Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/176

 128 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY consented to be present, provided we would lock the doors, eat dinner upstairs, hang a curtain before the windows, and say nothing of what he had eaten. This was done, and old 'Shooter' made a very hearty meal, as Indians are likely to do, but I thought, during the trout course, that he acted as though the morsels were hard to swallow, like a boy bolting his first oyster, and that qualms of conscience interfered with deglutitation. He ate frequently with me afterwards, but I cannot say that trout ever appeared to be a favorite dish with him. "All the streams within the limits of our county abounded with trout, with the exception of Prairie creek, the Pine Island branch of the Zumbro, and the Little Cannon. The latter stream has since been stocked, and now affords very fair sport, the run of trout being large. I only fished in four of these streams the first two years of my residence here, to-wit : Trout brook, the little stream emptying into Hay creek ; Spring creek and Bul- lard's creek. The first of these, however, being adjacent to town, was where I got my supply for home use. An hour or two in the evening would net me eight or ten pounds of fish. "in my various tramps through the country, when I struck a stream at a ford or ripple it was no uncommon thing to see dozens 'of trout rushing and tumbling over each other in their haste to reach their hiding places in deep water. On Hay creek I have thus frightened from a shallow ripple more than fifty pounds of fish at one time, and though I always carry an ample supply of fishing tackle with me, I never wet a line in that stream until 1854. This, I consider, the greatest instance of self-denial and resistance to temptation on record. I could cite many instances where better men probably have signally failed, and where the restraining influence would have been much stronger. The reason why I did not gratify my natural instincts was the opposing one — and true sportsman maxim — never to kill what you cannot make use of; and also, I am too great a lover of the gentle art to hasten the extinction, through a mere wantonness, of a creature that has so largely contributed to my pleasure and happiness. "With your permission. I will relate one of these instances, although properly not occurring in the early settlement of the county, premising my recital with the explanation that the cause of the temptation was a large, beautifully colored specimen of the gamest of all game fish — the trout. "A party from below, accredited to our fishing club as being 'all right.' arrived here and requested information as to where they could enjoy a couple of weeks' good sporting during the hot month of July. The very paradise of fishing grounds was selected for them, and the next day their camp was pitched on a