Hunting in Minnesota in the Seventies

8/13/2019 Hunting in Minnesota in the Seventies

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M I N N E S O T A H I S T O R YA Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N EV O L U M E 1 6 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 3 5 N U M B E R 3

H U N T I N G I N M I N N E S O T A I N T H ES E V E N T I E S *

Under the heading Observe Gam e L aw s, a recent publication of the Ten Thousand Lakes Association containsthe following:

Minnesota is part icularly fortunate in i ts wild l ife resources, birds,animals and fishes, and with your cooperation we hope to maintainthese attr act ion s for poste rity. . . . O u r state and its w ild life furnishmany an interest ing subject for the camera enthusiast , in s t i l ls andmo tion pictu res and th ere is no closed season for the cam era hu nt er .It is interesting to note the difference in emphasis betweenthis and the following paragraph from a pamphlet publishedby the state in 1869, written to attract tourists and prospective settlers to Minneso ta :

In the spring and fall these lakes are all covered with ducks andother water fowl, affording rare amusement for the sportsman. . . .Sometimes wild pigeons, which often breed in our woods, may be shotin grea t num bers in Ju n e. . . . T h e first of Au gu st in M inn eso ta iswhat the firs t of September is in England, when the game law permits the shooting of prairie chickens, pheasants, grouse, &c., whichabound everywhere.^In the recent publication the idea of conservation is up

pe rm ost. T h e tourist is invited to enjoy the wild life ofM inn eso ta with a camera instead of a gun. T h e earlier

*A paper read on June 15, 1935, at the Willmar session of the thirteenth state historical convention held under the auspices of the Minne


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2 6 0 M A RY W H E E L H O U S E B E R T H E L SEPT.publication was in effect an invitation to the hunter to comeand take w ha t he could ge t. T h is difference in emp hasissuggests the change that has taken place in wild life conditions in M inn eso ta in the last sixty-five ye ars. T h e g ro w thof population, the spread of settlement far and wide overthe state, and the penetration of once remote wilds by railroads and highways have resulted in an appalling diminutionof gam e. I t is no long er necessary to invite the hun ter toMinnesota; he comes in legion, without invitation, to jointhe hordes of Minnesota hunters who throng the highwaysleading from every town and village from the beginning tothe close of the season.

Even as long ago as the eighteen seventies, there werethose among the older generation of sportsmen who were lam enting the decline in the abun dance of ga m e. T h e buffalo,the elk, and the antelope, that once roamed the Minnesotaprairies in herds, were gone; and some of the smaller anim als and gam e birds we re decreasing in num ber. Ch arlesHallock, a famous sportsman of the day and the editor ofForest and Stream, on a visit to Minnesota in 1877, wrote:

W h a t a place for game was the land of the D ak o ta hs . . .tw en ty years ago. . . . O n the grand old meado ws a rou nd F o rtSnell ing, and w ithin ha il of the sentry, tha t old frontiersm an, G en .H . H . Sibley . . . shot woodcock by the bagfu ll . . . . N o rm an K ittson and H . M . Rice, his con tem por aries . . . and a score of gentlemen a few years younger . . . could tell us of the ponderous stringsof snipe and ducks they once brought in from the sloughs on the riverbottoms, the ruffed grouse from the ridges, and the deer from the adjacen t t imbe r and open prair ie . T h ey w ou ld smoke up a twenty-fivepoun d canister of V anit y Fa ir tobacco before the ir ya rn w as fullyspu n. I t is som ew hat different n ow in these days, w he n the locomo tives of half a dozen railway lines rumble out continually, and all thecountry round about is daily walked over and beaten up by the resident gunners of a city that has become metropol i tan.^

But to the sportsman of today, Minnesota in the seven


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935 H U N T I N G I N T H E S E V E N T I E S 261were some that have since become extinct, or very ra re .Moose , nowgre atly diminished in number, w ere comparatively common in the denser forests of thenor th , and nowand then onewandered as far south as the vicinity of theTw in Cities. Caribou were fairly numerousin thecountiesalong thenor thern border in the seventies; nowthere arein Minnesota only between thirty and forty of these animals, livingin thebogs n orth andeast of U p p e r RedLa ke.

S H O O T I N G S A N D H I L L C R A N E S[F rom Scribner s Monthly, 18 :82 8 Oc tober, 18 79 ) . ]

The white-tailed deer, which isstill plentiful in thepine forests, and theblack bea r flourished in large numbers in thewoods andgroves in the southern part of the s tate. Thesmaller nim ls beaver, red fox mink, and otherswere far more numerous and m ore w idely distribu ted.Ducks, geese,andsnipe were everyw here plentiful, andwereslaughtered by thethousands both in thespringand the fall.


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2 6 2 M A RY W H E E L H O U S E B E R T H E L SEPT.sandhill crane, which bred throughout the state, was huntedas a game bird and placed on sale in the markets of thelarg er cities. Plov er, pa rtrid ge s, and pra irie chickens wereall abundant in the seventies, though the quail was probablynot much more numerous than at present, and the ring-necked pheasant had not yet been introduced in the state.There are many references to pheasants and quail in Minnesota in the literature of the seventies, but this was due tothe fact tha t many people cal led partr id ges p h e a s a n tsor qua i l .In accounts written by travelers In the state, in the files ofForest and Stream and oth er periodica ls, an d in newspapers of the time, one may find ample testimony to the abundance of gam e In M inn eso ta sixty yea rs ag o. A visitor tothe state in 1871 w r o te : I n season wh ole cars full ofgame are shipped to other states; and the families that livehere find it much cheaper to have pheasant, prairie chicken,wild duck, or venison on the table than to buy meat at thebutcher sho p. A mem ber of a pa rty th at hunted In O tterT ail County In 1875 wro te th at at D eer Creek the p ra ir i eand stubble fields, seemingly as far as eye could reach, wereliterally alive with sharp-tailed grouse, hundreds and hundreds of them, some on the move, others standing perfectlystil l, watching u s ; and at Pa rk er 's P rair ie, a few milesfar the r south, grouse w er e in m yriads. . . . W e shotgrouse on the uplands, ducks and geese on the ponds,ruffed grouse In the thickets, more than we could use, morethan we could give aw ay. A no the r rep ort ed th at in 1874on the Red Rive r flats ducks could b e found by the million.T h e shallow pon ds, the stream s, the larg er lakes , he w rote ,a r e alive w ith them . I t is no uncom mo n thing to see athousand at once from the car window. . . . A t t imes


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19 35 H U N T I N G I N T H E S E V E N T I E S 263The Minnesota Valley was widely famed as a huntingcountry. A pa rty hunting there in 877 found the river bot-

tom seven miles below F o rt Ridgely filled with p at rid ge s,and the ne igh bo ring pr airi es alive w ith . . . chickens . . .running in immense flocks, some containing as many as twohund red bird s . T h e same year a mem ber of another par ty

S H O O T IN G W I L D G E E S E[From Scribner s Mon thly, 18 : 8 38 (O c tobe r, 18 79 ) . ]

reported that in the Big Woods along the line of the St.Paul and Pacific Railroad, now the Great Northern, deerand ruffed grouse were very plentiful, and that prairie chick-ens were found In large numbers between Darwin and Her-m ann . Du ck and geese sho oting , he w rote , was excellent Inthe neighborhood of Willmar.*For several years In the seventies the state was afflictedwith a plague of grasshoppers, and there was much discus-sion in the newspapers about the possible connection betweentheir increase and the wholesale destruction of prairie


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2 64 MARY W H E E L H O U S E B E R T H E L SEPT.

bird s. In 1877 Ka ndiy ohi, am ong ot he r counties, sufferedseverely from the ravages of the hoppers, which left thegrain fields in such condition that the farmers made no attem pt to gath er a ha rve st. T o these fields gam e birds resorte d in immense num bers, and fairly reveled in the irbo un ty. N ew s of this spr ead , of course, and the regionwas overrun with hunters.^

The usual bag taken by a hunter in the seventies in a singleday was not overwhelmingly large, considering the abundance of game; but that is not surprising, for Instead ofthe rapid-firing, repeating shotgun of today, he used a slow,single-shot we pon usually m uzz le-load ing. T h e toll ofgame taken during a year, however, was tremendous, forthere was no limit to the number of birds or animals thatm ight be sho t, and the open season wa s long . Ga m e lawswere not stringe nt no r well enforce d. M in ne so ta's firstgame law, which was passed in 1858, prohibited the shooting of deer and elk for seven months during the year, andof sharp-tailed grouse, prairie chickens, partridges, andquail for five m on ths. In 1871 a gen eral gam e law waspassed which established closed seasons for woodcock, prairie chickens, sharp-tailed grouse, quail, partridges, deer,and elk. I t pro hib ited the killing of the up land gam e birdsmentioned except by shooting them with a gun, and forbadethe expo rt of gam e for sale or traffic. F ro m ye ar to yea rduring the decade the length of the open seasons varied tosome extent, the tendency being toward shorter seasons.The legislature of 1875 provided for the first time a closedseason for mink, m usk rat, bea ver, and ot ter . A qua tic fowlwere not protected until 1877, when the season was closedfrom May to September; i t was not until 1901 that thespring shooting of w ater fowl was pro hibite d. W hile thegame laws of this period carried penalties for their infringe-


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1935 H U N T I N G I N T H E S E V E N T I E S 267ment, they failed to provide adequate machinery for theirenforcem ent. T h er e were no gam e w arden s, and prosecutions could be made only on complaint before a justice ofthe peace.*^

Dogs were as important to the hunter of sixty years agoas they are to the spo rtsm an of tod ay . Accounts of hu ntingexpeditions of the time are full of references to dogs andthe ir w or k In the field. A co ntrib uto r to Forest and Streamwrote that the formation of a sportmen's club at Brainerdhad resulted In more attention to the raising of good dogs.C u r s , he said, a r e at a discount. Go od dogs cost nomore to keep, and . . . gentlemen are glad to see well breddogs m ultiplied . T h e kennels of S. B. Dilley of L ak eCity, who bred pointers, were noted throughout the country.DlUey's pointer Royal Fan won first prize in her class In theNew York bench show of 1877; and his dog Ranger wasa cham pion. T h e re wa s a bench show for dogs at the statefair in 1878, which, with the field trials held at Sauk Centerthe following week, attracted much attention among sportsmen thro ug ho ut the country. T h e judg es' decisions at thefield trials were the subject of many columns of controversyIn the Am erican Field and in Forest and Stream; but themost interesting aspect of the event was the Indifferent, notto say disdainful, att i tude of Minnesota hunters toward thewh ole affair. T h e following comm ent ap pe are d In Forestand Stream: ^The old hunters of Minnesota . . . are rather inclined to look uponthese field trials as popinjay affairs, which may do very well forthe Ea st, bu t are of no accou nt on these pe rair ies, an d so, after th efirst half day satisfied their curiosity, they began to branch off in alldirections w ith their ou t-f i ts , (an d some of them are certainly mostcompletely h ee le d , ) and brin g back wa gon loads of ducks and

General Laws, 1858, p. 40 ; 1871, p. 7 9 - 8 3 ; 1875, p. 159; 1877, p. 91;


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2 6 8 M A RY W H E E L H O U S E B E R T H E L SEPT.chickens. . . . M r . Beaup re , the Pres ident of the [M inn eso ta Ke nnel] Club, bestows some considerable at tention to the tr ials by virtueof his office . . . but he frequently drops out with . . . one of thecro w d, and goes off to the slews and ridges, an d brin gs home abox load of trophies.

The hunter of the seventies had no fast and comfortableautomobile to carry him over smooth highways to his favorite hunting grounds; nevertheless he managed exceedingly well. If he ha d only a day at his disposal, he dro vehis own or a hired horse and buggy or m ore frequentlya wagon, which held more equipmentto hunting groundsne ar by. If, howev er, he w anted m ore extended shoo ting,he trav eled by ra ilro ad to the location of his choice. O nany ro ut e, w rote Ha llock, t h e sportsm an has only to select his objective point, disembark, and locate himself atsome inn or hospitable dwelling, where ordinary comfortsare obtainable. T h e line of the G reat N or th ern from theTwin Cities to Breckenridge, the Sioux City and St. Paul,now the Northwestern road, along the Minnesota River,and the Northern Pacific from Brainerd west were the favorite routes. A t Brain erd trains rested over Sunday, andthere, according to Hallock, at Col . W ee d's ' H ea d Qu arters H o te l, ' could be seen typical ch arac ters of all sorts. . . gentlemen-sportsmen with dogs, plethoric outfits, anda retinue of servants 'well-heeled, ' as they say out there going to the grouse country. *Some of the wealthier sportsmen kept complete wagonoutfits constantly in readiness, which, according to Hallock,they shipped In a box car hith er and yon at w ill. On eenthusiastic St. Paul hunter, E. R. Warner, the superintendent of the American Express Company, according to thesame writer, Ingeniously transform ed an express wagoninto a hunting cart, with sections for ice, provisions, and


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1935 H U N T I N G I N T H E S E V E N T I E S 2 6 9A canvas awning provided shade, and there were side curtains that could be buttoned on for protection against rain.The seats were fitted with easy springs, and the sides werelow enough to permit easy mounting and dismountingagre at advan tage on a hun t for upland gam e. All the railro ad lines ha d special coaches, called bu sine ss ca rs , fittedwith bunks and cooking apparatus, which might be charteredby hunting parties and run over the lines to any point desired. Ve ry often one or m ore hu nters would charte r ahand car and run it over the tracks to a likelyspot.It remained for a party from the East to show Minnesota sportsme n how to hun t in the gra nd man ner. In thefall of 1875 a grou p of hu nters from W orc ester , M assachusetts, including Jerome Marble and C. C. Houghton,arrived in Brainerdtohunt upland game birds . T h e N or th ern Pacific Railroad furnished them with a car fitted withbe rths , tables, and cooking a pp ara tus, and In i t they traveledover the line of the ro ad to the Red Riv er Va lley. T h ei rcar was placed on sidings and they hunted leisurely alongthe way . So pleased we re they w ith the country and Itsopportunities for hunting that In 1876 and again in 1877Marble and Houghton returned to Brainerd to shootdu ck s, geese, chickens, and plo ve r. Th ey cha rtered twocars, one of them divided into kitchen, dining-room, anddraw ing-room , with the usual palace car be rth s, and theoth er dev oted to the four hun ting dogs, a supply storeand game depot, and a sleeping room for one of the party.The two sportsmen were accompanied by their wives anddaughters and two English army oflicers.It would seem that hunting under such conditions wouldhave satisfied the most fastidious of sportsmen; but evidently Jerome Marble felt that there was room for Im


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27 M A RY W H E E L H O U S E B E R T H E L SEPT.Worcester , which hadbeen co nstructed und er his super-vision w it h special atten tion to the wants of thosewhomay gofor am onthortwoonthe plains in ahun ting expedi-t ion . The carremained inSt. Pau lfor aday, andaccord-ing to the St.Pau l Pioneer Press, I t was thecentre of an

A H U N T I N G CA R ON T H E ST . P A U L , M I N N E -APOLIS AND M A N I T O B A RAILROAD

[F rom theAmer ican Trave ller s Journal, 2 : 4 (A ugus t , 1 88 1) . ]

unusual degree of in teres t . Th is pa la t ia l home onwheels , as It was described at thetime, m ight well be thecentre of an unusual degree of interest even in thesemore sophisticated times. The exterior was finished in


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1935 H U N T I N G I N T H E SEVENTIES 271refrigerator, a coal box, and a water tank, and under thecar were four lockers for ice, tools, vegetables, and miscellaneo us sto res . T h e inte rior was finished in black w alnu t,rosewood, and mahogany, and ornamented with gold leafand silver plate. The furniture was upholstered in crimsonplush , the curtain s we re of rich silk d a m a s k In green andbrow n, and the carp et was velvet brussels. T h er e was areading room furnished with a sofa which might be transformed into two beds, and a g ra n d drawing-room anddining ro om , furnished w ith six perm ane nt seats, a diningtable, a N e e d h a m musical cabinet, portab le tables forcards or sew ing, twelve double be rth s, silver-plated oillamps, and two French plate-glass mirrors with embossedbo rd ers. A large closet, wa shroo m s with tanks equippedwith double-action pum ps of the lates t p at te rn for drinking and washing water, a butler's pantry with a china closetand shelves, and a kitchen with a large range and a watertank and pump completed the equipment.

After a visit to the state fair, which that year offered,among other at t ract ions, an address by President Rutherford B. Hayes, an exhibition by the world-famous marksman. Cap tain A. H . Bog ardu s, a fox hunt by Eng lishgentlemen from M ar tin County, and the bench show for dogsalready mentioned, the party spent a day fishing on LakeMinnetonka, and then set out In all their splendor andmagnificence, for the wilds of western Minnesota and Dak o t a .M A R Y W H E E L H O U S E B E R T H E L

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETYS T . P A U L

^ Forest and Stream 5-.106-,9: 230; 11:37, 139 (September 23, 1875;October 25, 1877; August 15, September 19, 1878); Pioneer PressSeptember 7, 1878.


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Hunting in Minnesota in the Seventies

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