4 11 1984 - american museum of fly fishingfall 1984 fisher volume 11 number 4 the evidence for early...

4 Volume 11 Number 4 FALL 1984

Reflections In the latter half of the nineteenth century, forest stocks were being rapidly depleted. T h e demand for wood products was fast increasing as our country entered a bur- geoning industrial revolution. T h e wholesale destruction of for-

ests made life very difficult for the native brook trout, Salve l inus fontinalis; name- ly, water tables were lowered, snow runoff was hastened, and stream temper- atures increased considerably. These fac- tors together w i t h increased f i s h i n g pressure by ever-expanding population centers led to the demise of the brook trout in many areas of our country. We remember reading many accounts by cor- respondents to Forest a n d S t r e a m a n d o ther s imi la r , early periodicals tha t lamented the depletion of native trout from their favorite streams. Fortunately, the s i t u a t i o n was remedied w i t h the

introduction from Europe of the brown trout, S a l m o trutta, which is considerably more tolerant of higherwater temper- atures, generally grows to a larger size, and is ofttimes more difficult to catch. T h e stocking of brown trout proved to be a wise move. They readily adapted to their new environment and since their introduction have provided high-quality sport fishing for generations of anglers. But today, just over one hundred years after the successful introduction of this game, an often lionized and anthropom- orph ized species, its p o p u l a t i o n s a re being seriously threatened. T h e culprit- acid rain. T h i s causes us to pause and reflect upon what sport fishing for S a l m o species, if any, will be available to anglers one hundred years from now. T o our knowledge, there are n o S a l m o species that will tolerate the acidity of lakes and streams whose p H is below 4.7 Many

bodies of water are dangerously a p - proaching this level of acidity.

Recent studies have demonstrated that, in all probability, most of the acid rain that plagues the Northeast is derived from the emission of sulphur oxides from coal-fired power plants in the Midwest. Lakes and streams from New York to Nova Scotia have been rendered fishless as a result of these emissions. It is clear that technology is available to signifi- cantly curtail acid rain before lakes and streams are made irreversibly barren of most living creatures. I t is a chi l l ing thought that the history of fly-fishing in this country, as well as others, may come to an end before we have a chance to celebrate the bi- _. ,,, centennial of the b r o w n t r o u t ' s iF introduction.

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me American Fly FALL 1984 Fisher

Volume 11 Number 4

The Evidence for Early European Angling, I: Basurto's Dialogo of 1539 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Richard C . Hof fmann

Notes and Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Museum News (Special Section) . . . . . . . . 11-18

A Checklist of Works by Charles Lanman . . . . 19 the editors

The Deerfield River: A Fish Story . . . . . . . . 22 Edward R. Hew itt

Blooming Grove Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Charles Hallock

The Evidence for Early European Angling, I: Basurto's Dialogo of 1539 by Richard C. Hoffman

' O n c e in a great while, something of extraordinary importance that relates t o t h e history of sport- angling is unearthed. For example, t h e discovery of t h e s ingle extant copy of Samuel's Art of An-

1577, by t h e w e l l - k n o w n British sfiorting-book dealer, E. Chal- mers Hallam. Another discouey has recently been made that w e consider to be m e n more remarkable, as it clearly dem- onstrates the beginnings of an angling heritage-a Spanish angling heritage- complete ly unrelated t o the legendary Dame Juliana Berners and her reputed Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle(1496). It is to Richard Hof fmann that w e owe a great debt for recognizing t h e s igni f i - cance of Ferdinand0 Basurto's " E l Trata- dico de la Pesca" ( T h e Litt le Treatise o n Fishing), published as part of a m u c h larger work, the Dialogo, i n Zaragoza, Spain, i n 1539. It describes methods for f ly-tying and fly-fishing u n l i k e those found in the Treatyse. A translation of "E l Tratadico de la Pe.scaM by Hof fmann and his colleague, T h o m a s Cohen, appeared in the last issue of the American Fly Fisher. Herein w e includ~ascholarly , thoroughly documented essay by Richard Hof fmann , which elegantly speaks to the question of these two disparate angling heritages.

Fly fishers receive from most modern writers of angling history a common understanding of the origins of their technique and their sport. Aelian's Macedonians rest in second-century iso- lation before a millennium and more of darkness where the absence of evidence can, if one is so inclined, justify groping speculation. Then dawns the angler's day in the English Treatyse of Fysshynge w y t h an Angle, whether or not further illuminated by the myth of Dame Juliana Berners. The Treatyse likely originated in the early to mid-fifteenth century, and the complete text is first known to have appeared in the second Boke of St. A lbans in 1496. From this insular wellspring all subsequent sport-angling literatures and recorded fly-fishing traditions trace their origins.'

T o put it bluntly, the common tradition is implausible (as speculatively acknowledged by some) and is demon- strably in error. That the Treatyse is not the sole record of fly-fishing in fifteenth- century England is shown conclusively by the contemporary and independent manuscripts recovered by W. Braekman and briefly examined in theAmerican Fly Fisher in 1982.2 That the Treatyse is not the sole early coherent discourse on sport angling and that fly-fishingitselfwas not a peculiarly English practice in the late

Middle Ages are just as conclusively shown by recently (re)discovered continental books and manuscripts ofcompar- able date and clearly autonomous origin. This article examines one such new piece of evidence; subsequent essays wi l l explore others. One aim is to correct mis- conceptions by confrontation with the historical record; another is to inspire concerted search for still more evidence yet unknown.

Historians of fly-fishing have known for some time of the Astorga manuscript, a remarkable early Spanish listing of thirty-three fly dressings written in 1624 by the Leonese Juan de Bergara.3 Wholly unknown in angling circles, however, has been a work that appeared nearly a century earlier, the Dialogo que agora se hazia: dirigido a1 m u y illustre senor don PedroMartinezdeLuna conde deMorata; se6or de la casa de Illuece: con u n Viuo te lo do: por descante; E l qua1 ha uisto V a ~ u r t o . ~ The colophon tells us itwent to print at master George Coci in Zaragoza on March 17, 1539. Internal evidence dates the composition later than June 1538. The author wasFernandoBasurto.5

Fernando Basurto is a minor, but not unknown, figure in early sixteenth- century Spanish letters. Born in thepyre- nean town of Jaca in the 1460s or 1470s,

A z~iew of Zaragoza and the rir~er Ebro. Basurto resided it2 Zaragoza after his retirement. Co1~rtr.v~ of t l ~ r National Tourist Ofjicr of Spain

. .,.. - - - -

he initially pursued a military career. He participated in the successful campaigns of the Catholic monarchs Fernando and Isabella, whose aim was to reconquer Granada and gain a dominant position in Italy. Later in life Basurto retired to Zaragoza, chief city of his native Aragon, where, after 1528, his status as citizen (vecino) is attested in several records. The patronage of aristocratic Aragonese there supported a provincially significant literary activity in genres of chivalric romance and the popular lives of saints. In this milieu Basurto worked until his death sometime shortly after 1540.6

Basurto's generation was in many ways among the most creative and successful in the history of Spain. During his youth and early manhood, the marriage and joint rule of Fernando and Isabella had ended a long period of political disarray and an even longer rivalry between the crowns of Castile and of Aragon. By 1492 they had driven the ancient Muslim opponent from the peninsula and then turned to expand Spanish power across the western ocean and, following old Aragonese interests, across the western Mediterranean to Italy. With the succes- sion of their grandson, Charles V ( in Spain, Carlos I), in 1517, the Spanish monarch was also the ruler of central Europe and the Netherlands; soon Spain

was a center of the constellation of Habs- burg power. Spaniards took pride in the achievements of their dynasty, their religion, and their arms. At home, too, resto- rat ion of political order encouraged population growth and economic prosperity, the latter especially among some of the trading towns and the great pro- ducers of wool, Spain's principal export commodity. Learning and literacy ex- panded, and an indigenous religious re- vival cleansed the church of abuses. In all of this growth the Aragonese lands of the southern Pyrenees and middle Ebro basin shared, though politically the Castilians certainly led.

Spanish society, like that elsewhere in sixteenth-century Europe, had an in- tensely hierarchical structure. Earlier, the stupendous wealth and consequent local power of landed aristocratic lineages had caused factional conflicts to cripple royal authority. Now, with a careful blend of force and persuasion the Catholic monarchs tamed and co-opted their great sub- jects, not by destroying their wealth, status, or influence, but by drawing these into dependence upon and service of the state. Disturbances over the loss of some traditional aristocratic privileges erupted in the early years of Charles's reign, were crushed, and not repeated. Securely allied with, even cultivated by, the crown, the

great aristocratic houses stood at the pin- nacle of Spanish society, recipients of def- erence from and dispensers of favor to all their inferiors. But still, in a paradoxical way, sixteenth-century Spanish society also contained a n egali tarian strain stronger, perhaps, than that then found elsewhere. Every male possessed a strong sense of his own personal honor; the social standing recognized in him by his fellows. Under the catholic monarchs and Charles, Spanish society was open to individual ability and ambition as well as to the new ideas encountered in Italy and among the Habsburg's Flemish courti- ers. Yet an intense national feeling also persisted, with real xenophobic fear and dislike for those who seemed to threaten the continuity of long-held values. Thus, popular feeling supported creation of the Spanish Inquisition after 1478 and pro- moted measures to cleanse Spain of religious and racial pluralism. T o the great aristocrats' hidalquia ("nobility"), commoners increasingly opposed their own claims to limpieza de sangre ("purity of blood"), while both shared the mythic conviction that Spain's strength lay in its religious identity. Pride in Spanish accomplishments, Spanish religion, and Spanish society even heightened during the later years of Basurto's life as French kings and the German Protestants joined

T h e R i o Auguamoix , a IriO~itary of the Ehro in 1-~rrdn. 1'erhap.s Basurto pmctic.rd his hatch matching here, alrnost four hundred and fifty years ago? Courtesy of the National Touri.st Office of Spain

the M u s l i m inf idel t o threaten w h a t Spain had built. T o the historian, at least, a sense that an open society was closing in upon its acknowledgedcultural pillars g a i n s p r o m i n e n c e d u r i n g the 3econd quarter of the sixteenth c e n t u r ~ . ~ Fer- n a n d o Basur to a n d t h e aud ience for whom he wrote shared these cultural experiences.

T h e twenty-two leaves of the Dtaloga

that came from Coci's press in 1539 seem a typical product of Basurto's age and situation. T h e title page displays a large woodcut of the arms of the Martinez de L u n a , Basurto's patrons to whom the work is dedicated. Around the four sides of the crest an inscription in red glorifies that aristocratic dynasty: Vivas en el mundo , o inclyta case de Luna: Pues tus claros uarones contada fidelidad y esfuer-

NOTES:

T h e modern historiographic tradition briefly summarized here may be adequately traced through the following works: W. Radcliffe, Fishing from the Earliest Times (London, 1921), pp. 52-60 and 187-189; J. W. Hills, A History o j Fly Fishing for Trout (London, 1921; reprinted Rockville Center, NY, 1971). pp. 1-36; J. D. McDonald. The Origins of Angling (Garden City, NY, 1963),

90. Dende t u principio hasta hoy han seruido a sus Reyes: y derribado 10s feos pensamientos a sus enemigos: con sezn- ladas 71ictoria.s: c o m o to insignia. Puesta en tal campo lo declara. Tit le and author appear at the bottom.8 Open the book. Here is a n effusive two-page P r o l o e o addressed to M u y i l lus trr senor , Don Pedro Martinez de Luna , Count of Mo- rata, worthy offspringof thegreat lineage whose name he bears (and soon to be Charles V's choice as viceroy of Aragon). T h e humble author announces that he will entertain his noble lord and lady with a tale of how "a fisherman disputes with a knightly hunter" over which of the two has the better sport. And finally it comes t o a conc lus ion i n w h i c h the fisherman, at the request of the knightly hunter, teaches how to fish, "both in the sea and in the rivers, and about baits for the whole year."g There follows a half page (fol. a ii verso) of verses invoking the Virgin a n d then commences the dialogue, which begins with the old fisherman's riverside plaint that his sport has been interrupted by the tumult of a noble hunt ing party and runs without break for thirty pages ( to fol. c v recto). T h i s concludes with a promise by the fisherman to return the following day with a Tratadico de la Pesca, a "little treatise o n fishing" that will inform the hunterof theangling art. T h e Tratadico covers fols. c v recto through c ix recto and is divided into five rubricated headings: a n introduction on patience; chapter 1 on baits for fishing in the sea; chapter 2 on baits for fresh water; chapter 3 on the little white fly with four horns that comes along the rivers to feed the barbel; chapter 4 on how to catch and fish with the little white fly (and much more besides). Folio c ix recto concludes the Tratadico and moves without break into a brief concluding dialogue. This is followed (fols. c ix verso and c x verso, by

chapters 1 and 4-5; E. G. Schwiebert, Trout (New York, 1978). pp. 11-44; and C. F. Waterman, A History of Angling (Tulsa, OK, 1981), pp. 33-68 passim. The useful corrections (and some errors) available in W. Koch. "Die Geschichle der Binnenfischerei von Milleleuropa," in R. Demoll, H . Maier. et a]., 4s . . Handbuch der Binnmfischerei zron Mitteleuropa, vol. 4 (Stuttgart, 1925), pp. 24-27, have bren sadly ispored in subsequent English-language studies.

2 R. C. Hoffmann, "A New Treatise on the Treatyse," T ~ P American Fly Fisher, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 2-6

J. P. Diez, En torno a1 manuscrito dr Astorgn y la pesm de la trucha en 10s rios de L ~ o n (Leon, 1968) offers a facsimile, transcript, and discussion of this text. A brief English summary is G. Beall, "The Document of Astorga," The Fly Fisher, 1982, vol. 14. no. 4, p p 34-36. De Bergara notes that he drew his patterns from "libros dr pescadores de mucha experiencia," but no such prior writings are cited in the studies mentioned.

4 Freely translated: "A dialogue which is now being made, directed to thr most illustrious lord Don Pedro Martinez de Luna, Count of Morata. Lord [or senior member] of the dynasty [literally, " house"] of Illuere; with a lively te lo do [a form of song with refrain] for performance which Basurto has seen."

5 P. Geneste, "Lln ouvragr retrouv6: 'Le Colloque du Chasseur et du PPchrur' de Fernando Basurto," Bulletin Hispanique, 1978. vol. 80, pp. 7-8. Unless stated otherwise, all P. Geneste quotes are taken from this work.

6 P. Geneste, pp. 5-7, indicates the standard references.

7 For a discussion of issues raised here, see J. H. Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1469-1716 (New York, 1963). especially pp. 108-127, 184-188. and 210-221.

8 All rt4erences to Basurto's text are from a photographic copy (obtained with the support of a minor research grant given by the faculty of arts, York University) from that in the the Paris Bibliotheque de

a lyric on the moon ( l u n a ) that becomes, not surprisingly, a final panegyric to the de Luna. T h e colophon appears at the end.

How the Count of Morata, Don Pedro Martinez de Luna , responded to Basur- to's labors of 1538 is unknown. So, too, is its reception by the author's other con- temporaries. T h o u g h mentioned by a handful of eighteenth- and nineteenth- century students of Aragonese literature, by the early twentieth century the Dia- logo was not to be found in any Spanish library a n d was presumed lost. T h e n , some years ago, a copy came to light through the investigations of a senior scholar of Hispanic literature, the late Don Antonio Rodriguez Monino. It was in Paris at the Bibliotheque de L'Arsenal, bound with a contemporary work o n aristocratic lineages of Spa in . Monino died before he could publicize his discovery, leaving that duty and the task of a critical appreciation to a French Hispan- icist, Pierre Geneste.I0 His article, which accompl i shed this , appeared i n the French scholarly journal B u l l d i n Hlrpa- n ique in 1978. Geneste offered a literary analysis of Basurto's dialogue and ap- pended thereto a transcription of the pract ical T r a t a d i c o , "ded ica t ing this especially to the fervent emulators of the o ld fisherman."l1 Yet Genes te cou ld place the recovered text only in a literary context, for he was n o angling historian. Of that subject, he knew only that he had found the oldest-known Spanish treat- ment of fishing and that its form was the same as that used by the one other early angling author of whom he had heard, Isaak Walton.'2 Not surprisingly, in the years since 1978 n o student of early an- g l i n g has no ted Geneste 's ar t ic le o r Basurto's original work. But, as is detailed below, the latter has considerable significance for the early history of Euro-

pean angling in general and fly-fishing in particular.

Basurto's D i a l o ~ o offers a coherent and - uniquely Spanish argument for the legi- timacy and moral value of angling as a sport. I t plausibly informs the modern scholar and angler of the mental and cultural context i n which its protagonist pursued his beloved pastime and, notably in the practical Tratadico, of the techniques by which, with fly and bait, he sought his quarry along the rivers and coastal waters of the Crown of Aragon. What follows here sketches the defense of angling given by Basurto and then examines both the mentality and the practice of Basurto's fisherman.

T h e m a j o r theme of t h e d ia logue proper is the announced debate between the old angler and the noble huntsman on the merits of their sport.I3 T h e fisherman, a commoner, angrily confronts the youth of high status. His noisy retinue has frightened the fish and destroyed the other's recreation. T h e aristocrat, proud but not haughty and always ingenuous, asks why such great distress and such dis- dain for the hunt. What if a few fish are bothered? With respect the angler replies: because the chase may provide pleasure for the body, but it endangers the body and the soul, and it offends others. H e elaborates, detailing with a rich supply of anecdotes how famous hunters brought themselves i n t o hazardous s i tua t ions and, worse, how they threaten their own salvation. T h e hunting party ride through the property of others a n d destroy it. They ignore the obligations of religion, rising so early as to miss mass, forgetting their prayers, and indulging in the pride and gluttony of great retinues and extrav- agant meals. T h e chase, says he in summary, "is a human exercise for recreation of the body and it has its dangers; fishing

is divine and human, divine for the salvation of the soul and human for, with repose, its gives pleasure to the body."I4

T h u s the angler moves to the offensive. How is his sport superior? "Fishing does not offend God; it does not afflict one's neighbor; it does not destroy the fisherman himself."l5 I t is a sport of balance (equidad) , not excess (superfluidad). T h e angler follows a simple, solitary, contemplative pursuit, even going to mass in the morning before leaving for the river.

T h e hunter sees the fisher's point but denies its general applicability. T h a t may be well and good for such as you, says he, but not for me. Who ever heard of princes and nobles who fished? Again, the fisher can exploit his competitor's naivete: fishing is not noble, it is saintly and apostolic, and that is even better than being noble. Saint Peter and Saint An- drew were fishermen. But, in reply, they fished with nets; you can take n o vain pride i n that. T h e angler's response is priceless: yes, the Apostles fished with nets; if they had been anglers, Christ would have stopped to see how they were doing before H e called them!I6 And then he continues in the dialectic mode, con- trasting examples of hunt ing saints like Saint Eustachius, w h o abandoned the sport upon their conversion, with those of the Apostles, w h o fished even after accepting Christ's call. T h e simple plea- sures of the angler's life preserve and pur- ify the soul.

So, the angler argues, his sport is not only better than hunting, it offers to the aristocrat a remedy for the dangers of the chase that will make the noble morr apt for his proper social role, a metaphoric hunt of the infidel, the ongoing struggle against the enemies of justice, of religion, and hence of Spain. T h e new recreation will improve the aristocrat's ability to fulfill his traditional obligation, which

- -- - --

I'Arsenal, 4oH221.3, which is not paginated but does contain signature foliation.

Some readers may apprec-iatc a brief "translation" of signature foliation that describes how the book is put together and how we can refer to partic-ular in i t . In most printed works, such as this copy of the Amrriran Fly Fishrr, each sheet of printed paper contains a total of sixtrrn printed pages, eight on each side of the sheet. A number of such sheets are folded togethrr so the pages fall in the proper order and are sewn or otherwise fastened along the fold; such a set of sheets is called a "signature" or a "gathering." Your copy of the American Fly Fi .~hrr , like most magazines, consists of one signature, but most books are made up of several signatures piled atop one another in sequence and then bound. The successive signatures are customarily identified by letters of the alphabet, the first as a, the second as b, and so on. Now look at any page in any signature: that page and the page on the other side of i t together make

up half of the original printed sheet. Such a half-sheet is called a "leaf" or a "folio" (abbreviated as fol.). Both sides are usually numbered with page numbers in modern books, but many manuscript books (codices) and early printed books have only each folio numbered; they are foliated rather than paginated. We refer to the side of the folio that appears to the right of the fold as the recto (r) and the other side as the verso (meaning the back, and abbreviated v). One common practice was simply to number the folios consecutively through the book, so that fol. 7v is followed by fol. Ur, or, if roman numerals were used instead of arabic, fol. vii v is followrd by fol. vii r, and so on. But another method that had some advantage for the people who put the book together was to label each folio by its signature and its sequence in the signature. Each page is still individually identifiable. but the identification must specify signature, then folio, then side. This is the arrangement in Basurto's Dialogo. Thus, a citation to fol. b iii verso in a note below refers to

the back or left-hand side of the third leaf in the second signature. Motirrn readers should also know that medieval and sixteenth- century writers rarely used iv for roman numeral four, but employed iiii instead.

In the original,tht, title page is fol. a i recto; a facsimile of i t appears in Geneste's work, Pacing page 8. Frerly translated, the inscription reads "Live long in the world, oh noble house de Luna, with your famous men noted for fidelity ant1 strength! From your origins to now you have served your kings and have struck down the false thoughts of your enemies: with outstanding victories and with all your battle standards placed on the field [you] proclaim it."

". . . altrrrando u n prscador con u n ca~~al l r ro carador: alrgando cada u n o drllos UP cs su e x ~ r c i c i o mrjor. E jinalmcntr v i rnrn a concluyr: r n q u r el pr.rrador a ruego del car~allrro ra~ador : lr da por mrmoria la manera con q u r sc prsca: arzsi enla mar rromo rnlos rios, y 10s crhos dr todo rl an"o." (fol. a ii recto)

l o P. Geneste, see note 5, pp. 6-7

the angler illustrates with further references to the praiseworthy deeds of legendary and historic Spanish heroes, includ- ing, of course, members of the house of de Luna.17 His knightly opponent is van- quished and, abandoning the field, asks to be instructed in this new art.I8

Clearly, this is not the defense of angling familiar to readers of the English Treatyse.19 Where that text rather quickly compares angling to three other field sports, hunting, hawking, and fowling, Basurto's protagonists engage in their extended debate over but the two. The author of the T r e a t y s e criticizes just the laborious and physically dangerous aspects of the chase, while the Spanish angler emphasizes far more its morally and socially deleterious qualities. T h e same applies to the postive elements of the argument. Both texts praise fishingas a safer enterprise conducted in the pleasant surroundings of the riverside and offering benefits through its quiet and contemplative aspects. For Basurto, however, the advantages of angling lie still more in its intrinsic qualities of internal purification, which go beyond the secu- lar to the religious. His evaluation of the sport is cast in a social and cultural context broader than that articulated in the older English work. His angler speaks in terms of a whole social situation where conflict between individuals and the status of individuals affect choices and moti- vations. He assumes, too, a set of commonly known and appreciated cultural elements, ranging from the daily practice of religion to national patriotic myth. T h i s broad cultural awareness, even learnedness, is evidenced, too, in differ- ences in the two authors' use of illustra- tive e x e m p l a : what are in the Trea tyse mere moral tags and proverbs become in the D i a l o g o a rich collection of scriptu- ral, religious, and mythico-historical

allusions. Where the English text is direct, simple, even cryptic at times, the Spanish is elaborated, complex, even contrived.

Basurto's D i a l o g o , then, is a wholly autonomous cultural creation, distinc- tively an original product of its time and its situation. The form and content of the argument it develops are wholly attuned to the realities of sixteenth-century Spain. Here are the ardent religious faith, the national feeling with its strong historical and mythic roots, the sharp sense of social hierarchy and social responsibil- ity, and the feeling of individual pride. The defense of angling advanced there is one that could only have its origins in that context. Thus, independent of other known angling literatures, the D i a l o g o can document mentalities and practices in an early angling tradition hitherto virtually unknown.

So where does angling fit in the mind of Basurto (or his literary counterpart, the aged angler)? What are its features in his cultural milieu? The D i a l o g o records a recreation pursued with patience and enthusiasm by otherwise ordinary members of Spanish society. For Basurto, angling is unquestionably a recreational sport, not an occupation. Angler and hunter alike refer to it as recreacion, exercicio, d e l e y t e , and plazer . Its purpose, actually, is to give "recreation to the body"20 as well as to benefit the soul. Such is evidenced not only by the argument of the dialogue itself, but also by the motives to which the old angler in the Tratadico attributes his own longpartici- pation: "I have for some years practiced it in the sea and on land to escape some vices which are the burial of man and a perpetual prison of the soul."21

Basurto emphasizes the patience of the angler, but also displays his boundless

el~thusiasm for the sport. Patience is the principal theme of the preface to theTra- tadico, both with respect to waiting for the fish to be found in a takingmoodand to waiting for proper conditions before setting forth. Yet the patience is coupled with a strong sense of the mental concentration that makes the successful angler pay such close attention to his enterprise that it obliterates his worldly cares. "For so great is the attention which fishing demands and so enjoyable its delights that.. . one had no concern for tiredness, nor for sleeping, nor for not having slept, nor for one's loves, even if one is in love." Instead, the angler is watching his float for a bite, making sure his hook is drift- ing well, checking his bait, and doing all those things that his fishing demands.22

T h e angler's passion for his sport emerges not only in this sense of patient concentration, but also in his hyperbolic enthusiasm for everything about it. To the insinuation that the net-fishing Apostles were less than true anglers may be added the clever way Basurto's protagonist brags about his own tackle. "The butt section of the rod was cut from the wood of the tree of Jesse and its tip section was taken from the beard of the whale which swallowed the prophet Jonah. And the hairs of the line are woven from the blond hairs which Delilah cut from the head of Samson. T h e gourd which holds my wine is that beneath which Joseph rested when he went into Egypt. And here is the basket for my fish. It is the one which Saint Peter left on the bank when he went to follow Our Lord."Z3The tackle is to the angler as the arms to the knight himself. Yet that very enthusiasm, not confined to this angler, but character- istic of the sport, poses its own dangers of excess. Its fanatics must be reminded not to go fishing whenever the conditions look good. Those who work (10s m e n e s -

". . . e n les deiliant spCcialement aux feruents 6mules d u uieux p&heur." (P. Geneste, ibid., p. 29)

'2 P. Geneste, ibid., pp. 27 and 29 13 For a more elaborated discussion of the

debate, see P. Geneste, ibid., pp. 13-19. 14 Pues senor haueys de saber: q u e el cafar

es h u m a n o exercicio para recreacion del cuerpo: y aun para s u peligro: y el pescar diuino y humano: diuzno para saluar el anima: y h u m a n o para con reposo dar plazer a1 cuerpo." (fol. a iii verso)

15 "Pues pescando: n i se ofende dios: n i se agrauia el proximo: n i el pescador se destruye." (fol. a iiii verso)

16 The passage (fol. b iii recto) is a complex one, filled with Basurto's confusing diction and Aragonisms:

P[escador) Por lo q u e m e satisfaze: yo seiior lo concedo: por desiros: q u e aun q u e principes n i seGores n o han seguido m i exercicio: q u e n o han faltado santos y apostoles: q u e e n t iempos passados le siguieron: q u e es harto mejor q u e principes n i sesores.

S i n o mirad a sant Pedro y a sant Andres: si fueron pescadores: quando nuestro secor 10s l lamo diziendo q u e le siguiessen.

C[a~ador]: Bien tienes razon si de uara fueran pescadores: mas pues fueron de redes: n o cures de tener uanagloria de aquello.

P: Q u e donoso arguir: por poner dolencia en m i oficio. Pues mirad: yo os prometo a fe de pescador: q u e si como las hallo nuestro sefior pescando con redes: 10s hallar a pescando con uaras: q u e antes de llamallos: 10s mirar a c o m o pescauan. Porque n o solamente el pescar aplaze a1 q u e le trata: mas avn a1 q u e le mira. Ojas como con sus redes 10s hallo: q u e es pesca poco aplazible: qu i so por sus obras recogerlos: antes q u e n o mirallos.

C: T u tienes razon q u e 10s llamos: ... 17 Discussed at length in P. Geneste, pp. 19-24 18 Fols. c iv verso and c v recto 19 Compare with the argument outlined

above the introductory section of the

Treatyse as given in McDonald, Origins, pp. 134-145 and 184-191 (facsimiles and tran- scripts of the ms. and the first printed edition). Of course Basurto takes some thirty pages to do what the Treatyse covers in four.

20 Fol. a iii verso 21 See Richard Hoffmann's and Thomas

Cohen's translation of Basurto's " E l Tratadico de la Pesca," T h e American Fly Fisher, vol. 1 1, no. 3, hereafter referred to as Hoffmann and Cohen.

22 Fol. a iiii verso: P: Por q u e es tan grande la atencion q u e

pescando se requiere: y tan gozosa la delectation: q u e e n aquel t iempo se recibe q u e n i e acuerda el pescador de ofender a dios n i de prejudicar a1 proximo: n i aun de comer: porque n o le fatiga la hambre: n i de dormir aun q u e n o haya dormido: n i de sus amores. aun q u e sea enamorado. [Is this an ironic reference to the focus of the lover upon the beloved, common in popular romance?]

trales) should beware the failure toattend to their business; the clergy should not go every day unti l they have said their masses and prayers; the lawyers (10s letra- dos) should put their cases in good order first.24

Workers, clerics, lawyers-the old angler assumes that a cross-section of Span- ish male society is susceptible to the delights of angling. Like the angler himself, however, these men are commoners, not aristocrats. T h e sport lacks, for Basurto, the aristocratic identification of the hunt. His whole arcument aims to " challenge that social character, but at the same time serves historically to confirm it. Late medieval Spanish angling had its roots in social strata below that of the elite.25Thus i n this respect, too, Basurto's angler and his sport are very much part of the early sixteenth-century Spanish cultural milieu. The fishermen go to mass, know the national and religious myths and obligations, and are accustomed to dealing with their social superiors. Sport angling is not an exotic in sixteenth- century Aragon. T h e old man is ac- quainted with other anglersz6 and even, by implication, if it is not a literary con- ceit, with some writings of theirs.27 T h e sport of angling is a part, though an important part, of his everyday life, not an unusual import or a recent novelty. All that is novel is the notion that an aristocrat might join theangling brother- hood.

So how did Basurto and his fellow anglers in sixteenth-century Aragon actually practice their sport? Though barely noticed by Geneste,28 the Tratadico offers rich evidence on the quarry, tackle, baits, and presentation techniques.29

The early sixteenth-century Aragonese angler pursued several species indigenous to his area. Most commonly Basurto talks of barbel (barba) , the large cyprinid

C: Pues en que piensa durando tanto el oluido?

P: En muchas cosas que pescando se requieren: ansi como en mirar ala vela para conoscer por ella si pica el pescado: et si ua bien puesto el anzuelo: y en echar pan alos peces para ceuallos: y en otros grandes negocios que a1 pescar ala uara esta proueydo.

23 Fol. b iiii verso: "Que tiene un trogo que fue cortado de la planta y arb01 de Jesse: y el putal de arriba fue sacado dela barba de la ualiena que trago a Jonas prophets: y 10s pelos del sedal: son delos cabellos blancos que darida corto a Sanson: quando le priuo dela fuer~a: y esta calabacilla que ueys en que tengo m i vino: fue la que lleuaua Joseph: quando fue huyendo en egipto. Y esta cest a en que echo el pescado: fue la que se dexo sant Pedro riberas del mar quando siguio a nuestro se6or." (Payne and Garrison owners, eat your hearts out!)

24 See Hoffmann and Cohen, original fol. c vi recto

of running waters, with at least three dis- tinct varieties now recognized as native to the rivers he fished.30 He notes the prefer- ence of the larger specimens for relatively deep and slow-moving waters and repeat- edly urges theangler to have strong tackle for them. Then there are several other members of the cyprinid family, the tench ( t e n ~ a ) , ~ ' two species of nosefish (boga and madrilla),32 an Iberian subspe- cies of roach (bermejuela),ss and the more distantly related V a l e n c i a h i s p a n i c a (samarugo), which Basurto tends to treat as synonymous with the roach, although it is markedly more coastal in its distribu- t i ~ n . ~ ~ But for the tench, which Basurto mentions only once in passing, these small fishes are sought with light tackle in shallower and clearer water. Next to these varieties, he discusses angling in fresh water for trout ( trucha)s5 and for eel

25 Compare here the discussion of social qualities of early English angling found in Braekman, T h e Treatise on Angling in T h e Boke of St. Albans (1496). Background, Context and Text of "The treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle" (Brussels, 1980). p. 56, and Hoffmann, p. 5.

26 Basurto refers in the preface to the Tratadico (c vi recto) to the experience of many and great fishermen ("esperencia de muchos y grandes pescadores").

27 The effusive concluding paragraph of the Tratadico (fol. c ix recto, see Hoffmann and Cohen) desuibes the labor of its preparation: "my churning through of books has been great and the explications not small" ("y pues m i trmtornar de libros ha sido grande, y explicatiua no pequeza").

28 P. Geneste, p. 29: " A u dialogue proprement dit s'ajoute, ne l'oublions pas, le guide pratique, le guide initiatique demand; au pzcheur par le chevalier. C'est tres probablement l'un des plus anciens traite's de pZche espagnol. A notre connaissance, c'est le premier. I1 est riche

( a n g ~ i l l a ) . ~ ~ Also noteworthy among his quarry are the several sea fishes mentioned in the first chapter, for this looks to be the earliest record of saltwater sport fishing. Clearly identifiable among them, however, is only the dolphin (dorado).

These fishes of Basurto's recorded experience well locate the angler in space and in time. What he knows are varieties native to the Ebro basin of Aragon and to the coastal waters of neighboring and politically-linked Catalonia. Notably absent are those of more western Iberian distr ibution, like the salmon ( S a l m o salar) and several kins of cyprinids. Miss- ing, too, are two favorites of early northern angl ing writers, the pike ( E s o x luc ius) and the carp ( C y p r i n u s carpio); the former was introduced south of the Pyrenees du r ing the nineteenth and

d'un uocabulaire precis (auec quelques aragonesismes) et d'une science piscatoire que nous laissons aux entendus le soin d'appre'cier. O n ne lui demandera pas de qualit; lilthaire. Ses indications sur la manibre de prgparer des appats qui peuuent Btre maladorants ou malpropres, de les utiliser en telle ou telle eau, en telle ou telle saison, se prgtent peu aux charmants effets de style. Outre que la raaction semble parfois suiure la pensEe plutbt que l'exacte syntaxe. Une page cependant s'y dktache par son coloris. Elle note que 'las mariposicas de quatro cuernos' (les gphCrn?res) constituent la pitture fauorite des barbeaux, de telle sorte qu'il suffit nu piscator ingeniosus de mettre i profit 'l'inimitik' de ces insectes pour la lumie're a fin d'en faire large provision et, grace a' eux, de se regaler a satietbd'excellent Poisson. Ainsi est-il montre' auec Zuidence que les dits Zph2mkres ont ktk cre'es 'pour le seruice de l'homme'."

29 In the analytical summary of the Tratadico that follows, specific footnote citations to Basurto's work are mainly

Aragon countryside near Jaca i n the Pyrenees e . : * . ..grLe...# *

twentieth centuries, and the latter, also a n exotic import, in Basurto's time probably lived there only in enclosed and cultivated ponds.

Passing references a n d recommendations offer a n idea of the tackle used by the early sixteenth-century Spanish angler, gear carefully adjusted to thequarry and to the water conditions in which it was sought. T h e jointed rod had a butt of wood and a whalebone tip.37 Advice to use a long one for sea fishing from shore may suggest some variability in size. T h e (horse?) hair line certainly came in various strengths, with light tackle of only two hairs suggested in seeking nosefish or roach with small baits in clear waters a n d heavy gear of four hairs o r more favored for large barbel in deep or heavy water. Fly-fishing employed six strands, perhaps the better to facilitate casting the

fly. Hooks and sinkers, too, could differ in size as appropriate to the tactical situation. Of the former, Basurto advised carrying a half-dozen; the latter are most often described as being lead, though once a stone weight is mentioned. When needed to keep the bait off the bottom or to indicate a bite, the angler affixed to his l ine a suitable ve la (literally, "sail"), clearly a float o r bobber, but of substance unspecified.38 Even less identifiable to the modern reader is the sequidera ("follower") twice advised to be available to handle big barbel o n heavy tackle. Both passages imply that it is part of the tackle itself, perhaps a leader, but the use also suggests some sort of landing apparatus or even a ghillie.

Various k inds of bai ts provide the organizing principle for most of Basur- to's presentation i n the Tratadico. Al-

limited to passages from elsewhere in the Dialogo.

30 European Inland Water Fish. A multilingual catalogur. ed. M . Blanc et al., published by arrangement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (London. 1971). lists lor the Ebro basin Barbus barbus bocagei (no. 114), Barbus meridionalis (no. 138), and Barbus meridionalis graellsi (no. 139).

31 Tinca tinca is native to all of continental western Europe (European Inland Water Fish, no. 225).

32 Chondrostoma polylepis and C . toxostoma have overlapping distributions in the upper Ebro basin (ibid., no. 167 and no. 170).

33 Rutilus rubilio arcasii (ibid., no. 249) is the only member of this genus native to the Ebro basin. Note that Basurto does not mention any of the several closely related species inhabiting waters in the Atlantic drainage of the Iberian peninsula, all of which are known by their own vernacular names.

34 Ibid., no. 323 35 Salmo trutta fario inhabits the upland

headwaters of all major Spanish river systems; it is the only native resident salmonid (ibid., no. 50).

36 Anguilla anguilla is endemic to western Europe (ibid., no. 19).

37 Fol. b iiii verso (see note 22 above) 38 Fol. a iiii verso specifies the use of the

vela, "ansi como en mirar ala vela para conoscer por ella si pica el pescado ...."

3 9 Diez, Manuscrito de Astorga, pp. 18-21. Bergara recommends use of the fly from January through May and the Feast of San Juan (probably John the Baptist and hence June 24).

40 I have not been able to find bunal in Spanish dictionaries that go back to the eighteenth century. The closest name of a bird is buneto, which is defined as a "hedge sparrow" in Diccionario Nuevo de las dos lenguns espan"o1a e inglesa, (Madrid, vol. 1, 1798), p. 351, but I am informed that the two terms are not likely to be related. Of course the real problem here is that Basurto

though i n chapters two through four these have only a vaguely seasonal order, each is specified as useful for particular ~ -..-

fishes and most receive appropriate tactical recommendations. Basurto's angler

>

uses a n array of natural and prepared baits as well as the artificial fly.Thenatu- ral foods cover the gamut of small aquatic a n d terrestrial creatures , worms, nymphs, caddis larvae, crickets, centi- pedes, mature mayflies, ants, shr imp, squid, sardines, crabs, a n d small fish. Especially i n his lengthy discussion of a n evening emergence by what is likely to be some member of the mayfly family, "the l i t t l e w h i t e but terf ly w i t h four l i t t le horns which at night comes to the rivers," he displays remarkable qualities of observation and ingenuity, detecting the behavior patterns of both flies and fish and devising a light trap to obtain the insects for use as bait. Note, too, his sensible recommendation to chum with the bait upstream of the place where you are to angle. While the natural baits, taken as a group, are recommended as useful for all sorts of fish varieties, Basurtoemploys prepared baits, various animal products, fruits, algae, cheese, a n d bread paste, almost exclusively for barbel. His recommendations lack, moreover, theelaborate prepared stink baits o r semimagical con- coctions present in the English Treatyse and especially common in the northern continental angling literature of equiva- lent early date. Readers familiar with that material may sense a breath of fresh air in Basurto's complaints of the unpleasant- ness and bother in using a buried chunk of cow's o r goat's liver to raise maggots for bait.

Basurto's instructions for preparing an artificial fly are, of course, especially important historically and to readers of the Amer ican Fly Fisher. T h e passage dealing with fly-fishing demands rather

is probably using a name from a local Aragonese dialect.

41 Compare the much less informative tying instructions in the fifteenth-century English manuscripts, Harley 2389, fol. 73 v, and Rawlinson C 506, fol. 300, as given in Hoffmann, "A New Treatise," p. 4, from W. Braekman, The Treatise on Angling in Thr Boke of St. Albans (1496). Background, Context and Text of "The treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle" (Brussels, 1980). pp. 41 and 31. Contrast, too. the considerable problems in understanding the fly patterns of the Treatyse and early modern English angling writing published later and discussed at length in McDonald, Origins, pp. 103-132.

42 Beall, "The Document of Astorga," pp. 34-35

43 Fol. c viii verso 44 Hoffmann, "A New Treatise," pp. 4-6,

offers examples and discusses the English evidence. As noticed by Beall, "The Document of Astorga," p. 36, Bergara mentions the names of natural insects in

little i n the way of explication. T h e "feather" serves to catch trout in Aragon from April to August, a longer and later season than that advised byJuan de Ber- gara i n the Astorga manuscript from Leon a century later.39 Basurto's flies were tied with the soft hackles of capons, ducks, a n d the unidentifiable b ~ n a l , ~ O using colored silk that also formed the body a n d the head and , as elsewhere, bound the spade-end ( p a l e t a o r "little shovel") hook to the line. Hisdescription of the tying technique is perhaps the clearest of any early one. I n modern N o r t h Amer ican f lytying ja rgon , he seems to place the butts of the feathers o n the hook with the tips extending toward the front of it, to wrap forward over the butts to the spade end, and then to turn the tips u p and bind them backwards in making the head.*The bodies are wrapped of silk and ribbed with silk of another color.41 What remains ambiguous, however. is the extent to which Basurto's tech- ~, n i q u e matches t h a t n o w considered traditional i n Spain and used by George Beall to explicate the patterns of Juan de Bergara.42That style employs hackle barbules stripped from the stem, tied with tips to the rear, and then flared. Basurto certainly reverses the direction of the hackle o n the hook, but his reference to using "unas poqu i ta s de las plumas" m i g h t p laus ib ly be read t o describe stripped barbules rather than several whole feathers. Still, the result is indis- putably a silk-bodied fly encased in a fringe of feather materials.

Equally indisputable and more significant than the arcana of pattern design for Basurto's place i n the historical record of fly-fishing is his explicit philosophy of imitation. H e instructs the angler to go to the river, capture the natural flies, exam- ine their color, and (implicitly) select the corresponding artificial t o deceive the

trout. It is the same argument as that i n the fifteenth-century English manuscripts and, indeed, more sharply articulated than either that in the Treatyseor by Juan de Bergara.44 T h a t Basurto thinks i n imitative terms is further emphasized in his advice on presentation.

T h e few words in the Tratadico given to the tactics of fly-fishing are to be read in the context of Basurto's overall concern to adjust his presentation of a bait to the fish, the season, and the prevailing water condi t ions . T w o general techniques are used with both natural and prepared baits, fishing a1 andar and a la tendida. A bait is fished a1 andar ("at a stroll") with a line n o longer than the rod in water that is moving. Most of the time the angler employs a float and a relatively light sinker, but occasionally, as with the natural mayfly for trout, these are ex- pressly advised against. Basurto's intention is to present the bait in a selected part of the water, whether near the surface or a t some depth. It is apparently a dead- drift technique analogous to roving a nymph or a baitfish. As such, this con- trasts with fishing a la tendida ("at the stretch"), for the latter method uses more weight to keep the bait fixed in slow or dead water w i t h some d e p t h . O f t e n Basurto recommends using this still- fishing technique with large baits in tur- bid water for barbel. Hence Basurto's angler chose among methods and their application t o offer his bait effectively in different situations. H i s considerable interest in problems of presentation goes beyond that shown inother early angling writings.

But when Basurto discusses the artificial fly, he uses neither of his specialized terms for presentation. Instead, he instructs the fly fisher pursuing trout in clear, fast water to fish with the fly alone, "throwing down the stream and going

u p the stream with reasonable speed so that the feather goes along the top of the water to the upper part of the stream, for i n such a manner the trout eat real flies a n d s o we fool them w i t h ar t i f ic ial ones."'5 T h i s sounds close to classic wet- fly tactics, a downstream cast followed by drawing the fly u p into the surface film. And, again, the intention is fully clear. Basurto wants the trout to think his fea- thered creation, already chosen to imitate the color of the natural insects present there, is also behaving like them. Espe- cially when the angler's intentional skill a t manipulating his baits is recalled, such instructions are unparalleled i n the early angling record.46

What lace. then. i n the historical record of early European angling is pro- visionally to be allotted Fernando Basur- to, his Dialogo, and especially its practical Tratadico? T h e work of this retired Aragonese soldier documents for us a n independent continental sport-angling tradition virtually contemporary with the better-known English one. H e pro- vides a philosophically and technically coherent description of that tradition, using a n au tonomous a n d culturally congruent argument and a novel literary form-the dialogue-to p romote it. Basurto thus introduced thedialoge form to angling literature.47 In more substan- tive terms, Basurto 's wr i t ings yield important new evidence for the antiquity of marine sport angl ing, for detailed entomological observation, and for carefully reasoned tactics of presentation. Finally, in fly-fishing itself, he not only antedates by a century the evidence for a n independent Spanish heritage, he describes with a clarity of detail hi ther to unknown the consciously imitative tech- n i q u e s of f lytying a n d presen ta t ion therein.

setting forth his fly patterns, but the clear statement of an imitative philosophy is wholly lacking (compare the text in Diez, Manuscrito de Astorga, pp. 18-21).

45 Fol. c viii verso: "ech6ndola abaxo de rezial, y subie/ndola por el rio arriba con razonable presteza, de manera qur vaya la pluma arrasfrando por encima dr1 agua hasta lo alto del rezial, porque dr aquell manera se cerlan las truchas a las moscas verdaderas, que por esso las engagan conlas artificiales. "

46 The Treatyse, Rawlinson C 506, and Juan de Bergara i.gnore presentation entirely, while Harley 2389, fols. 73 r to v, mentions only that the fly is used in the upper part of the water. See Hoffmann, "A New Treatise," pp. 4 and 5.

47 Perhaps speculation here can suggest a direction for further inquiry. The dialogue form subsequently used by Walton has been shown to have been his borrowing from the anonymously published the Arte of Angling, 1577, ed. G. E. Bentley, intro. by C. 0. V. Kienbusch, notes by H. L. Savage

(Princeton. 1956), which has itself been identified by T. P. Harrison as the work of William Samuel, vicar of Godmanchester in Huntingdonshire circa 1150 to 1580 and a religious exile in Geneva circa 1556 to 1558 or 1559 ("The Author of 'The Arte of Angling, 1577'," Notes and Queries, 205 (1960), 373-376). But are there plausible links between the English Protestant clergyman of midcentury and the Aragonese Catholic soldier of a generation before? By 1539 the once-close relations between Spain and England had been chilled for nearly a decade through Henry VIII's repudiation of his Spanish wife, Catherine of Aragon, aunt of Charles V. But Catherine had died in 1536, and by 1543 the anti-French Anglo- Spanish alliance was restored. Following the death of the strongly Protestant Edward VI in the summer of 1553. English political opinion accepted Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, as queen. After lengthy negotiations Mary took as her husband in July 1554, the son and heir of Charles V, Philip of Spain. Though

Philip lacked enthusiasm for both the marriage and his wife, he remained in England with a Spanish and Netherlandish entourage for more than a year, seeking to participate in English governance and his wife's efforts to restore Catholicism there. He left England late in 1555 and, succeeding his father in rule over Spain and the western Habsburg possessions during the early months of the following year, did not again return to his wife in England before her death in November 1558. Philip I1 did, however, briefly thereafter pursue a marriage with his late wife's half-sister and successor. Elizabeth I. (See P. Pierson, Philip 11 of Spain (London. 1975). pp. 27-36.) Could a copy of Basurto's writings on angling have come to England with a follower of Philip or a Spanish envoy? Remember that the sole example known today is bound with a work on Spanish aristocratic families of the same vintage. It would be an irony.

*See illusfration in the American Fly Fisher. 1101 . 11. no. 3, p. I?.

T o the Editor: Last year I made a n 18-foot rod and a

20-foot horsehair tapered line of the kind that would have been usetl in thcs seven- teenth century in England by fishermen like Charles Cotton (who wrote thc fly- fishing chapters in Walton's Complrnt Analrr).

T h e fly I used was Cotton's Blue Dun, which I dressed on a #10 hook, though I used rabbit-fur dubbing instead of dog's hair.

T h e first th ing I discovered when I fished with this outfit was that I could cast a fly much better than I had rxpc~cterl. I could not cast into a wind, hut I could cast across a moderate wind ; ~ n d lay out a fairly s t ra igh t l ine. 'Thr scscorid, a n d important, discovery was that thr horsehair line would not sink. Only the fly sank, about half a n inch toan inch below the surface, as the floating line kept i t from sinking farther. By using a thinner wirr hook and a mort. huovant rnaterial than fur, it would have been possible to have kept the fly right in thrsurfacefilm. Flies fished with braided horsc,hair float very near to o r on the surface ant1 are qu i te visible to the angler. I f anyone wanted to describe the way thr fly fished, then I would have been correct in saying that it floated downstream. I was also reminded, strongly, of what onc.of Crom- well's commanders. Robert Venables, wrote in 1662:

... fish will somctimcs take the fly much better at the top of the water, and a t another time a little better under the superficiesof thewater ....

What surprised me was that, in effect, we were dealing here with floating flies- on small hooks and light ciressingson the top of the water, on larger hooks and more absorbent dressings a little under

the surface of the water. I did not realize the full implications of what I had seen until a few months later when I read a n article by the English fly-fishing historian Jack Heddon.

T h e article makes clear the distinction between the floating fly and the dry fly.

T h e term dry fly was first used in a n angling textbook by a Drvon fisherman, (I;. P. R . Pulman, in 1841. Hewrotethat if the soaked fly sank too deep, then it was best to take a dry fly from the box and tie it on. Also, if the line was soaked, then several false casts would throw off "the superabundant moisture."

T h e distinction that Heddon makes between the flies that Pulman was using and those designed by Marryat and Hal- ford for the Hampshirerivers in the 1870s is that the Halforcl patterns were specifi- cally designed to float o n their hackle tips and to ride the stream with their wings cocked. Marryat and Halford used very light materials, such as qui l l , for the bodies, t o a id presentat ion; a n d the upstream dry-fly fishing of the kind they advocated was made possible only by the use of the heavy braided and dressed silk lines made first i n the l J n i t e d States. Thirty years earlier Pulman's lines were made of undressed silk and horsehair, a very different mixtnre.

There is far more to the srlbject than this brief summary. Heddon's analysis will be given in T h r Encyclopedin of Fly Fi.rhing, which Batsford of London will be publishing next year. However, if the distinction betwcen the floating fly and the dry fly is valid, which I think it is, certainly American anglers would have been fishing floaters long before Halford sent his patterns to Theodore Gordon.

Sincerely, Conrad Voss Bark T h e Times Sports Desk London, England

Artist in Residence In case you hadn't noticed, we'd like to

bring to your attention the fine pen-and- ink drawings preparetl for 11s by Allan Hassall, which were used in illustrating t h e H o f l m a n n - C o h c n t rans la t ion of Basurto's "El Trntndico dr In Pescn" and Walter Wethrrcll's "Take a Writer Fish- ing" (SCY the American Fly Fishrr, vol. 1 1 , no. 3) . Wr would also like to take thc opportunity to tell you a little bit about Allan. In addition to his previous contributions to the Amrrican Fly Fi.rhrr, he has had illustrations appear in Rod & Rer l , Fly Fishrrnznn, Fly Fishing thr M'est, Ontar io Outdoors , and Doublc Haul. H e is c~rrrrntly a fine-arts teacher and free-l;~nc-e illustrator, living in Tcr- race. British C:olumbia, with his wifeantl two sons. H r holds a bachelor of arts dcgrce lrom the ITniversity of Guelph ant1 slxnds much of his free time either pa in t ing watrrcolors o r fly-fishing for salmon and steelhe;~d. More of his exct4- lent artwork appears in this issue of thc Amrrican Fly Fi.shrr.

Corrigenda In an effort to keep the record straight,

wc notc the following corrections to thr translation by Richard Hoffmann and Thomas Cohen of Basurto's El Trntadiro dr la Pe.scn in the Arnrricnn Fly Fi.shrr, vol. 1 1, no. 3, p. 13: endnote nine shoultl read Chrysophrys, and endnote twenty- six shonld read Nudos. 5

The American Museum ,of Fly Fishing I . I

I ' , ' . ,> . I

11

L

" I

I ' I ,

':A New, ,View , I

I*

S o m u c h has happened at T h e American Museum of Fly Fishing in recent years that we're using this special section of our quarterly American F l y Fisher to bring our many new friends u p to date. Above is a chronology of fly reels spanning almost two hundred years

'I ' i n our recently renovated galleries.

About the Museum First incorporateel as a nonl)rofi t , celuc.ational

i n s t i t i ~ t i o n in 1968, .I'lic~ A n i c r i ~ ~ i ~ r i M I I S ~ ~ I I I I I o f Fly Fishing is now Iiomc to the- \~~orlcl 's forenlost ~)ul)lic- collcc.tio~i o f historic. fly-fishing tac.klts, l)ooks, ~)criotl- icals, and related itcsrns. We've ~ ) r c ~ ) ; ~ r c c I this sl)ccial supp lc~ncn t t o the ,,I nzr>ric.ctt~ Fly F i . s l ~ ~ r , o t ~ r cl~~;u.tc~rly pul)lic,ation, as a mcs;llis of introdr~c.ing o i ~ r rnany new friends a n d suppor ters to the Museum. Wi th in th is scsc.tion you'll f ' i ~ l c l news o f c.rlrr.c5nt M useurn affairs ant1 :I c.olorfu1 tou r o f o u r new c~s11il)ition gi~l lcr ics tllat o p c ~ i e t l in May o f 1984. O n th is ~):igc arcs some f;~c.ts a l l o ~ ~ t the Milscum that you nlay find 1)oth informative iuncl rntcrt ;~ining. Wcl~~ornc!

T w o things o f spcc.i;~l signific.:uic.c~ have rvolvcel at the Mi~scurn within the I):ISI two years. .I'llc first is the ~ ) ~ ~ r c I l ~ ~ s c o f o u r ~xr~n ; i r l cn t horn(-, inclc~jcntlcnt of any other o rgau iz ;~ t ion o r i ~ l s t i t u t i o ~ l . -1'hc sc.c.o~itl is t h e elr\~clor)rncnt o f o u r National Eshil)it Program.

c ~ l i i l)its l ~ c l ) l ; ~ c . c ~ c l I'rorii t i ~ i i c to t irlic* ;1rot111(I t he' c.o111itry in ~ ~ o ~ l j ~ ~ n c t i o r l ~vi t l i ot11c1. r ( ~ s ~ ) o ~ ~ s i l ) l c i~lst i- t ~ ~ t i o n s . .I'llc c811tirc coilntry c.:in't ( ~ ) n i c to t l i c ~ M L I S ~ Y I I ~ I . so the M ~ I S ~ T I I ~ I is going t o tlic ( . o i ~ ~ i t ~ . y - t ; ~ k i ~ l g t h t ~ r i ( . h hcrit:igc~ o f fly-fishing to as ni;iny ~ ) c ~ ) ~ ) l c ' its is 1)rac.ti- c.ally ~x)ssi t) l t~.

For cs;inil,le, i l l it(lclition to rn;tiiitaining c.sllil)its in M:unc.hcstc~r, we now c~sliiI)it c*vcbry sumlncr at thc~ Int t~l~nat ion;~I Fly Fishing ((:c-ntcr ( ~ n a i n t a i ~ i c ~ d I)y tilt- Feelerat i on of I:ly I:isllc~rs) in West Ycl lowstonc~, Mo~ltaria-one o f the, t r i ~ c ~ c.i~ossl.oatls o f c.ontc.ml)orary fly-fislling. \4'c also re(.e~itly l):~rticip:~tecl in slio\vs ;I[

the (:atskill I;ly 1;ishing <:crite~r in Kos(.oc, New York, the, Atltlison (;;~llcry ill i\ntlo\~cr, Massac~hi~setts, :inel the, Bc1.kshi1.c. M ~ ~ s c ~ u r n in Pittsl'ir.ltl, Mi~ssat.lir~sc~tts.

IZ'c* arc now ~ v o r k i n g wit I1 the i\c-:~tlc-rriy ofS(.ic.nc.c-s in Sari Fr;ulc.isc.o o n a ~ n a j o r c ~ s l ~ i I ) i t i o i i sc.llc~elr~lc~el to I)r. I l c , l t l there (Illring the summc,r of I!)85. 0 r 1 r ~ ) l ; ~ n is for

O u r new hc$acl(l~~:ir- tcrs, slnown o n I his l)agcb, are o n the main street of M:tnc~liestcr, V e r m o n t , a(ljac.c~nt to the, historic. Ecluinox I Io tc l (wl1ic.h is c .~~rrc~nt ly i lntlcrgoi~ig an c~iglltcen-nlillio~i-clol- 1. '11 . ~ c s t o r ; ~ t i o n ) . . ~ I n t i l 1!)84 t he Mt~scun l renteel cs1iit)it ion sp:ic.c nebst to

this s l io~v t o si11)sc~cluc~nt- ly tri~vcl to other ~ntisc~- 11111s ;~ci-oss the ( .o i~ntry c111ri11g 1985 ;tntl 1986.

,111 o f these ac.ti\,i- tics ;ire c~sl)c~isivc-. I t Ilas l)cen t l i r o r ~ ~ l i tllc gcncbr- oils si~l,port of Inany in- tlivielu:~ls ;~n t l c.orl)or:t- I ions t hat o u r opebrat i ng l)~icIgt~t h:~s grown to ill-

thcOrvis retail storca, ;11)ot1t ;I l ialfnlilc~ from o u r 1)rcSscbnt cluartcrs. T h i s I c ~ c l m:tny 1)col)lc to t h e c 3 r r o n e o t ~ s c.onc.li~siori that we3 wtSrc :ill "Orvis M I I S ~ I I I I ~ . " 'I'lie 111ncric.an Mttsc i~m of Fly Fisliing is, o f cot~rsc, :I tot;~lly iiielcl~critlcnt inst i t r ~ t i o n ~ v i t l i ;I 1)oartl o f t r i t s t t ~ s national in scope. In pr~rc.h:ising o u r new I)~iileling in November of 1983, the Board of Trustees took a major s t e p ill cn l i anc . i~ ig o r ~ r inlitgc, a s a n i11tlcpcntlc.nt organization.

Now, for the first tirnc, cxhiI)itio~is, thcc~ollcction, oul- lil)rary, a n d :~cIrninistrativc functions are all uneler onr. roof . A l so for t h e f irst t ime , the* Museurn is ; i c l e q ~ : ~ t c l y covered by sophist ic.ated sys tems for pIlysic.al s t ~ c ~ ~ r i t y :1ncI fire protc(.tion, linked tlircctly t o the nc;~rhy police :inel fire elc~)artrncnts.

A C:al)ital Funcl, s c ~ , ; ~ r a t c from any o1)crating funds, was csta1)lishctl ill 1983 t o ~)urc.hasc, rel)air, rc~uov:itc, I u r n i s h , anel o t l le rwisc~ (.over tllc c,osts assoc.i:itctl with o ~ r new l)t~ilcling. 'l'llis f1111cl (.;~rrics ;I fi\.c-year goal o f $250,000, o f wliic-I1 $75.000 was raiseel almost in~rncdi;itcly to pc r~n i t oc.c.ilp:incy. 'I'llc~ 1):tl:uic.c' o f f 175,000 is t11c su1)jcc.t o f an origoing c.;trnl);tign, ;uicl we look forward t o its suc.c.cssful c.onclusion dur ing 1987 o r sooner.

O u r new he;~d( luar ters offer a solitl I ~ a s c for ;I

scc-onel important t lc~vc~lo~~nlcnt: the National Esl1il)it I'rogram. In 1983. rc(.ogni/.ing I lie M~IS(,IIIII 'S (.o~lsti- ttlcnc,y to I)e, nation;~l--c~\~c.n intr.ruationaI, thc~'1'rtistccs ;~elol)tccl its a 111;itte*r of ongo ing policy t I i ; ~ t ri111sc111n

low tllc~sc cs~)antlc~tl ~)rogriuiis. I n 1979 I IicMusct~rn I l ; ~ t l all ol)el.;~t ing I)t~elgct of$255,00. For o u r ( . L I I . I . ~ I I I 1 !)8~1-85 fisc.ii1 yesat., ou r I)o;~rtl atlo~)tt~cl a n operating I)r~clgct of $244,700-almost a tenfold increase i n six years.

We, take o u r I)rlsincss :is :I rnuscunl seriously. O u r f11Il-ti1nc8 sti~l'f o f 11i1.c-c :~tllici.(-s stri(-tly t o 1)rofcssio1i:11 st;inelarcls o f Inrlsctlni c.ontluc.t anel c ~ ~ r a t o r i a l (.:ire. \.lie, also l)cslong to anel work with sr~c.ll org;~niz:~tions as the i\nicric.an ilssoc.iation o f Muse-urns.

A ~)~-ol'c-ssio~i:~l st:ifl'. New hc~:itlclt~:~rtc~~.s. K:ipitlly growing cslli1)ition ~)rogr;~nls. Fin:~n(.i:~l so1111c11ie~ss. M'ca'\.c ;~c.c.ornplisIictl rn11t.h in o u r sistc~cn-year Ilistory. But thearc's 111r1c.h riiorc t o 1)c tlonc. IVe elcpcnel totally o n clircct 1)11l)lic. s ~ ~ l ) l ) o r t , :inel the- fig111 for iitle.cluatc ft111cI- ing is 11c\.cr encling. If yoti iire~~i't a incrnl)c~i. o f the Mu- sculn, you'll fintl ; t r i al)l)lic.ation forrn o n thc~ fac.ing 1);1gc. O r pcrl1:rps yo11 have a fric>ntl ivho shot~l t l 1)cc.ornc ;I ~i~c~iil)r.r-i~ntL i.ccc*ivc the ,.I I I I ( ~ Y I ( ~ I I Fly Fi.sltor ( I~I ; I I - - tcrly-our lanel~nark pi~l)lic.;~tion that has t\vic.c Ivan

clcssign aiv;trds frorn the, ~)r in t i r lg inelr~stry. C;ifts to tllc M ~ I S ~ * I I I ~ I c.an 1 ) ~ ~ i i i i e l ( * in ril~iny \v;tys-

from 1)t~clrct~sts to c.;tsh to c . o l l t s c - t i l ) l c s tac.klck to fine fishing a1.1-fo1. \.c8ry gc.nc.i':~l or \.c.ry sl)c.c.il'ic. 1)t1r1)ost's. 'l'lic); ;II.(. all tax c l r c l ~ ~ c - t i l ) l c s ;IS ~ ) ~ . o \ ' i t l c ' c l 1'01. I)y law. Y o l ~ r museum needs the suppor t of all its friends-old a n d ~ l c ~ \ v - i ~ i this tinie~ o f i.;il)i(I groiv111.

Annual Meeting News I I i g l ~ l i g l ~ t s o f then M I I S ( . I I ~ ' s ;111n11al

I ~ ~ ~ \ i n c . s s 111c.t.ti11.c: ill ItI;~r~c.hc*stc*r. \'(*I.-

m o n t , o n Sc~) tc .~nI)c . r 8 . I!)XS, ~ 'c1 .c ' ;IS follo\vs:

'1'rustc.c~~ c.lcc.t(~l to a thrc.c,-ye;tr trr111: D a n ( : a l l ; i ghan , Koy I). < : l ~ ; ~ l ) i n J r . , <:hristophor C:ook, C:harlc.s R . Eic.llcl, J o h n I<r~stic.cs, A r t h r ~ r 'I'. 1:rc.y. Samuel <:. Johnson. D;~vitl R . I.ctllic, l l l i o t 1.iskin. LV. H:~r~.ison Mchn, M.D., C;:trI A. N:tv;~rre JI . . , \Villard F. Koc.k~\.c~II J r . , Sr th Koscsn- I ) ; I~ I I I~ , Kcitll RUSSCII, I'c.tc.rMf. St1.011, Kc.11- ncbtt R. I ~ ~ I S O I ~ , ;lnd Sanl Van Nc.ss.

Nc.~\r offic.c.1-s c.lrc-tc.tl t o ;I oncb-ycS;~r term: ( ; ;~r( lncr I , . C;I.;III~ ( < ~ I ~ : ~ i r r n : ~ n o f t h r 130;1rcl), Art1111r '1'. 1;l.c.y (I'rc~sicI(~nt), \V. Mic .h ;~ r l Fitzgc.r;~lt l (Vic.c I'rr 'si(lc.~lt). 12eigh 11. Pr l -k in? ( ' l ' ~ - r ; ~ s i r r c ~ ) , I an D. M;~c.kay (Sc.c.rrtary), ;~~ld( :ha~- l (as K. Eic-11c.l (,\ssist;~nt Sc.c.rct;~~-y <:lcl.k).

O u t g o i ~ ~ g Prc.sicl(nrlt <;i~rtl(-ncr C;r;111t h o n o ~ . c ~ t l -I'rrrstc*c,s Kol)cs~.t Brrc.kni;~stc~r

:untl I'irn R<~tlfortl with 1'1.esitlcnt's Pills in 1.c.c.og11it io11 o f thc.ir sc.rvic.c to thc. Mu- ?,c~lllll.

Kc.(.ogni/ing tI1;1t $1 75,000 ~ ~ . I I I ; I ~ I I S to I)(, ~.;~isc.tl f o ~ . the. Mr~sc.ilrn's <:;~pit;~l Funtl, t h r tt~ustccs cst;~l~lisl~ccl a (:apir;il Funel <:o~nrnittec. co-c.h;~irc.d by Ko1)c.r.t Ruc-k- m;tster ant1 C;:trclnc5r C;r>unt.

11 Polic-y Kcview C:om~nittc.c., c.o-c.haircbtl I)y I;tn Mackay ;untl <:h;~rlrs Eic.1ic.l. was es tabl ished to review cu r ren t m u s e u m polic-irs iuntl by-la~vs, wi th sl)e(-i;~l 1-rI'cr- rnc.cs t o thc. c.ollcc.tio~~, LIIICI to ~.c.c.orn~nc>ncl c h ; ~ r ~ g e s at the, I l c s s t ; ~ n n u a l ~ n e r t i n g .

An o l ) r r ;~ t ing I)utlgct of $244,700 was adopted by the Trustees for the 1984-85 fisc.al yew.

.I'liat c~vcning the. first ar~c.tion ;tlinncsr of o u r c.urlcbllt series was li(4tl in M;III- c.h[%st el.. At tc*ntlanc.c. was ;I I-c.c.ortl 75 1)c'1'- s o n s , ancl g r o s s ~,rocc.c*tls we~.c. ;111orlt

$1~1,000. ;1ls0 ;I rc.c.01-(I.

Excerpts from the Execut iue Director's Annual Report 1 N ' ~ U O D ~ I ~ ~ I ' I O N

'I'hr Anleric.;ln M u s r r l ~ n o f Fly Fishing has cnjoyc.tl a n c.straortlinarily s~rcrc.ssful y w r . .I'Iie officers, trustees, staff, mcm- l )c~s , ant1 I'rirntls of the Milsc.ilm have all c.ont~-il)ictc~cl sul)stantially to this suc.c.ess, c.ac.h in his 01- h r r o w n wily. Among many otl irr things, we have rczachc.tl o u r long- s t a ~ ~ t l i n g goal of intlcpc-ntlrnce from the O r v i s <:orril,;~ny, w1iic.h n u r t u r c t l t h c Mrlserrrn rxtensivc*ly for sixteen year-s. . I l ~ e Mrrsc~u~n now st;~nels o n its own as a n ol)cr:~ting csntity in virtu;~lly every aspc'c't, r;111gi11g fro111 1);1per clips to 11ayroll.

Among the highlights of the past ycSx have 11c.c.n: Rvc-o~ning inclcl~cr~tlent of

r . o t r l i t r r i r ~ d

A: It 's a 19th-century "gut-twisting engine" as described in a recent issue of thc Amrrican Fly Fi.~hrr, thc magazine of T h e Americarl Museum of Fly Fishing. T h e Museum is the only national, nonprofit insti tution devoted exclusively to the collection, preservation a n d exhibit ion o f fly-fishing history. I n addition to o u r q i~a r t e r ly mcmhcrship magazine, thc

obtain a sample copy of o u r publ i ra t io please use the coupon below.

Join the Museum! Associate Sustaining Patron Sponsor Sample Copy [ ] $20 [ ] $30 [ ] % I 0 0 [ ] $ 2 5 0 [ ] $ I

Y ,,,, r ,,8r,,,/,cr,/,,p f,.,. ,, I,,, , / ~ ~ , I , , , l l / ~ l ~ . OT?,,~,,.,,, ,,,,~,,,/,,T, p/,.,,,,. , , , / ,IS?$ I,, 118,. ,,,c,,,/,,.,,/,,/, ,,,IP,, ,,,,,I , ,~ , , , , l ,,, 1 ' . .Y ft,r,,/.,. . - - . . .. - .. - . .. --

In the Galleries . . . Below, our " R o d Shop," w h i c h is a display collection of late-nineteenth-century rodmaking paraphernalia. Included is a n original Leonard rod from Bangor and a few tools w e belieue t o have come from Hi ram Leonard's first rodmaking s h o p i n Maine.

Beloul (i?~.set) zs our receptzon area at the entrance. T h e galleries are con.stantly attended by our staff durzng publzc hourr. T h e larger photo shows a portzon of a rod dzsplay case and a lo-i~ely Krzder z~alzse rod ( a recent acquzs~tzon) . T h e bottonz photo zs a long zjzezu of one gallery, zn z ~ ~ h z c h a z~zsztor euamznes our 1893 Mary Onlzs Marbury fly and photo panels, one of our more popular dzsplay ztems.

John Vrids (pmPh@ & mr'** -d&e" d l Q : fa AllpFIIIWW*

continued Excerpts from th :e Executive Director's Annual Report Orvis Purchasing, renovating, occu- pying, and opening our building Clos- ing our fiscal year o n June 30, 1984, with a balanced budget Successfully com- pleting the first phase of o u r Capital Fund Program Increasing our membership Aggresively beginning o u r National Exhibit Program Continu- ing to run and expand our very successful Auction/Dinner fundraising events.

In every aspect of our operations, T h e American Museum of Fly Fishing is i n better condit ion now than ever before, with a n increased visibility both at home and across the country that helps to fuel our sustained and exceptional growth.

ORVIS AND T H E MUSEUM T h e late Arnold Gingrich, a former

president of our board, wrote in 1973:

T h e fact tha t the Mu.reum i.r comple te ly separated from the O r z ~ i . ~ Company, with a goz~erning body and membership drawn from the general public, has been hard to get across during the formatiue period when the O r i ~ i i Company has perforce done more for it, in getting it started, than anybody else. But the Omis Company has made it c l ~ n r , from the ozttset, that the ultimate aim is a completely self-sufficient organization."

I am delighted toreport that during the past year, with considerable assistance and encouragement from Orvis, that self- sufficiency has been largely achieved.

T h e Museum owes a substantial debt to those many Orvis employees who have assisted us greatly over the years. Perhaps the greatest debt of all is due Orvis Com-

A Brief History of

Fmnklztz Onus at the drrk of the Equznor Hotel, czrtn 1870

pany president Leigh Perkins, whose vision helped to establish the Museum in the first place and whose perserverance and patience have helped to bring us to the independence tha t we presently enjoy.

MEMBERSHIP AND MAGAZINE We had a slight increase in member-

ship during the year. O u r magazinecontinues to beof excep-

tional quality, especially when considered in the light of our relatively small membership. Trustee David Ledlie, our editor, is doing a n outstanding job in maintaining and upgrading the quality of our publication.

It is important to remember that for people who d o not see the Museum itself, the magazine is the most visible sign of o u r existence. We can all be proud of projecting such a n excellent image.

NATIONAL EXHIBIT PROGRAM At our 1983 Annual Meeting, in addi-

tion to voting to purchase permanent headquarters in Manchester, Vermont, the Board of Trustees wisely recognized, since our constituency is essentially an international body of fly fishers, that a n aggressive National Exhibit Program would be appropriate. Tha t program was adopted as a matter of policy, under which T h e American Museurn of Fly Fishing will exhibit around the country and beyond in conjunction with responsible institutions. T h e aim of this pro- g r a m is to reach as m a n y people a s possible.

Since that time, we participated i n exhibitions at the Addison Gallery in Andover, Massachusetts, and at the Berk- shire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachu-

setts. Wc also fulfilled our cornmitmcnt to exhibit in conjunction with the Feder- a t ion of Fly Fishers at their facility in West Yellowstone, Montana.

T h e most immediate and important project un[Icr this program is thc tlevel- opment of a large exhibit at the Academy of Scienccs in C;oldcn Gates Park in San Francisco to be shown from J ~ l n e through Sevtember of 1985. It it our intention that San Francisco will he the first stop for this exhibition a n d that it will travel from city t o ci ty , possibly Port lant l , Denver, Cleveland, Detroit, and New York, on its way back to Manchester.

T H E CAPITAL FIIND At our 1983 Annual Mccting we estab-

lished a short-term capital funtl goal of $75,000. I'm delighted to report that from cash donations, donations of securities, ac.crued interest, and pletlges we reachetl that goal. Note that the total t)udget for the C;al~ital Fund was $250,000. T h i s leaves 11s with a $175,000 balance to he raisc,tl. Of this figure, the largest amount is our mortgage, which prcscsntly stands at $1 19,000.

SPECIAL PROJECTS We have embarked this year on one

special project that I expect will eventu- ally produce a substantial amount of income for the Museum, in addition to providing a service to the angling com- munity in general. In my last Annual Report, I suggested that we might at some time publish catalogs of the Muse- um's collections and sell same. One of our members, J im Brown of Stamford, Connecticut, is a n authority on antique reels. In r e t ~ ~ r n for his expenses, he has agreed to assist us in putting together a

Equinox's Spa and Pavilion Builchng- by M a y Bort

I n Manchester , Vermont , o n M a i n Street and north of the Equinox House (a splendid, enormous old hotel-the heart of the complex that is presently undergo- ing extensive restoration) sits a modest, white clapboard building that houses the new headquarters of T h e American Mu- seum of Fly Fishing. T h e Spa and Pavil- ion Building, as it wasoriginally known, was erected shortly after the First World War o n a plot of ground adjacent to the small, yellow brick building (next to the Equinox complex a n d formerly C. F. Orvis's tackle store) that now houses the Johnny Appleseed Bookshop. T h e build-

ing has a many-windowed pavilion at the rear that was attached to a n enclosrd front courtyard where products of the Equinox Spr ing Water Company were displayed.

A drinking fountain fed directly from the springs on Equinox Mountain was the central feature of the spa. T h e Equi- nox Spring Watcr Company advertised its product as highly beneficial to one's health and producecl laboratory analysis ant1 numerous testimonials commending its restorative powers. Naturally efferves- tent , the springwater also formed the base for several soft drinks, one of which was a nonalcoholic ginger champagne. Although begun at a time when mineral springwaters were very popular and considered to have grcat health benefits, the

tatalog of our reel tollection, which we expect to p ~ ~ b l i s h late In 1985. This will President's Report to the Mern bership be a descriptive catalog of our approximately 400 reels and will contain black- and-white photographs of a majority of thern. There is a t present no such catalog in existence, and all of us are in Jim's debt-not only for his contribution to o u r knowletlge of the his tory of fly- fishing, but for what will also ;lnioLlnt to a substantial financial contribution.

IN CLOSING I wish to direct some closing remarks to

two specific areas. One is is the acknow- ledgement of two friends. T h e other the role of the Trustees in general.

One of these friends is Garclner Grant, who will n o longer serve as president of the Museum, but will become chairman of the board. Gardner's tenure as presi- tlent of T h e American Museum of Fly Fishing has been a time of revitalization ancl progress. My hat is off to our new chairman for the trementlous energy he has directed toward the Museum's growth during the past few years.

I welcome also a new friend to the pres- idency of the Museum, Art Frey of San Francisco, with whom I havcs enjoyctl working during the past year, who certainly is an eminently q~lalified atltlition to a distinguished line of museum officers.

Finally, it is my sincere hope that all the Trustees realize that as the Museum grows, their roles as the Museum Trustees t)erome more-not less-important. It has been through the efforts of the trustees that the Museum has ~~rospered . 'I'he continuation of our prosperity clrpentls on the c o n t i n ~ ~ a t i o n of that effort.

Rrsprctlz~lly .sz~bn~ittrd, Jotrn hlrnoin E . Y C ~ I L ~ ~ ~ J C I)irfctor

T h e executive director reported o n our progress for the past year, and you can see part of what we have accomplishecl in our new heatlquarters here in Vermont. T h e Anieric-an Museurn of Fly Fishing has atlv;~rlc.c~tl to the point whrrc it has a vial~lc. 1)rograni t o exhihi t a t major l)o1)11lat ion ccmters across the country. We 11:1ve rnatlc grcat strides.

Now i t is tirrie to turn the reins over to new leadership, hut before doing this, I lnrlst exprcss my personal gratitude and that of the Muscum to those who have m;~tlc all of this possi1)lr:

'1-0 my fellow .I'rustees, past a n d prcscnt, who have given their time, their financ.ial support , ant1 their expertise, ancl who willingly shoulderrtl so many of ~ L I I t;~sks when :lskcd to Icntl :I hand.

'Ii) Laura Towslt>e, o u r longtime secretary, who kept our l ~ o o k s ant1 re- c.ortls. She kept LIS on roursc arid clid so ~ n u c h more for 11s than the title implies- ;ill without compensation ant1 proper re- c.ognition.

'I'o P:iul S c l i ~ ~ l l c r y , o u r former e x e c ~ ~ t i v e director, w h o estal)lished the standartl of escrllcnce and I)I-ofessional- isrn that c.ontinurs in our magazine, our curatori:11 d~~ticas, ant1 our exhibition pro- gl-am.

'1'0 Ilick FinI;~y, liow ;~ssoci;~te c11r;l- tor, tIi : t t Inan of all seasons, our secret 1)c.nc.h strength, who fills in so wc5ll in so Inany arc3;ls when wc n'ctl him.

T o David Ledlie, o ~ ~ r editor, who h ;~s c.ontinued an effort that rnystifiesme. I can't untlerstand how a n organization with such a small mcmbrrship can publish a magazine of this quality without going broke. David does it!

T o J o h n Merwin, o u r executive director, whose first year o n the job has b rought s u c h achievements that o u r en thus iasm for the Museum's fu ture under John's direction has to be at a n all-time high.

T o Martha Poole Merwin, whose marvelous design skills are so much in evidence in our headquarters and magazine. If John plays his cards right, she will influence our exhibition program and future expansion.

T o Leigh Perkins, whose vision recognized the role and the need for this museum. His leadership and support made it a reality. Leigh and Romi have been the heart and soul, thesine qua non, of our formative years. T h e contributions of this "dynamic duo" have been so great over such a long a period that my words of appreciation can't begin to match their deeds.

T h r future is bright. Fly-fishing is increasingly enjoyed all across our country. While the Museum, like fly-fishing, has eastern roots, our leadership andsup- port are now coming from all sections. We are a national institution, and our goal is to bring the heritage, theartifacts, the ethics, the art, the writing, the appreciation, a n d enjoyment of life-all of which are a part of fly-fishing-to the greatest number of people across this land.

Although I am stepping down as president, I intend to step u p my support and commitment to this museum. I urgeall of you to d o the same. T h e progress we celebrate today is but a forerunner of the achievements we shall celebrate tomor- row, given your help.

Gardner L. Grant Prr.cidrnt

the Museum's New Headquarters cnterprise did not prove to he of lasting financial benefit to thc cornpany, ancl it was a1);uidonetl in 1927.

T h e spa was a favorite gathering placc for hotel gursts, and the pavilion area became the f o a l point for summer com- munity activity. A successful exhibition of work by loc;~l artists, sponsoretl by liotc~l patrons in 1923 ant1 held on the lawn of the Equinox House, was followed hy similar exhibitions heltl in the p;~vilion for the next ten ycsars. T h i s sl,o~isorship led to the formation of a formal organization, the So~~thc , rn Vrrmont Artists, which providetl a means t l l r o ~ ~ g l i which Vermont artists coultl be supported and have their work exhil)ited. A number of early musical concerts were heltl in the Equinox Music Hal l , hut

then, aftrr a successful concert series by artists of international reputation was held in the pavilion in 192.5, many such concerts followed. Literary readings by local authors, inclucling Robert Frost, Walter Hard , Sally Cleghorn, Dorothy Canfield Fisher , Zephine H u m p h r e y Fahnstock. were uresented there. For some years free movies were shown in the pavilion on Friday afternoons, open to all the children of Manchester. Anumber of Manrhestrr 's most respected seniors fondly recall "Our Gang" comedies they watched in the Equinox pavilion. Sorne of these same Manchesterites enjoyed Arthur Murray dancing lessons there in the 1930s.

In addition, the pavilion was usecl for garden club meetings ant1 fundraising

events. It functioned as sort of a commun- ity building until the early 1940s. Com- mercial use dominated the little building during the next thirty years. Memorable ventures inc luded A n n a L i p p a ' s gif t shop, T o m Fitzsimmons's wood carv- ings, and Robert Deeley's art gallery. In 1975 the little building was moved to the vacant lot a t the southwest corner of Seminary Avenue (its present location) where, after remodeling, it was trans- formed into a doctor's office. A year later the Deeley Art Gallery moved back into the building, ancl shortly thereafter, the building was o c c ~ ~ p i e d by the Inventex Corporation. maker of alpine slides. It remained vacant for several years prior to the time when it became the new home of T h e Ameritari Museum of Fly Fishing. $

A m o n g the highlights of our 1984 gallery opening was a retrospectiue exhibition of original paintings by the late Ogden Pleissner, a friend of the Museum for many years.

Exhibitions of fine and sporting art are a regular feature of our galleries in Manchester, Vermont, and elsew here.

OFFICERS Chairman of the Bomd

Gardner L. Grant President

Arthur T. Frey Vice President

W. Michael Fiagerald Treanrrer '

Leigh H. Perkins Secretary

Ian D. Mackay Assistant SecretarylClerk

Charles R. Eichel

The American Museum

Fly Fishing P. 0. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254

TRUSTEES Jmeph Spear Beck E~IOI Liskin

Tam Bedford Nick Lyons Paul Hofinger Ian D. Mackay

Stenley E. Bogdan L w n L. Martuch R o k t 8. Buckmaster W. Harrrson Mehn, M.D.

Dan Callaghan Ckrl k Navarre Jr. Roy D. Chap~n jr . Mchaet Owen Christopher Cook Leigh H. Perk~ns Char l s R. Eichel R o m ~ Perktns

John Eust~ce Willard F. Rockwell Jr. C. Dick Finlay Theodore Rogo~~s lu

W. MI&& Fitzgerald Seth Rosenbaum Arthur T. Frey Ke~th Russell

Lawrence J. Gilsdorf %van Schlofl, M.D. C a r h r L. Cram Paul Schullery

Suste Isakscn Erncvl Schwlebcn Roben J o h n m Stephen Sloan

Samuel C. Johnson P n u W. Stroh Marun J. Keane Bennerc B. llpson Richard F. Kresr R. P. Van Gytenbepk

Met Krieger Jlm Van Loan Don Labbe Sam Van N e s

Dana S. Lamb Dickson L. Whalney David B. Ledfie Edward G h r n

John Merwin Executive Assrttant,

Paula Wyman Jr~crnal Edilor David B. Ledlie Assistant Edltm Ken Cameron Art Director

Manha Poole Merwin Copy Editor

Diana M. Morley

A Checklist of Works bv Charles Lanman by the editors

We haue endeavored to be as complete as po.ssible; hower~er, rue k n o w that there are, undoubted ly , some i tems w e have missed. W e invite our readers to advise u s of any omissions, glaring or otherwise.

T h e majority of Lanman's literary effort.~ have n o bearing w hatsoa~er o n the gentle art, but those that do are of great importance, a.s he was one of the first Americans to write about fly-fishing.

It wasn't that L a n m a n described i n detail the methods of fly-fishing employed by mid-nineteenthth-century anglers; i n fact, he was very weak o n this score. T h e importance of Charles L a n m a n t o a n gling historians is that he (and therefore probably m a n y o t h e r s ) rou t ine ly fly- fished for salmon, trout, and a ~ e n some

B - -

.mltwater .species. H i s uiuid descriptions As a follow-up t o Dorothy Mc- N e i l l y ' s b iography of Char1e.r L a n m a n ( T h e American Fly Fish- er, 1~01. 11, no. 3 , p. 14), we are pleased to publish a chronologi- cal checklist of Lanman's writings that we haue been working

of rivers, lakes, modes of trarlel, and local scenery, interspersed wi th his accounts of fly-fishing and other modes of angling, give the reader of today a rare glimpse at what it was really like to fish in the wil- dernes.s of the United States and Canada prior to the Civil War. T o thereaderof his day, these vivid account.s provided infor- mation o n wilderness outposts and other i n f r f q u e n t l y visited areas of our then-

on for some time. T h e list is diuided into three parts: books, magazine article.^, and miscellaneous pro.re that didn't seem to fit into the preuious two categories. W e make n o pretentions for exhaustiz~ene.cs. young country before they became rou-

tinely accessible via rail lines and then ultimately via the ubiquitous automo- bile. I n order to put Lanman's writing in proper perspectiue, we remind our readers that J . V. C . Smi th , erstwhilemayorof Boston, published America's first fishing book, Natural History of the Fishes of Massachusetts, i n 1833. T h i s was followed by J o h n Brown's American An- gler's Guide (1845) and Frank Forester's Fish & Fishing (1849, first American edi- t ion i n 1850). "Uncle" ThadNorris'sepic American Anglers Book did not appear until after the Civil War(1867). Andal lof these were essentially how-to books.

Whi le Letters from a LandscapePaint- er (1845) and A Summer in the Wilder- ness (1847) ment ion fly-fishing briefly,

Lanman's fir.st book of real interest to the fly fisherman is A Tour to the River Sag- uenay (1848, published simultaneously i n L o n d o n under the title Adventures of an Angler in Canada). T h e English edi- t ion contains a wonderful fronti.spiece, a steel engrau ing tha t dep ic t s a y o u n g Charles L a n m a n i n his f ishing garb, replete w i t h fly book and other angling paraphernalia. A chapter o n fly-fishing for salmon i n Canada is the highlight of the book; there is also an episode about catching a trout w i t h a liue mouse as bait ( L a n m a n was n o purist-he even caught trout o n squirrel meat!).

O u r favorite Lanman book is Adven- tures in the Wilds of the United States and British American Provinces (1856). A chapter o n salmon fishing and chapters o n t h e s t . J o h n River, the Miramichi, the Restigouche, and the Nepisquit are most enthral l ing. Unfortunately , L a n m a n ' s books are difficult t o obtain. Angl ing historians must compete wi th collectors of Americana for these scarce editions. Pres- ently, the Museum's collection does not contain any L a n m a n items. Naturally, w e would welcome their presence. O u r thanks to Dorothy McNeilly for her help wi th this project.

Books Authored or E.s.sny.s for Stimnzrr Hozir .~ . Hilliard, Gray rintl C:o. (several subsccluent editions)

I2rtlrr.r from n Lnnd.sc.nfir l'ni71trr. Boston: James Mrcnroe and Co. A S u m tnrr i n tlrr 611il~/rrr1r.s.s: rrnhrncin,q n cnllor -iloyn,qr ztp tllr Mi,s.ri.s,sif~pi K 17~rr and nrozir1d L n k r Sziprrior. New York: D. Applcton and (10.; I'11iladclphi;l: C;. S. Appleton (several editions)

A To14r t o t l r ~ R i ~ l r r Sn,q~crtzn)i, i n Lo71ic.r Cn,~ctdn. Philatlelphin: C:rircy ant1 Hart. Issrcetl sirn~cltancorlsly iri Idondon by Bcntlcy ~rntlc'r thc title Ad7~rnt1trrs of nn i l ng l r r i n Cnnndn, No- i~n Scol ic~ nnd lllr 1 rr1itc.d S tn tr .~ .

Let1rr.s from 1 I I P A / I P , ~ / I P ~ ~ ) ~ A1ozintnin.r. New York: C;. P. Putnarn

Haw-ko -noo; o r Rrcords of n Touri.rt. Philatlelphia: L i l~ l~ inco t t , C;~arnl)o ant1 Co.

Prr .~onnI A1rnzorinI.s of I > n n i ~ I l/I/rb.vlrr. Philatlrlpliia: Lippincott, Gramho ant1 Co. (srcontl edition in 1852)

T l l r Pri-c~nlr L i f ~ of I>nnir/ Illrb.rtrr. New York: Harper ant1 Brothers (an cnlargctl vcrsion of the previous entl-y; several rdit ions)

Ad71rnturc.r 711 tllr I l '~ld\ of Nortlz Amrrrcn. Etlitrd by C. R. Welcl, London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longman5 (second e d i t ~ o n ln 1863)

Edited Charles Lanrnan Ad71rnturr.r 117 tllr IVi1d.s of t l r ~ l i n i l rd Stntr.5 and Rriti.sl~ Amrricnn Pro7~iner.s. Philatlell~hia: J . W. Moore. Issued in two volumes, it inc.luded materi:~l from the previo~ls entry plus selections frorn his other previous I~ooks ;1nc1 magrtzinc articles.

R o h n ' s t f n n d h o o k of Wa.slrin,qton. Washington: Casimir Bohn

Dictio?1nr)r of t h r l1?1ilrd S1nta.r Congrrs.s. Philatlelphia: J. B. Lil~pincott and Co. (many ctlitions)

, /oz~rnnl of A!Jrrd EIv, (1 I'ri.son~r of IVnr i n Kiclz~no?zrl. Nrw York: D. Appleton r~rid (10. Editcd by Lanman.

T h r L i f r of IVi l l inn~ MJoodbridgr. Washington: Blanchartl ant1 Mohun

Srrn7on.r. by Rev. Octr~virls Perinchief. Washington: W. Balantyne. Etlitcd 11y Lanman.

Srrn1on.v Prmchrd i n Alanlorinl C11urc11, Rnl t imorr . New Yor-k: D. Appleton and Co. Editetl by Lanman.

T l l r 1ir.d Rook of Miclrignn, (I

ci7~i1, nzililnry, and hio,qmplric.nl 11i.story. Detroit: E . B. Smith ant1 Co.; Washington: Phi l ip ant1 Solomons

T h r Jnpnnr.sr i n i lmrr icn . New York: Ilnivrrsity Publishing (10. Editcd by Lanman. ( T h e National lTnion Catalog lists another work with the sarnc title, published by Longmans, Green, Readu, ant1 Dyer in London in 1872, which is fifty- four pages longer and lor which Lanman is listcd as author.

1876 Hiogrnpl1ieal nnrlnl.r of tlrr Ci7jil (;o7~rr?1n7~?11 o f llrr l1nila(l S tn t r .~ , I>ltri)l,q i1.s Fir.c.1 Crnfziry. Washington: James Anglim (I-e~isetl in 1887)

1879 Ocln7~izi.s I'rri~1clriqf: H i s L i f r of Tr in l rind S l cpr rn~r Fnith. Wnshingtori: J . Anglim

1881 l < ~ ~ c ~ o l l r c t i o ~ ~ . s of Clcrio1c.s Clrnrnctc~r.~ rind Plcn .sn~~t Plncr,.s. Etlinl~r~rgli: Drtvitl Douglas

1883 I2r(rdi?1g Alrn of Japnn , 7oit11 n?l Ili.rloric.01 Szctnnzory of t h r f.'nlpirc. Boston: D. Lothrop :rntl C:o.

1885 Fnrtlrc,.st Nortl l; or T l l r L i f r n77d E.:.sf~lornliotl.s of I~ irr i l rn(r t~ t ,/nn1c~.s Roollr Lockzooori, of t h r Grrr ly i lrct ic E.sPrd1tI0~1. NCW York: D. Al~plcton ant1 Co. ( scve~i l ctlitions)

1886 Ilap1rn:crrcl 1'rr.sonnlifies; C:lrirfly of ? ~ o l r d 11 1?7rricn?1.s. Boston: Lcc ant1 Shrlx~rcl; New York: C:. .I'. Dillingham

,/nf?nn, i1.s Lrndi l lg A l r ? ~ ; zclitlr or1 Ifi.storica1 Szinznznry of llrr Emf'irr. Boston: Lothrol)

1893 t-li.storic Il'n.rlri,rglon. Washington: Memorial Association of the District of C:olrtrnl)i:c. A p;~rnphlct. (Date of ~ x ~ h l i c a t i o n has I~crn qrcc~~tionc~cl.)

ci~.ca T l l r Slor?] of n Rook . A I880 ~)amphlct. thought to have been

l)ul)lishctl in Washington.

C1larle.t Lannzan , d m u ~ n by J o h n F. C r a n ~ p t o n

Magazine Articles Authored by Charles Lanman 1840 "The Poet's Pilgrimage."

Godey '.s Lady '.s R o o k , 22: 175 "Thoughts o n Literature." Sou thern Litrrary Me.s~en,grr, 6296 "Michigan." Sou thern Literary A.le.tsengrr, 6602 "Evening Walks in the City." Sou thern Litrmr?] Me.tsen,qer, 6:720 "Autumn." Sou thern L i t emry Mes.trnger, 6:723

1841 "A Fireside Essay." Soutlzern Literary Mes.senger, 7: 129 "The Old Indian," Sou thern Literary Mes.srnger, 7:199

1846 "The Lead Region." H u n t ' . ~ Merchant ' s Magazine, 16: 181

1847 "The Hermit of Aroostook." T h e American W h i g Rmiero , 6:263 "Our Finny Tribes. American Rivers & Sea-Coasts. Part First-The Salmon." T h e American W h i g KPoieu~, 6:490 "Our Finny TI-ibes. American Rivers & Sea-Coasts. Part Second-The Pike." Thr, American 1Vhig R~( l i eu1 , 6:56l

1848 "The Game Fish of North America. T h e Striped Basse or Rock Fish." Sou thern Lzterary M essenger, 14:682 "On the Requisites for the Formation of a National School of Historical Painting." Sou thern Literary Messenger, 14:727

1850 "The Tourist in the LJnited States." Rentley's Mi.scellaneou.r, 28:289 "Rattlesnakes." Sou thern L i t rmry Messenger, 16:27 "Our Landscape Painters." Sou thern Literary Mes.rrngrr, 16:272

1855 "Our National Paintings." T h e C m y o n , 1:136

1859 "Day With Washington Irving." O n c e a Week , 2:5

1860 "The National Intelligencer and its Editors." T h e Atlantzc M o n t h l y , 6:470

1865 "A Connecticut Village." N a t i o n , 1:213

1868 "The Annals of Angling." Galaxy , 6:305 "Forest Recollections." Lipp inco t t ' s Magazine, 2:516

"Novelties of Southern Scenery." App le ton ' s Journal , 2: 1 (continued o n 2:296 and 2:327) "Peter Pitchlynn, Chief of the Choctaws." T h e At lant ic M o n t h l y , 25:486 "William Dartington." Hi.ttorica1 Magazine, 21:32 "Block Island." Harpers Magazine, 53: 168 "Okinawa Islands." International R f i ~ i e u ~ , 8:18 "George Perkins March." Literary World , 13:352 "The Shooting Meteors." Magazine of His tory , 2:210 "The Maiden Moon." Magazine of His tory , 2:273 "The Dancing Ghosts." Magazine of His tory , 2:424 "Origin of the Choctaws." Magazine of His tory , 3:40 "The Peacemaker." Magazine of His tory , 3: 1 15

Miscellaneous Items Authored by Charles Lanman 1874 "The Salmonidae of Eastern 1874 "The Shad and Gaspereau or 1882 "An Aged Artist at Home-A

Maine. New Brunswick and Alewife of New Brunswick and Day with Asher B. Durand." Nova Scotia." Report of t he Nova Scotia." Report of the T h e Tr ibune , Washington, DC, Commi.s.rioner [of Fish and Commi.ssioner, ibid. newspaper, letter to the editor Fisheries]. Washington: I1.S. Government Printing Office

The Deerfield River: A Fish Story by Edward R. Hewitt edited and introduced by J i m Merritt

Edzclnrd Rin,qzcroorl I lrrc~il l( lR67- 1957) i.s 7c~rll knozcln t o nio.st fly fi.slrrrmrn. T lrr c rmlor of tlrr Rj- 71i.sihle. 1Vr7~rr.sink S k n l r r , nnrl o l h r r ~ ~ o l l ~ r n . ~ , Irr 70n.s n/.so n n m r l y proponrnl of nyrnplr ji.r/i- in,q arid n tirr1r.s.s r . ~ ~ ) ~ r i r n r n I r r i n

prolific author , 11r conlrih~tte(I rr,ql~lnrl? l o tlrr A n,qlrr.s' ( . ' /1 i / ) o f N P Z I ~ York BLII- I(-tin ntid t o ou ldoor nin,qn:inr.s. I n 1ri.s l ong Iifr ( h r l ir~rd l o h r 80). I l rz~l i l t rclrolr n i n r Oook.~ , srzlrn of 7c1lricl1 zci~rr dr7~otrd l o f ly - f i sh in ,q: Scc,rrts o f tl~cs S a l m o n ( 1 9 2 2 ) ; T r l l i n g on rht. .I'rour ( I c ) 2 6 ) ; Hnv i t t ' s Hantl1x)ok of Fly Fishing(1933). S t r e a ~ n Improvrmc~n t (1034), T r o u t Rais- i n g and S t o c k i n g (1935) ; N y m p h Fly Fishing (193-1); and h1.s c ~ i l ~ n i ~ i n t i n g A .I'~.otct ant1 Salmon Fishcrrnan lor Scvcn- ty-Fivr Yrars (IO-IS). l I ~ ~ ~ ~ i l t ' . s / 7 0 0 o lhrr books ulrrr prr.son(r1 rr?~~irzi.scrncr.saboz~t 1ri~ pnlricinn rifiOringin,q n.s a .sr?o?i of o n r of Nrzo York C:ily'.s 1rndingfnmilir.r of t h r G i ld rd Agr . (Ni.5 ntnlrrnnl gmnrlfnlhrr runs Pr l r r C:oo f~r r . 0 7 1 ~ of Ne~e l York ' s most ro lo r f~r l nrid i n f l~ r rn l in l n1nyor.s; 11i.s fnthrr u1n.s nlso mnyor n.s rc~r11 as n I'riilrd

Slnlrs c.on,qrr.s.sninn.) Hrzoill zoas nn 1889grndtrntr of Prinrr-

t o n lJnj7rrr.s1l?l. z01rrrr m a n y of h i s nn- ,ql ing-rrlatrd mnnzc.script (2nd rr~rnrc lr 1nnlrria1.s nozo rr.virlr, i n 111r Kirnbzt.sc.h A n g l i n g C o l l r c l i o n of 11rr Firr . t tonr Library. T h r collrrt ion runs donntrd t o I'rincrton h?l Hr10it1'.s litrrnry rxrcutor, Carl O t t o 7lon h ' i rnh~~ . sch , n 1906 Priner- t o n ,qrnd~tntr nnrl, l ikr Hrzoitt, an inzlrtrr- ntr nnd l ong - l i z~~(1 nnglrr for troul and .snlmon. ( K i r n O u ~ c h dird i n 1976 at n,qr 91 .)

T l r r nr t ic l r zllr p u b l i s h hrrr-"Tlrr Ilrrrfic~ld Hirwr: A Fish Story"-npp~nr.s t o hr Hruli l l 's on l y n l t rmp t nl angl ing f ict ion. (Hrzoil l 711a.c no t shy about bonsl- in,q of Iris f ly-f ishing nccompl i . shmr~i ls , 1 io z~m~rr , nnd llrrrr urrrr thosr u lho knrur h i m 70110 m i g h l 1tn1~~~~1,q~r .s t rdt t tnt .sonar fiction crrpt i n to hi.s prrsonal talrs of nn,qlin,q rxplo i t s ! )

T h r undatrd .story, urhich as far ns u1r can t r l l kn.7 nr71rr before npprnr rd i n p r i n t , c o m r s f r o m n b o . ~ of Hrzo i t l ninnzc.script mntrrinls i n t h r Kirnbusch collrclion. T l r r mntrrials inc lude n tnhlr of conlrnt.t lhnl urns ob7riou.sly typrd and

nnnolnlrd 11y I f rrcritt. A m o n g t h r n~nrg i - nnlin i n Iris lrn~1rl7c~ri1i~ignrr.suclr 11olr.sn.s " n o 1 pirbli.s/rrd." " n o / prinrrd," " n o t .soIrl." nnd " r r j ~ c l ~ d . " T h r mnlrrin1.s n1.so i n c l ~ t d r n lrllrr t o Hrzclitl from J . E. Ford. n.s,socintr rrlilor of O u t d o o r L i f r i n llir m id-l93O.v, "rr,qrrtfzclly rrturning" o n e of t I I P r n n ~ ~ ~ i . s t ~ r i p f ~ 11rcnu~r It? hnpprnrd l o br nor^ than ZOP~!-.szipplird zoith mat(,- rinl of tlri.s /?fir." ( A n g l i n g ulri trr.~ can tnkr .solner of .sorts thnt rrlrn crlrhmtrr/ n1tl11or.t nrr r r j r e f ~ d , n n d t ha t rd i t o r .~ ' ~ X C I L S P S hn71r not rltnngrd oz~rr t h r yanrs.)

A ,qln?~cr t h rough t h e mntrrin1.s rr7rml.s z~llry mosl of thr.sr nrnntc.script.s nmlrr snzcr 11rinI. AInny of l h r m drnl nlitlr fi.sh cul- titrr i n n hi,qIiIy trchnical urny. For r xnm- p l r , ns n l rn inrd c h r m i s t . Hrzcritt 7on.s oO.sr.s.vrd roil11 t h ~ fnt c o n t r n l of l r o z ~ l flr.s/r nnd roith somrt lr ing h r cnllrd "Far- tor 11," 1111 (,.s.srntinl r lemrnt i n t h r dirt of 7clild trozrt thnt h r dr trrminrd zons mi.s.7- i n g i n t h r p ~ l l r t ~ frd t o hntckrry trout. Szrch topic.s con n takr ciwn t h r most drdi- enlrd fly fi.shrr'.s ryr.7 glaze orlrr.

,I.s n toritrr of ang l ing fiction, Hrulill i.s .scnrerly i n Irn,qur zcrilli Hrmir~,q~-tclny or Z n n r (;rn?l. " T h e Drrr f i r ld Hizlrr" i.s

interesting less for i ts literary qual i ty than for what it tells us about attitudes toward conservation i n the 1930s. It is the presumably apocryphal story of somr anglers w h o get together and bring suit against a polluter whose industrial effluent has killed a once-thri7,ing stretch of the Deerfield, a blue-ribbon stream in the Berkshires of western Massachusett.~. T h e story does show that Hewit t had afair ear for dialogue, although it is rather me- chanically writtrn and would probably garner, at best, a B-minus i n a creatiur writing class. Curiously, although Hewitt is not a character i n the story, he does include a third-person reference to h im- self.

Hewi t t also makes reference i n t h e story to "Daniel Web.ster'sfamous letter" about fishing the Deerfield. O u r research into the letters and collected writings of Webster led to n o such letter. Can any of our readers he lp u s here, or was t h e au thor mere ly exerc i s ing h i s ar t is t ic license?

T h e low-hung speedy roadster slipped along the new cement highway, turning into the Deerfield Valley purring like a comfortable, well-fed cat, as it had done ever since it left California a week before. Si las W r i g h t looked a l o n g the well- remembered valley and remarked to his son Abner, "Well, there it is-the finest valley and the best trout water in Massa- chusetts. I tell you, boy, thereare bigones in those rock pools below the falls, and when we come back from visiting Judge Thayer at the St. Johns we will stop and look the old places over. I want to show you where I caught that five-pounder when I was only twelve years old and where I lost Old Leviathon, the biggest trout there ever was in New England. I tell you he was three feet long and has not grown a n inch longer i n forty years, either. T h i s was a fine place to be a boy in. You are used to California all your life, but I tell you there is n o place in the world for sport like theDeerfieldValley."

T h e car slanted down a hill and around a curve and close along the river where a big rock pool looked like a place that must hold a great trout. Silas looked at it longingly.

"I could easily cast out back of that big rock now with my four-ounce Leonard rod and land a fly just where the trout must be. but when I fishedwithacut ole and line tied to the end and a gob of worms, I never could get the bait to just the right place. I have waked u p nights thinking of the deep hole behind that rock and wondering if I could ever get to it."

They rounded another bend and drove down a n incline and across a culvert that had sunken a little with the frost coming out of the ground. T h e car gave a leap

and there was a sudden crack and a grind, and although the motor went on, the car lost speed and stopped at the next rise.

Well I guess that is as far as we get tonight, Father. It sounds to me as if we broke the front spring, and I know that either the drive shaft or the pinion is gone in the rear axle. We can't get any power to the wheels until all that is gone over. Let's push her to the side of the road out of the way, and then we can see where we are and where to spend the night."

"I know just where we are and where we are going to stay too," his father ans- wered. "Just u p the hill is AbeMalcomb's place, and if he is alive yet, he will just fall all over himself when hesees me, even if it is forty years since we played ball together. Let us get out the bags and the rods and tackle, and trudge u p to the house and see if he is the same old Abe he used to be."

A few minutes' walk brought them in sight of an oldwhite colonial house at the crest of the hill, with four large elms i n front of it next to the road and a view u p and down the valley.

Silas walked u p the red brick walk between the low box hedges and rapped the brass knocker. T h e door opened and a gray-bearded man stood in the doorway, rather stooped, but hale and hearty.

"Does a man called Abe Malcomb live here?" asked Silas.

"He does and he doesn't. T h a t is, some- times he thinks he is alive and then again he wishes he was dead."

"Well, there is a m a n cal led S i las Wright w h o wants to speak to h i m a minute."

"You don ' t mean Silas Wright w h o used to live a mile down the road and went off to California forty years ago and never sent word since he went?"

"That same fellow, and I a m the man." "Turn around and let me have a look at

ye. Forty years ages a man some! Well I'll be damned-it's Silas all right. He's got that same twinkle in his eye. Penelope, come out here and see a n old friend."

A matronly farmer's wife in a blue gingham dress came out from the kit- chen, and it did not take her a second to greet her o l d fr iend. "I w o u l d have known you anywhere," she said. "You have got that same twinkle and kindly look about you that almost made me take you instead of Abe. But I suppose it is all for the best."

"Well Silas, I see you have your bags along, and I suppose that is your son out there."

"Abe, that is the fact. We were headed for the St. Johns to visit Judge Thayer, and I expected to stop here on the way back and see all the old friends I left. But fate willed otherwise and that sunken culvert down over that hill just did fol- our car, and it can't go a foot until it is

towed in and fixed. I suppose there is a repair shop somewhere where we can get some work done. In the meantime, if you will have us, we will stay the night and talk over old times."

"Bring in the bags, and Penelope will fix u p the front room so you can be comfortable. You remember that was the room Daniel Webster always had when he came u p trouting with my granddad. If it was good enough for him, it is good enough for you."

"Well Abe, how has the world treated you all these years?" asked Silas, as they sat beside the open fire after supper. "Evenings can be cold in early May in Massachuset ts , a n d a l i t t le fire feels pleasant."

"Well Si, during the war I did fine. Got fifteen rents a q u a r t for my milk and made as much as five thousand dollars a year. T h a t made me feel as if it would always be that way, so I branched out and built a new barn and put in a silo and got a milking machine and some high-priced cattle, and to get going I had to borrow money and went to old Pete Flint. You used to know he always was a skunk, and the only satisfaction I ever got out of him was when I licked him for cheating at marbles, and then he stole my real agates ou t of my pocket i n my coat when I wasn't looking. A man that will cheat as a boy will be a skinflint when he grows up."

"Well, that's just how he is now. I bor- rowed ten thousand dollars from him. expecting to pay it back in about three years, and then this depression came on and I not only can't pay anything, but can't even make my own living, let alone pay off any mortgage. Pete says that he will foreclose this fall. as he wants the power at the falls to put u p another gla- cine mill. Just as if the mill he has has not done enough damage already. H e claims that he gives work to lots of help and is a public benefactor, and what if the trout don't d o well in the river. T h a t is their lookout, and anyway there is n o law in this state that can make him keep his stuff out of the stream."

"Do you mean to tell me," asked Silas, "there are n o trout in the river like there used to be when we were boys?"

"Not a damned fish-and hasn't been since ten years past. You have to go five miles downstream to get a chance of a bite, and the trout are none too thick there, either."

"Well, that's a cryingshame to have the finest trout water in New England spoiled by a mill when a few settling ponds and a little care would look after all that waste from the mill. Can't the Fish Commis- sion d o anything about it? There must be some law they could work under."

" T h e r e was a d e p u t a t i o n of local fishermen who went to Boston to see the

commissioner, and all he had to say was that he had n o power to takeany action in the matter, so there it rested. I think it's a shame that a man's fishing can be ruined by another man and that he can get n o satisfaction or redress. Fishing is a God- given pleasure and recreation, and no one has any right to destroy it. That 's the way I feel, but I am almost the only one that feels that way. Most say just let the trout go-we've got the mill and jobs. They could have both thc jobs and the fishing too, if they had a little spunk, but they have butter livers thrse days."

Silas sat still a while. rnethodicallv shaking the ashes off his cigar every few minutes.

"Abe, you say you owe Pete ten thousand dollars and past interest and that he threatens to foreclose if you don't pay u p by December, and you say that i t is his mill that has ruined the fishing in thc river."

"Yes, that is the fact, and I don't see any way out for me but the poorhouse next winter. Penelope is almost sick over it all."

"Abe, I have a proposition to make to you. You know, I have some reputation in the law in California, and the common law is the same there as it is here. I have alwavs had a n idea that a man had no ~, right under the English common law to damage his neighbor's property, and that if he did, damages could be collected for the amount of damage done. T h i s seems plain horse sense."

"But Silas, how can I show any damage Pete has done me? Trout fishing is not worth anything here, and if I can't show a money damage, I can't collect any thing."

"You have a sound view of the law all right," Silas responded, "but you don't see as far as I do. I have had to see farther than the other fellow to make my way, and I have always wanted to find a case like this to try out. By heavens, I'll d o it now if you will play the game with me."

"How can you show any damage when there isn't any?" asked Abe. "I don't see."

"It's this way. You may not know it, but fishing today has a real value in many places. O n the Test in England, fishing brings as much as twenty-five hundred dollars a mile for a season, and Hewitt o n the Neversink rents rods for fishing his waters at one hundred and fifty dollars a season a n d has to tu rn the fishermen away. H e tells me, next year he will raise the price to reduce the number coming. Why, your water would be worth at least twenty-five hundred dollars a year if the fishing was what it used to be when we were boys. Why, m a n , you a r e on ly seventy-five miles from Boston, and a man can get to your water in two hours. D o you mean to say that fishing is not worth anything? You bet it is, but we have to have legal proof of this. T h e way we get that proof is simplicity itself. A

<group of responsible gentlemen come to you and make you a flat offer for the f i sh ing o n your water of twenty-five hundred dollars a year for a term of ten years, provided the trout fishing can be made good again. They put u p a bond for performance of this with the Shawmut Bank in Boston and post securities for the fulfillment of the contract as soon as the Fish Commission reports that trout will live in the water."

"But how does that help me out with Pete Flint? Long before we got all this done he would foreclose the mortgage a n d I w o u l d be w i t h o u t a h o m e o r anything."

"Well Abe, I think I can fix that all r igh t ; I wil l have a ta lk wi th J u d g e Thayer, who knows all the fishing nuts in Boston, and I guess if I explain to him the fun we will have with old Pete Flint. it won't take him long to get busy and form a syndicate to get the finest water in New England for ten years. No onecould kick at their postingit after they made the fishing where there was none. People would say, they made it and they are entitled to it. I think I see a way to get even with old Pete for cheatingat marbles and stealing my real agates. I don't for- give a dirty trick like that even if it happened as a boy."

T h e next morning, while Abner wres- tled with the local repairman and t&- phoned for parts to be brought out from Boston, Silas wandered along the Deer- field River with his rod-the first trout rod seen on this water in many a year. H e visited the old pools and tried all the favorite holes of his boy hood with never a rise o r a strike. H e grew madder and madder as the day wore o n and swore with determination that PeteFlint would pay for this, or his name was not Silas Wright.

T h e trip to the St. Johns was unevent- ful. T h e y found the fishing for landlocked salmon all that Judge Thayer had written it would be, but Silas could not get his mind off the DeerfieldRiver with its beautiful pools bare of the trout he used to know.

Judge Thayer gave the whole matter careful a n d deliberate legal considera- tion, as was his wont in any legal matter, a n d o n the last day of their visit he expressed his conclusions.

"This case is just open and shut. If we prepare it properly, there can be only one ending to it. Pete will have to pay the full value of the property damage he is caus- ing, and he will have to put in a proper disposal plant for his factory waste. H e will also have to pay damages during the time the stream is under purification until the Fish Commission reports that it is fit to support trout. I will agree to get together a syndicate of men w h o will lease the water from your friend, and I will get the best lawyer in Massachusetts,

who is also one of the best fishermen, to take the case at n o expense to your friend. H e will d o this and will also take a share in the syndicate."

"The procedurewill be as follows," the judge continued: "When this syndicate is formed and is ready to make its offer and post the bond with the Shawmut Bank, Abe Malcomb will make a formal demand of Pete Flint to cease polluting the Deerfield River, which pollution causes him pecuniary damage. When he receives his reply, which will be what we expect, suit will be entered in the Deerfieldcourt for damages amounting to fifteen times the yearly rental that Abe is offered for the fishing on his waters. This would amount to thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars if he wishes tocontinue to pollute the water. I miss my guess if he does not find it far cheaper to put in a proper disposal plant for his waste. About that time I will have a firm of sewagedisposal engineers wait on Flint and offer to fix his sewage for perhaps ten thousand dollars. H e will want to save that twenty- seven thousand dollars mighty bad, and he won't take long to decide what to do. I hope the jury will award Malcomb compensation for the time he must wait until the river is fit for fish-this ought to be at least two years. T h e five thousand dollars he will get will pay off all the back interest o n the mortgage, and he can easily pay off the principal out of his fishing rents in a few years. In fact, my bank will lend him the amount o n the security of this fishing lease at a low interest, and he can be clear of Flint forever."

T h e following few weeks were busy for Thayer a n d Wright; they had fishing luncheons and dinners at most of the sport- i n g c lubs i n Boston. Gradua l ly the syndicate took shape, not so much from those who were ardent fishermen as from those who believed that pollution of our waters must stop and here was a good way to make a beginning without any new- fangled and untried laws. Their English ancestry had abiding faith in the old Eng- lish common law, and they felt that in these times of New Deals and laws of doubtful legality, here was a chance todo something in the way their forefathers did.

T h e newspapers carried editorials on the matter, and all the sporting magazines were full of this new point of view.

As the day of the trial approached, the leading papers covered the story daily and the picture sheets were full of photos of the beautiful Deerfield River. Offers to join the syndicate came in by the score.

T h e bill of c o m p l a i n t tha t J u d g e Thayer drafted was simplicity itself. T h e Deerfield River was a na tura l t rou t stream, famous for two hundred years as the best stream in Massachusetts. Had not all read Daniel Webster's famous letter

ahout his f ishing t h c ~ e ? Fishing hat1 remained good until the glacinc. mill harl been established, and s i ~ i c e tlicn trout coulcl not live in five rnilcs of thcz wattnr. Peter Flint had refused torcbmove tht.~)ol- littion from the watersheti. alleging that there was n o law rcqlriring this to 11o done. Abe Malcornb statetl that he hat1 a genuine offer from resl~onsihlt~ parties, backed by a bond and with sec.uritics tlc- posited at the Shawmut Bank, to pay hirn twenty-five hundred tlollars a ycsar for tcsn years for the fishing rights o n his part of tht, river, to begin as so011 as the Fish Commission reported that the water was suitable for trout. Copic-s of thc bond anti offer and ~)roposed lease were sul)rnittc~tl to the court.

T h e attorney for the plaintiff statctl that n o law was necwsary t o o b l i g c ~ ~ ~ o l l u - tion to be removed from it strt3arll i f such pollution caused money darnagc, to ttic. p r o p r t y owners. N o man has a right to damage his neighbor's property. 'I'lit, damage has been shown ant1 thr moncny value proved. H e clemantlt~d it jrrdgment of the full capital amount of this tfam:tgc~, which a t six percent woulcl 1 ) ~ thirty-

seven t h o u s a n d tlollars. If th i s were allowed, he further askecl that damages be assessed for the time [luring which the pollution was not ren~oved sufficiently to allow trout to live in the stream, as during this time the complainant was kept out of his offered income.

T h e defense was deciclecily weak. T h e attorney alleged that there was n o law to oblige the removal of pollution, that the mill gave work to many people, and that requir ing it to remove the pol lut ion would close thc mill permanently. They could not refute the damages represented by the offer for the fishing rights. T h e ~."osecution, in closing, further showed that the firm of Dow and Company, the celebrated chemical engineers, would agree to put in a sewage-ciisposal plant for this factory for ten thousand dollars and contrart to deliver a n effluent to the river in which trout could live.

T h e jury was out just fifteen minutes and gave a verdict in full for the plaintiff. with full damages.

O n the way out of court. Silas Wright I1rus1it.d past Pete Flint and whispered in his ear, "I guess that n1akt.s u p for your

cheating at ~narh les ant1 stealing Abe's real agates, you skunk."

T w o years from that day there was a meeting of the Deerfield Syndicate at Malromb's farm. T h e river had been clean for a year and a half, and the trout put in had prospered and grown. T h e small group of fishermen lined u p at the side of the road and stood waiting for the starting gun fired by Silas Wright. Came- ras clicked ant1 the movies were .ground out as the shot rang out and theDeerfield River again took its place a m o n g the great fishing strrarns of this country.* 3

J i m Merri&& has been a frequent contributor t o the American Fly Fisher. H e liues in Pmning ton , New Jersey, and u~orks in the rt~cl~lopment office at Princeton CJnirl~rsity. H P is also an ar~id fly fisherman.

We understand that trout fishing on the Deerlield is still quite good and that a local Trout llnlimited chapter has recently helped to establish approximately one and one-hall miles of catch-and-release water there. -ED.

Blooming Grove Park

cllt11.s. IJrnrt.sy171nnin, too , Ir(1r1 i1.s .slrnrr. Ortr of 11rr /nr,qrr ( .I t tO.s ( i n l~rr?z.s of ncrmgr) rc1n.s tltr Bloont i t~ ,q C;roz~r Park As.vocintio~i, foundrd 171 1871. Tlrc,cltch i.s .still in r s I ~ t r ? t c r , Irnz~i?r,q c.lrn?t,grd it.s

lp nnnzr t o llrr R l o o n ~ ing C;rorjr f l t c t ~ t i ~ z g b Fi.sltin,q C l u b in 190-I. (; l~rcrl~.s f fn l l ock , foztndrr, ~ d i t o r , nrtri pziblislror ofForest & Stream and au11tor of ? ~ Z L T ~ ~ P ~ O ~ L . S s j 3o~ t ing books, 7on.5 it.? fir.st c~orres / )o~tr i i~ tg .srcrr- tnry. 011rrr officrrs i? ic l~idrd Fnyrltr .5'. C ; i l r ~ , prr.tirlrn1; Snnt1rr.v I ) . Rrucr, 7~icr- prr.~jdrtt t; Grr t jo C : . . S ~ o t t . trr(~.stirrr; nrld J o l t ~ r h1. Tnvlor , rrcorrli~t,q.vr~.rclnrv. T l t r follourirrg accozcnt hy f f n1loc.k 7on.s ori~qz- n n l l ~ ~ pztbli.cltrd, zclr h(,lic-clr. in nn 1873

171 7 1 0 1 . 11, no. 2 of t l ~ r Arncric.an Fly Fishc,r, zor rrprintrd n portion of Au.sti~1 Frart(.i.s'.s<:atskill Kivers tltnt di.scri.s.srrl .sonzr of tltr brltrr- krtouln, pri7lntr fi.slritt,q cltd/~.s tltnt Itad flrrir Irmriqttnrtrr.~ irt llrr Catskil l r r ~ i o r t . T l t r C,'cc[.skill.s,

i.s.srtr of Harper's n1ngn:irr~. II'r nrr i ~ t d r / ) t f d loFr(ctik I*. Fron~rrzt of

tltr R loon~ in ,q ( ; r 0 7 ~ , I I t ~ t ~ t i t t , q and Fislt- ing Club for tlrr fi.sr of l/rr n/107~r P l ~ o l o - grnp1t.s and t o Mrs. O.sOornr Cot~tr.s J r . , n longtirnr nzrmOrr of Rloonairlg (;ro7~r, for tltr illtc.stmliort.s o n pn,qc, 28.

Irorcrc-c~rr, d id not Irn7~r n c.orttrr o n fi.slring

It has been ascertained to an almost mathematical nicety that it will cost the metropolitan angler one dollar for every pound of trout he takes, no matter where

or under what circumstances he fishes. If he goes to trout preserves in the vicinity of the cities, he will be charged a dollar per pound for all the fish he catches, or several dollars per day for fish that he may, but does not catch. Should he select the streams or ponds within one hundred miles or so of town, he will find them depleted by much fishing; and the expenses of his journey and contingencies will bring the cost of the few fish he takes up to the inevitable dollar per pound. Or should he prefer remote localities where trout can not only be had for the catching, but swarm in such abundance as absolutely to embarrass the angler, the measure of his expenses will still be a dollar per pound. At the same time, he will be unable to enjoy the pleasure of bringing his fish home, or even of eating more than a few of them on the spot. The same conditions are relatively true of salmon, o r any other description of genuine game-animals or game-fish. If the angler hires a river in Labrador or Canada, it is quite probable that he may catch a thousand poundsof salmon in the course of a month's fishing; but the price of his lease and his expenses for traveling, guides, boat, provisions, outfit, and et ceteras, to say nothing of time consumed, will foot up a dollar per pound. Or, if he goes down to Long Island for a couple of days, and captures a dozen pounds of trout at the regulation price demanded for the privilege of fishing, his expenses will be found to reach $12.

by Charles Hallock

This is the high tariff at present im- posed upon the sportsman's indulgence. The only way to cheapen his amusement is to "encourage home industry," and make fish abundant in all neighborhood localities. Pisciculturists have accom- plished much toward re-stockingexhaus- ted and depleted waters, but their efforts have not yrt been productive of important economic results. The work of prop- agation has not been sufficiently diffused over the country to reduce the market price of trout, or place good fishing- grounds within easy and inexpensive ac- cess of the public.

The "Blooming Grove Park Associa- tion," so far as its own territory is con- cerncd, has fulfilled both of these conditions. It has a domain of more than 12,000 acres [current holdings are now approxi- matrly 18,000 acres] within a few hours' ride of New York City by the Erir Rail- road, where its members may not only fish, but hunt, ad libitum, freeof charge. The sportsmen may leave New York, or any other adjacent city, and in twenty- four hours return with a saddle of veni- son, a bag of birds, or a basket of trout. T o active businessmen whose time is pre- cious, this is an advantage worthy of con- sideration. Every year, there are many gentlemen of sporting proclivities, with but a week to spare, who arecompelled to forego their favorite pastime, because the ordinary hunt ing resorts are so distant that they have n o sooner reached the ground and got fairly to work, than they

are compelled to pack u p a n d return. Recognizing these disabilities, and appre- ciating the necessity of more accessible sporting-grounds, two gentlemen of New York, well known to sportsmen and the public generally, Fayette S. Giles, Esq., and Genio C. Scott, Esq., some three years ago conceived the idea of providing a grand park or inclosure [sic] within a reasonable distance of New York, where game might be bred and protected as it is in Europe in the grand forests of Fon- ta inebleau, a n d the Grant! Duchy of Baden. Both gentlemen had the necessary knowledge and expel-ience to guide them in their undertaking. Mr. Gilrs having been a resident of France for six yrs:irs, and engaged actively in field sports, 110th in the forests of Fontainehleau and in Gcr- many, while Mr. Scott has always been regarded good authority in matters pisca- torial, and is well known as the author of Fishing i77 Amrricnn 1Vnt~r.s [1869].

Great difficulty was experienced in finding a sufficiently large tract of land anywhere near New York that contained the necessary requisites of stream, lake, upland, lowland, ant! forest; but at last a spot was found perfectly suited to the purpose in Pike county, in the extreme northeastern portion of the State of Penn- sylvania. Here fine streams were found running through pleasant valleys, eight beautiful lakes were within easy walking distance of each other , a n d a range of high wooded hills crossed the southern end of the tract. T o add to the advantages and attractions of the country, deer were already found in the woods in great numbers, a n d woodcock, ruffed-grouse a n d wild pigeons were met with at every turn. T h e streams were already stocked with splendid trout, and the tract seemed really a sportsman's paradise. One of its great-

est advantages was its proxirnity to New York, being distant from the city only four and a half hours by the Erie Rail- road; and the sportsmen who had con- ccivect the idea of establishing a n Amer- ican Fontainebleau, saw at once that they had found the proper location for it. Ahout twelve thousand acres of landwere purchased, and in such a form as to in- clutie all the finest of the lakes, the moun- tainous country, and the best of the streams, the entire property being located in the townships of Blooming Grove, Porter, and Greene. It was at oncedecided to form a clubof gentlemen fondof sporting for the purpose of improving, stocking, and enclosing the tract. T h e result was the incorporation, in March, 1871. of the "Blooming GrovePark Association."

This Association now included about one hundred members from a dozen different States, principally married men with families. It has a large new club- house o r ho te l , romant ica l ly located upon the borders of one of the larger lakes, a boat-house a n d boats, Indian canoes, etc., croquet lawns and other recreation for the ladies, summer-houses, a natural history, and zoological depart- ment, with several live specimens, bath- ing-grounds, etc. In short, the "park" is a summer resort of the most classical and high-toned character, combining all the ordinary attractions of watering-places with the main objects forwhich theAsso- ciation was instituted. Members pay the almost nominal sum of $1.25 per-day for board, a n d the whole economy of the park is so contrived as to secure thegreat- est amount of gratification and profit at the least possible expense. Cottages may be erected a n d occupied by those w h o prefer not to board at the hotel.

T h e primary objects of this Associa-

t ion a r e the i m p o r t i n g , acc l imat ing , propagating, and preserving of all game animals, fur-bearing animals, birds, and fishes adapted to the climate; the afford- i n g of facilities for hunt ing , shoot ing, fishing and boating to members on their own sgrounds; the establishment of mink- eries, otteries, aviaries, etc.; thesupplying of the spawn of fish, young fish, game animals, or birds, to other associations o r to individuals, the cultivation of forests; and the selling of timber a n d surplus game of all kinds; in a word, to give a fuller development to field, aquatic and turf sports, and to compensate in some degree for the frightful waste which is annually devastating our forests and ex- terminating our game.

There is n o personal liability on the part of any member or officer of the Asso- ciation for the debts o r liabilities of the Association, but the property of the corporation is liable for itsdebts, in thesame manner as the property of individuals under the laws of the State. T h e capital stock is $225,000, consisting of 500 shares at $450 per share; each share constituting full membership with all club privileges, and carrying pro rata ownership in the property and all its improvements. T h e capital may be increased to $500,000, by increasing the land held in fee, and the Association is empowered to acquire, by gift or otherwise, and hold lands in Pike and Monroe counties i n Pennsylvania, not to exceed thirty thousand acres, and may lease, hire a n d use neighborhood lands to the extent of twenty thousand acres, making the right to control fifty thousand. And the Association may issue bonds, sell, convey, mortgage or lease any or all its property, real o r personal, from time to time. T h e corporation makes its own game laws. T h e penalties for poach-

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Retaining porzd i n breeding park

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>, .- . .. . . %..*I .- $.*.<2$ _ . -_ .. . * -' .: , 'A *- ,.. .. . . . . .::,. % .> "k$ -. - Clubtzou.ce, .showing Lake Gi1e.s

i n g are defined i n the charter, and are very severe. For instance, for taking fish, the fines are $2 for every fish, and $5 per pound in addition; elk or moose, $300; deer, $40 each, etc.; so, also, for setting fire or damaging any property of the As- sociation. T h e gamekeepers o r wardens are made deputy-sheriffs and constables, with power to arrest poachers o r any person infringing the laws of the corporation.

A great amount of work has been done by the Association during the two years of its existence. In addition to theerection of a most attractive club-house, eighty feet long and three and a half stories high, with an extension, it has put u p a large boat-house; built a dam to raise a lake five feet; enclosed 700 arres of forest with a deer-proof wire fence eight feet high, and stocked it with deer; built a commodious game-keeper's and refreshment house therein; stocked three of the large lakes with black bass from Lake Erie: rom- menced trout works; introduced a few landlocked salmon; erected rustic gate- ways a n d summer-houses; built roads, laid ou t avenues, paths, and a croquet lawn; created a fleet of boats and canoes; and imported a kennel of dogs of best stock and approved varieties. Altogether, it is a vast enterprise for this continent, and its present condition reflects great credit upon the sagacity of Fayette S. Giles, Esq., its President, in perceiving that the people of America were prepared to foster such a scheme, as well as upon his energy and perseverance in carrying it to a successful consummation. It has received unusual ly favorable endorse- ment from t h e newspaper press, a n d seems to meet with the greater favor from the fact that it holds out inducements to ladies to participate in the sports and schemes of their husbands. Here will be one asylum, at least, where the enervated belles of New York can spend a season, and in the sports of the field regain ten years of youth as capital for future cam- pa igns a t Sara toga o r L o n g Branch. There is n o reason why a lady should not learn to cast a fly and ensnare the wily trout as skillfully as the most expert male angler, and with a light rifle they would soon learn to enjoy a wait upon a run- way for a final crack at the spotted deer. N o more sensible, healthful, or rational en joyment cou ld be proposed than a month's out-door sport in a locality so well stocked with game, and it is to be hoped that such a pastime may find more favor in the future with people who usually spend their summer vacations idly making a tour of the watering-places and fashionable resorts, and from which they generally return to town more weary and languid than at the outset. T h e "Bloom- ing Grove Park" is entitled to a promi- nent place among the sporting resorts of America.

Gone But Not Forgotton Ever s ince its incep t ion , T h e American Museum of Fly Fishing has been working hard todevelop and refine its procedures for hand- ling accessions and for cataloging ~ t s ever-expanding collection. We 1. - - have made great progress in this

area, largely due to the efforts of our registrar, JoAnna Sheridan. J o came to the Museum four years ago, and, armed with just a few suggestiorls from Paul Schullery, our erstwhile executive director, completely revamped the Museum's entire record-keeping process. In a very short period of time she gave the Museum

a professional system for handl ing its collection-of which we are, naturally, very proud. T h i s was not a n easy task. While there is a great deal of literature available pertaining to museum record keep ing , each m u s e u m , obviously, is quite different-especially ours, as there is really n o other like it. Thus , in addition to adapting schemes of other muse- ums to suit our needs, JoAnna had to develop many new systems o n her own. We also mention that she did a n excellent job of managing the day-to-day opera- tion of the Museum when we were between executive directors. We are most

qrateful for the job JoAnna Sheridan has done for the Musuem. Her dedicated, behind-the-scenes efforts wi l l greatly facilitate o u r preparation for museum accreditation.

We regret to say, JoAnna has made the decision to leave the Museum in order to pursue a number of other professional interests. Jo, we wish you well in these future endeavors and, of course, thank and applaud you for all that you have done for us-you will be missed. but certainly not forgotten.

4 11 1984 - american museum of fly fishingfall 1984 fisher volume 11 number 4 the evidence for early...

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