of rivera, when the ice a. coming
down; and there are days when the Indians
60 out on rafts. or In their canoes, and tyinE
a cord 20 the handles ~ thrir SPEARS transfK
the big hsh a. they slowly move about In
thick ranks waiting for the water 10 clear
80 that they may begin their annual run
into the country, Netting Is not much
practised, because gpeadng Is easier
When the new railway Is built ths head
waters Of these north flowing rivers viii
be brought within comparatively easy
reach Of anglers, and as the distance from
market is great enough 10 prevent pot
hunting, II Is likely that the fishing Hghts
there viii he much more valuable than are
those in the waters now available, which are
mainly those tributary TO the st. Lawrence,
where there Is easy access 10 largo cities.
The traditions Of the natives, with which
the records Of the missionaries aRres, show
that the salmon are increasing rather than
decreasing In the rivers going north, With
no incentive TO kill more than they can use
for food the scattered peoples around
Hudson Bay will not take enough Of them
from the waters 10 deplete them seriously.
II IL possible that these rivers represent
natures last salmon preserve. which is at
last going TO be laid open 10 anglers by the