Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-09-30
Outside Point of View
Dismal Lake. in tent, Somewhere in
Wisconsin Sent 90 llnS

Dismal Lake. in tent Somewhere in
Wisconsin. Sept. %. 1908.
Dear George-Glad to hear these let
tiers have stirred you up and that you
will be with us next year. To continue.
my last letter left us at Nc CAMS
mill And we Jared we'll while under his
roof. He runs a big sawmill. has a
number OF log cabins for his men, and
kindly gave our party the use of one
And the table was immense. Ham and
eggs, fresh bread and several kinds of
preserves. followed by good coffee,
tasted mighty good Our two teams
that drove around the lake arrived on
time with boat, tent, etc. SO early in
the morning we took the trail for this
lake where nobody fishes" We ar
rived within half mile of the water
early in the forenoon. From there we.
1. G. the two guides and the two boys"
dragged the boat thru a swamp, the
colonel and Pop following bearing
tackle and utensils.
Another, tote was necessary to
bring the tent, SO the guides were sent
back to put the teams in an old de-
serted lumber camp my house.
Meanwhile we got out our fishing
tackle, and before the boat left the
shore Pop landed a three pound bass
out of the blacklist water you ever saw.
Looks like dye stuff. About this time
in Launching the boat, the colonel lost
his balance. and in saving himself
dropped into the lake, espitektrgtcm
dropped into the inky depths below
CHATS fine language) his $50 bamboo
al ito. al 1,ie Itpn ~
here was where talent comes in. Bob
located the spot where it went down.
Charles glued his eagle eye to the wa
ter. Pop advised, while the colonel
waxed eloquent And the boys in five
minutes actually fished the whole out
If the water, causing general rejoicing.
Now trouble commenced. Charles was
rowing and trailing his minnow be-
hind. Bub was casting his frog on the
edge of the shore. Pop and the colonel
fishing any old way. The bottom of the
lake was covered with dead trees. while
lily pads. and blossoms covered the wa
ter. In five minutes we had ten nice
bass in the boat, and at one time three
of US wanted the landing net at the
same time, but the other fellow just
had had q strike and had no time to
fool with us And here's a fish story
Pop will swear to. Charles saw ahead
a big pine log running down into the
water. Looked bass like. SO he cast his
frog intending to stop it just this side,
of the log. But it went a foot too far
and landed on the log an inch or ST,
above the water Mr.. Bull Frog imme-
diately Strengthened up, and sat down
on that log for nice rest. But his
rest was soon disturbed. An enter
prising two-pound bass jumped out o..
the water, grabbed the frog and Topped
back into the lake on the other side OF
the log. Charles waited half minute,
then Struck and soon over the log
came Mr.. Bass and Joined thirty eight
of his "brethren" in the fish net behind
the boat We quit fishing, had more
than we could eat and no way to send
fish home to our friends for we were
miles from house, a wagon road or
a postoffice.
We went ashore to find the tent had
arrived and the guides had already cut
some poles and were putting up the
canvas. The colonel got busy cutting
hemlock bows. Bob dug a trench
around the tent for possible rain, Pop
put on the potatoes and hung up the
coffee pot, Charles cleaned fish, the
guides made tables and seats out of
big dead logs and at shutdown we sat
down to our even tide repast. (More
good language) and then it COM
menced to rain and such rain. We did
not even stop to wash the dishes CIR
clear off the table, And 1t got pitch
dark. Luckily we had a lantern. Men
never go on a trip of this kind wilt
out one. And somehow mosquitoes
object to water. Evidently all of the
mosquitoes in seven counties in north
ern Wisconsin came into that tent.
There wasn't room for all Of us, so the
colonel went out in the rain and SUE
ceeded in starting so smudge" fire. all
of our accumulated fire wood was wet
SO it was real "smuddy." And still in
rained, poured is the better word.'
Luckily the colonel's foresight had Civ
en- us dry henlock boughs in abund-
ance We had plenty of blankets and
twenty-five yards Of mosquito netting.
We needed it all. And at midnighrs
/ct; lam