Vol. 11, No. 4, Fall, 1984 - American Museum Of Fly Fishing

4
Volume 11 Number 4 FALL 1984
Reflections
I n the latter half of the nineteenth
century, forest stocks were being
rapidly depleted. T h e demand for
wood products was fast increasi n g as o u r country entered a burg e o n i n g industrial revolution.
T h e wholesale destruction of forests made life very difficult for the native
brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis; namely, w a t e r tables w e r e lowered, s n o w
runoff was hastened, a n d stream temperatures increased considerably. These factors t o g e t h e r 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 i n many areas of o u r country. We
remember reading many accounts by correspondents to Forest a n d S t r e a m a n d
o t h e r s i m i l a r , early p e r i o d i c a l s t h a t
lamented the depletion of native trout
from their favorite streams. Fortunately,
the situation was remedied with the
introduction from Europe of the brown
trout, S a l m o trutta, which is considerably more tolerant of higherwater temperatures, generally grows to a larger size,
a n d is ofttimes more difficult to catch.
T h e stocking of brown trout proved to be
a wise move. T h e y readily adapted t o
their new environment a n d 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, a n often lionized a n d anthropomo r p h i z e d species, its p o p u l a t i o n s a r e
being seriously threatened. T h e culpritacid rain. T h i s causes us to pause and
reflect u p o n what sport fishing for S a l m o
species, if any, will be available to anglers
o n e h u n d r e d years from now. T o o u r
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 d a n g e r o u s l y a p proaching this level of acidity.
Recent studies have demonstrated that,
i n 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 a n d streams from New York t o
Nova Scotia have been rendered fishless
as a result of these emissions. It is clear
that technology is available to significantly curtail acid rain before lakes a n d
streams are made irreversibly barren of
most living creatures. I t is a c h i l l i n g
thought that the history of fly-fishing i n
this country, as well as others, may come
to a n end before we have a chance to
, ,
_.
,
celebrate the bicentennial of the
brown trout's
introduction.
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Fly Fisher
FALL
1984
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T h e Evidence for Early European Angling, I:
Basurto's Dialogo of 1539 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Richard C . H o f f m a n n
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Museum News (Special Section) . . . . . . . . 11-18
A Checklist of Works by Charles Lanman
. . . . 19
Notes and Comment
the editors
T h e Deerfield River: A Fish Story
Edward R. H e w itt
Blooming Grove Park
Charles Hallock
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.4.\.\i.\lnftl . S ~ ~ r r l n(,'/~rk
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(:li:~rlr.iK. Eii 1ii.l
2
. . . . . . . . 22
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
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 sportangling is unearthed. For example, t h e discovery of t h e single
extant copy of Samuel's Art of An1577, by t h e w e l l - k n o w n
British sfiorting-book dealer, E. Chalmers Hallam. Another discouey has recently been made that w e consider to be
m e n more remarkable, as it clearly demonstrates the beginnings of a n angling
heritage-a Spanish angling heritagecompletely unrelated t o t h e legendary
Dame Juliana Berners and her reputed
Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle(1496).
It is to Richard H o f f m a n n that w e owe a
great debt for recognizing t h e significance of Ferdinand0 Basurto's " E l Tratadico de la Pesca" ( T h e Little Treatise o n
Fishing), published as part of a m u c h
larger work, t h e Dialogo, i n Zaragoza,
Spain, i n 1539. It describes methods for
fly-tying and fly-fishing u n l i k e those
found in the Treatyse. A translation of
" E l Tratadico de la Pe.scaMby H o f f m a n n
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
H o f f m a n n , w h i c h elegantly speaks to the
question of these t w o disparate angling
heritages.
Fly fishers receive from most modern
writers of angling history a common
understanding of the origins of their
technique a n d their sport. Aelian's
Macedonians rest in second-century isolation 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 a n Angle, whether or not further
illuminated by the myth of Dame Juliana
Berners. T h e 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 demonstrably in error. That the Treatyse is not
the sole record of fly-fishing in fifteenthcentury 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 ofcomparable date and clearly autonomous origin.
This article examines one such new piece
of evidence; s u b s e q u e n t essays w i l l
explore others. One aim is to correct misconceptions 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 q u e 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 oT. h~e 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. T h e author wasFernandoBasurto.5
Fernando Basurto is a minor, but not
u n k n o w n , figure i n early sixteenthcentury Spanish letters. Born in thepyrenean town of Jaca in the 1460s or 1470s,
A z~iewof Zaragoza and the rir~erEbro. Basurto resided it2 Zaragoza after his retirement.
Co1~rtr.v~
of t l ~ National
r
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. T h e
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 succession of their grandson, Charles V ( i n
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 Habsburg power. Spaniards took pride in the
achievements of their dynasty, their religion, and their arms. At home, too, restoration of political order encouraged
population growth and economic prosperity, the latter especially among some
of the trading towns and the great producers of wool, Spain's principal export
commodity. Learning and literacy expanded, and an indigenous religious revival 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 a n intensely 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 subjects, 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 pinnacle of Spanish society, recipients of deference from and dispensers of favor to all
their inferiors. But still, in a paradoxical
way, sixteenth-century Spanish society
also contained a n egalitarian 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 courtiers. 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 promoted 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 A u g u a m o i x , a IriO~itaryof the Ehro in 1 - ~ r r d n 1'erhap.s
.
Basurto pmctic.rd
his hatch m a t c h i n g here, alrnost four hundred and fifty years ago?
Courtesy of the National Touri.st Office of Spain
t h e M u s l i m infidel 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 t h e 3econd
quarter of the sixteenth c e n t u r ~ Fer.~
n a n d o B a s u r t o a n d t h e a u d i e n c e for
w h o m he wrote shared these cultural
experiences.
T h e twenty-two leaves of the Dtaloga
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),
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: V i v a s e n el
m u n d o , o inclyta case d e Luna: Pues tus
claros uarones contada fidelidad y esfuerchapters 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. T h e useful
corrections (and some errors) available in W.
Koch. "Die Geschichle der Binnenfischerei
von Milleleuropa," in R. Demoll, H . Maier.
et a]., 4 s . . 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 ~American
P
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 n o
such prior writings are cited in the studies
mentioned.
90. Dende t u principio hasta hoy han
seruido a sus Reyes: y derribado 10s feos
pensamientos a sus enemigos: c o n seznladas 71ictoria.s: c o m o t o insignia. Puesta
en tal c a m p o l o declara. Title and author
appear at the bottom.8 O p e n the book.
Here is a n effusive two-page P r o l o e o
addressed to M u y i l l u s t r r s e n o r , Don
Pedro Martinez de L u n a , Count of Morata, 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 c o n c l u s i o n i n w h i c h t h e
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
hunting 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
d e 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 o n baits for fishing in
the sea; chapter 2 o n baits for fresh water;
chapter 3 o n the little white fly with four
horns that comes along the rivers to feed
the barbel; chapter 4 o n how to catch and
fish with the little white fly (and much
more besides). Folio c ix recto concludes
the Tratadico a n d moves without break
into a brief concluding dialogue. T h i s is
followed (fols. c ix verso and c x verso, by
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 o n 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.
H o w the Count of Morata, Don Pedro
Martinez de L u n a , responded to Basurto's labors of 1538 is unknown. So, too, is
its reception by the author's other contemporaries. T h o u g h mentioned by a
handful of eighteenth- a n d nineteenthcentury students of Aragonese literature,
by the early twentieth century the Dialogo was not to be found i n any Spanish
library a n d was presumed lost. T h e n ,
some years ago, a copy c a m e t o light
t h r o u g h 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,
b o u n d w i t h a contemporary work o n
aristocratic lineages of S p a i n . M o n i n o
died before he could publicize his discovery, leaving that duty a n d the task of a
critical appreciation to a French Hispanicist, Pierre Geneste.I0 H i s article, which
accomplished this, appeared in the
French scholarly journal B u l l d i n Hlrpan i q u e in 1978. Geneste offered a literary
analysis of Basurto's dialogue a n d appended thereto a transcription of t h e
practical Tratadico, "dedicating this
especially to the fervent emulators of the
o l d fisherman."l1 Yet G e n e s t e c o u l d
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 treatment of fishing a n d 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 ang l i n g has noted Geneste's article 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 ~ ooffers a coherent and
uniquely Spanish argument for the legitimacy a n d moral value of angling as a
sport. I t plausibly informs the modern
scholar and angler of the mental a n d cultural context i n w h i c h its protagonist
pursued his beloved pastime and, notably
i n the practical Tratadico, of the techniques by which, with fly a n d 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 a n d then examines both the mentality a n d the practice
of Basurto's fisherman.
T h e m a j o r t h e m e of t h e d i a l o g u e
proper is the announced debate between
the old angler a n d the noble huntsman
o n the merits of their sport.I3 T h e fisherman, a commoner, angrily confronts the
youth of high status. H i s noisy retinue
has frightened the fish a n d destroyed the
other's recreation. T h e aristocrat, proud
but not haughty a n d always ingenuous,
asks why such great distress and such disdain 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
a n d the soul, a n d it offends others. H e
elaborates, detailing with a rich supply of
anecdotes how famous hunters brought
themselves i n t o h a z a r d o u s s i t u a t i o n s
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
a n d gluttony of great retinues and extravagant meals. T h e chase, says he in summary, "is a h u m a n exercise for recreation
of the body a n d it has its dangers; fishing
is divine a n d h u m a n , divine for the salvation of the soul and h u m a n for, with
repose, its gives pleasure to the body."I4
T h u s the angler moves to the offensive.
H o w is his sport superior? "Fishing does
not offend God; it does not afflict one's
neighbor; it does not destroy the fisherm a n himself."l5 It is a sport of balance
(equidad),not excess (superfluidad).T h e
angler follows a simple, solitary, contemplative pursuit, even going to mass i n 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 a n d good for such as you,
says he, but not for me. W h o ever heard of
princes a n d nobles w h o fished? Again,
the fisher can exploit his competitor's
naivete: fishing is not noble, it is saintly
and apostolic, a n d that is even better than
being noble. Saint Peter a n d Saint Andrew 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 h a d been anglers, Christ
would have stopped to see how they were
doing before H e called them!I6 And then
he continues i n the dialectic mode, contrasting examples of h u n t i n g saints like
S a i n t Eustachius, w h o a b a n d o n e d the
sport u p o n their conversion, with those
of the Apostles, w h o fished even after
accepting Christ's call. T h e simple pleasures of the angler's life preserve and purify 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
h u n t of the infidel, the ongoing struggle
against the enemies of justice, of religion,
a n d hence of Spain. T h e new recreation
will improve the aristocrat's ability to
fulfill his traditional obligation, which
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 sixteenthcentury 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 it 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
c a ~ ~ a l l r rcarador:
o
alrgando cada u n o drllos
UP cs su e x ~ r c i c i omrjor. E jinalmcntr
v i r n r n a concluyr: r n q u r el pr.rrador a
ruego del car~allrror a ~ a d o r :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
-
--
I'Arsenal, 4oH221.3, which is not paginated
but does contain signature foliation.
Some readers may apprec-iatca brief
"translation" of signature foliation that
describes how the book is put together and
in it.
how we can refer to partic-ular
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
the angler illustrates with further references to the praiseworthy deeds of legendary and historic Spanish heroes, including, of course, members of the house of de
Luna.17 His knightly opponent is vanquished 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. T h e
author of the T r e a t y s e criticizes just the
laborious a n d 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 secular 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 motivations. 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 differences in the two authors' use of illustrative e x e m p l a : what are in the T r e a t y s e
mere moral tags and proverbs become in
the D i a l o g o a rich collection of scriptural, 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, distinctively an original product of its time and
its situation. T h e 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 responsibility, and the feeling of individual pride.
T h e 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? T h e 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 a n occupation. Angler and
hunter alike refer to it as recreacion, exercicio, d e l e y t e , and p l a z e r . 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 longparticipation: "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~thusiasmfor the sport. Patience is the
principal theme of the preface to theTratadico, 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 drifting 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. T o
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 characteristic 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 d e 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 h u m a n o : 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 T h e 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 h a n
seguido m i exercicio: q u e n o h a n
faltado santos y apostoles: q u e e n
tiempos 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 llamo diziendo q u e le
siguiessen.
C[a~ador]:Bien tienes razon si de uara
fueran pescadores: m a s pues fueron de
redes: n o cures de tener uanagloria de
aquello.
P: Q u e donoso arguir: por poner dolencia
e n m i oficio. Pues mirad: yo os
prometo a fe de pescador: q u e si c o m o
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: m a s avn
a1 q u e le mira. Ojas c o m o con sus
redes 10s hallo: q u e es pesca poco
aplazible: q u i s o 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 transcripts 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
2 1 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. 11, 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 tiempo 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 d e 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 until they have said their
masses and prayers; the lawyers (10s letrad o s ) should put their cases in good order
first.24
Workers, clerics, lawyers-the old angler assumes that a cross-section of Spanish 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. T h e 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 sixteenthcentury Aragon. T h e old m a n is acquainted with other anglersz6 and even,
by implication, if it is not a literary conceit, 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 brotherhood.
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
T h e early sixteenth-century Aragonese
angler pursued several species indigenous to his area. Most commonly Basurto
talks of barbel ( b a r b a ) ,the large cyprinid
C: Pues en que piensa durando tanto el
oluido?
P: E n 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 distinct varieties now recognized as native to
the rivers he fished.30 H e notes the preference of the larger specimens for relatively
deep and slow-moving waters and repeatedly urges theangler to have strong tackle
for them. Then there are several other
members of the cyprinid family, the
' species of nosefish
tench ( t e n ~ a ) , ~two
( b o g a and madrilla),32 an Iberian subspecies 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 distribut i ~ nBut
. ~ 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)s5and for eel
25 Compare here the discussion of social
qualities of early English angling found in
Braekman, T h e Treatise o n Angling in T h e
Boke of St. Albans (1496). Background,
Context and Text of " T h e 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 a m o n g
them, however, is only the d o l p h i n
(dorado).
T h e s e 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
distribution, like the salmon ( S a l m o
salar) and several kins of cyprinids. Missing, too, are two favorites of early northern a n g l i n g writers, the pike ( E s o x
l u c i u s ) and the carp ( C y p r i n u s carpio);
the former was introduced south of the
Pyrenees d u r i n g the nineteenth a n d
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 q u i peuuent
Btre maladorants ou malpropres, de les
utiliser en telle o u telle eau, en telle o u telle
saison, se prgtent peu aux charmants effets
de style. Outre que la raaction semble
parfois suiure la pensEe plutbt que l'exacte
syntaxe. U n e 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
twentieth centuries, a n d the latter, also
a n exotic import, i n Basurto's time probably lived there only i n enclosed and cultivated ponds.
P a s s i n g 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
a n d to the water conditions in which it
was sought. T h e jointed rod had a butt of
wood a n d 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 i n various strengths, with light tackle of only
two hairs suggested i n seeking nosefish
o r roach with small baits i n clear waters
a n d heavy gear of f o u r hairs o r m o r e
favored for large barbel in deep or heavy
water. Fly-fishing employed six strands,
perhaps the better to facilitate casting the
fly. Hooks a n d sinkers, too, could differ
i n size as appropriate to the tactical situation. Of the former, Basurto advised carrying a half-dozen; the latter are most
often described a s being lead, t h o u g h
once a stone weight is mentioned. When
needed to keep the bait off the bottom o r
to indicate a bite, the angler affixed to his
l i n e a suitable v e l a (literally, "sail"),
clearly a float o r bobber, but of substance
unspecified.38 Even less identifiable t o
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.
V a r i o u s k i n d s of b a i t s p r o v i d e t h e
organizing principle for most of Basurto's presentation i n the Tratadico. Al-
t h o u g h i n chapters two t h r o u g h four
these have only a vaguely seasonal order,
-..each is specified as useful for particular
fishes a n d most receive appropriate tactical recommendations. Basurto's angler
uses a n array of natural a n d prepared
baits as well as the artificial fly.Thenatural foods cover the gamut of small aquatic a n d terrestrial c r e a t u r e s , w o r m s ,
nymphs, caddis larvae, crickets, centipedes, m a t u r e mayflies, ants, s h r i m p ,
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
little white butterfly with four little
horns which a t night comes to the rivers," he displays remarkable qualities of
observation and ingenuity, detecting the
behavior patterns of both flies a n d 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. H i s recommendations lack, moreover, theelaborate
prepared stink baits o r semimagical concoctions present in the English Treatyse
a n d especially common i n the northern
continental angling literature of equivalent early date. Readers familiar with that
material may sense a breath of fresh air in
Basurto's complaints of the unpleasantness and bother i n using a buried chunk
of cow's o r goat's liver to raise maggots
for bait.
Basurto's instructions for preparing a n
artificial fly are, of course, especially
important historically a n d to readers of
the A m e r i c a n F l y Fisher. T h e passage
dealing with fly-fishing demands rather
limited to passages from elsewhere in the
Dialogo.
3 0 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).
3 1 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).
3 3 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.
Ibid., no. 323
Salmo trutta fario inhabits the upland
headwaters of all major Spanish river
systems; it is the only native resident
salmonid (ibid., no. 50).
3 6 Anguilla anguilla is endemic to western
Europe (ibid., no. 19).
3 7 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
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 T h r
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
Aragon countryside near Jaca i n the Pyrenees
*.
..grLe...#
e.
*
:
~
>
34
35
trout. It is the same argument as that i n
little i n the way of explication. T h e
t h e fifteenth-century E n g l i s h m a n u s "feather" serves to catch trout i n Aragon
cripts and, indeed, more sharply articufrom April to August, a longer and later
lated than either that i n the Treatyseor by
season than that advised byJuan de BerJ u a n de Bergara.44 T h a t Basurto thinks
gara i n the Astorga m a n u s c r i p t from
i n imitative terms is further emphasized
L e o n a century later.39Basurto's flies
i n his advice o n presentation.
were tied with the soft hackles of capons,
ducks, a n d the unidentifiable b ~ n a l , ~ O T h e few words i n the Tratadico given
to the tactics of fly-fishing are to be read
using colored silk that also formed the
i n the context of Basurto's overall conbody a n d the head a n d , as elsewhere,
cern t o adjust his presentation of a bait to
b o u n d t h e spade-end ( p a l e t a o r "little
the fish, the season, a n d the prevailing
shovel") hook to the line. Hisdescription
w a t e r c o n d i t i o n s . T w o g e n e r a l techof the t y i n g t e c h n i q u e is p e r h a p s t h e
niques are used with both natural and
clearest of a n y early one. I n modern
prepared baits, fishing a1 andar a n d a la
North American fly-tying jargon, he
tendida. A bait is fished a1 andar ("at a
seems to place the butts of the feathers o n
stroll") with a line n o longer than the rod
the hook with the tips extending toward
i n water that is moving. Most of the time
the front of it, to w r a p forward over the
the angler employs a float a n d a relatively
butts to the spade end, a n d then to turn
light sinker, but occasionally, as with the
the tips u p a n d bind them backwards i n
n a t u r a l mayfly for trout, these are exmaking the head.*The bodies are wrapped
pressly advised against. Basurto's intenof silk a n d ribbed with silk of another
tion is to present the bait i n a selected part
color.41 What remains ambiguous, howof the water, whether near the surface o r
ever.
is the extent to which Basurto's tech~,
a t some depth. It is apparently a deadnique matches that now considered
drift technique a n a l o g o u s t o roving a
traditional i n S p a i n a n d used by George
n y m p h or a baitfish. As such, this conBeall to explicate the patterns of J u a n de
trasts with fishing a la tendida ("at the
Bergara.42That style employs hackle barstretch"), for the latter method uses more
bules stripped from the stem, tied with
weight to keep the bait fixed in slow o r
tips to the rear, a n d then flared. Basurto
dead water w i t h some depth. Often
certainly reverses t h e direction of the
Basurto recommends u s i n g this stillhackle o n the hook, but his reference to
fishing technique with large baits in turu s i n g " u n a s p o q u i t a s de las plumas"
bid water for barbel. H e n c e Basurto's
m i g h t p l a u s i b l y be r e a d t o describe
angler chose a m o n g methods a n d their
stripped barbules rather t h a n several
application t o offer his bait effectively i n
whole feathers. Still, the result is indisdifferent situations. H i s considerable
putably a silk-bodied fly encased i n a
interest i n problems of presentation goes
fringe of feather materials.
beyond that shown i n o t h e r early angling
Equally indisputable a n d more signifiwritings.
cant than the arcana of pattern design for
But when Basurto discusses the artifiBasurto's place i n the historical record of
cial fly, he uses neither of his specialized
fly-fishing is his explicit philosophy of
terms for presentation. Instead, h e inimitation. H e instructs the angler to g o to
structs the fly fisher pursuing trout i n
the river, capture the natural flies, examclear, fast water to fish with the fly alone,
ine their color, and (implicitly) select the
"throwing down the stream and going
corresponding artificial t o deceive the
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 with artificial
ones."'5 T h i s sounds close t o classic wetfly 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 feathered creation, already chosen to imitate
the color of the natural insects present
there, is also behaving like them. Especially when the angler's intentional skill
a t manipulating his baits is recalled, such
instructions are unparalleled i n the early
angling record.46
(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 AngloSpanish 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.
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
W h a t lace. then. i n t h e historical
record of early European angling is provisionally to be allotted Fernando Basurto, 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 w i t h
the better-known English one. H e provides a philosophically a n d technically
coherent description of that tradition,
u s i n g a n a u t o n o m o u s a n d culturally
congruent argument and a novel literary
form-the d i a l o g u e - t o p r o m o t e it.
Basurto thus introduced thedialoge form
to angling literature.47 I n more substantive terms, B a s u r t o ' s w r i t i n g s yield
important new evidence for the antiquity
of m a r i n e s p o r t a n g l i n g , for detailed
entomological observation, a n d for carefully reasoned tactics of presentation.
Finally, i n fly-fishing itself, he not only
antedates by a century the evidence for a n
independent S p a n i s h heritage, he describes w i t h a clarity of detail h i t h e r t o
unknown the consciously imitative techn i q u e s of f l y t y i n g a n d p r e s e n t a t i o n
therein.
*See illusfration in the American Fly Fisher.
11. no. 3, p. I?.
1101.
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 thcsseventeenth century in England by fishermen
like Charles Cotton ( w h o wrote thc flyfishing chapters in Walton's Complrnt
Analrr).
T h e fly I used was Cotton's Blue Dun,
which I dressed o n a #10 hook, though I
used rabbit-fur dubbing instead of dog's
hair.
T h e first t h i n g 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 dlay out a
fairly s t r a i g h t line. 'Thr scscorid, a n d
important, discovery was that thr horsehair line would not sink. Only the fly
sank, about half a n inch t o a n 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 o n the surface ant1 are
q u i t e 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 Cromwell'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 flieson small hooks and light ciressingson the
top of the water, o n 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 Halford for the Hampshirerivers in the 1870s
is that the Halforcl patterns were specifically 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 quill, for the
bodies, t o a i d presentation; 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-andink 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 r a n s l a t i o n of
Basurto's " E l Trntndico dr In Pescn" and
Walter Wethrrcll's "Take a Writer Fishing" (SCYthe 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 &
R e r l , Fly Fishrrnznn, Fly Fishing t h r
M'est, O n t a r i o O u t d o o r s , a n d Doublc
Haul. H e is c~rrrrntlya fine-arts teacher
and free-l;~nc-eillustrator, living in Tcrrace. British C:olumbia, with his wifeantl
two sons. H r holds a bachelor of arts
dcgrce lrom the ITniversity of G u e l p h
ant1 slxnds much of his free time either
p a i n t i n g watrrcolors o r fly-fishing for
salmon and steelhe;~d.More of his exct4lent artwork appears in this issue of thc
Amrrican Fly Fi.shrr.
Corrigenda
I n an effort to keep the record straight,
wc notc the following corrections to thr
translation by Richard Hoffmann a n d
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 twentysix shonld read Nudos. 5
The
American
Museum
,of
Fly Fishing
I.
I
. ,> .
I
' , '
I
11
L
I
"
I
'
':A New,,View
,
I
I*
'
S o m u c h has happened at T h e American M u s e u m of Fly Fishing
i n recent years that we're using this special section of our quarterly
American F l y Fisher t o bring our many new friends u p t o date.
Above is a chronology of fly reels spanning almost t w o hundred years
i n our recently renovated galleries.
'I
I
,
About the Museum
First incorporateel as a nonl)rofit, celuc.ational
i n s t i t i ~ t i o ni n 1968, .I'lic~A n i c r i ~ ~ i M
~ rIiI S ~ ~ I oI If IFly
I
Fishing is now Iiomc to the- \~~orlcl's
forenlost ~)ul)liccollcc.tio~io f historic. fly-fishing tac.klts, l)ooks, ~)criotlicals, a n d related itcsrns. We've ~ ) r c ~ ) ; ~ rthis
c c I sl)ccial
s u p p l c ~ n c n tt o the ,,I nzr>ric.ctt~
Fly F i . s l ~ ~ort, ~ cl~~;u.tc~rly
r
pul)lic,ation, as a mcs;llis of introdr~c.ingo i ~ rnany
r
new
friends a n d s u p p o r t e r s t o t h e M u s e u m . W i t h i n t h i s
scsc.tion you'll f ' i ~ l c lnews o f c.rlrr.c5ntM useurn affairs ant1
:I c.olorfu1 t o u r o f o u r new c~s11il)itiong i ~ l l c r i c stllat
o p c ~ i e t lin M a y o f 1984. O n t h i s ~):igcarcs s o m e f;~c.ts
a l l o ~ the
~ t Milscum that you nlay find 1)oth informative
iuncl rntcrt;~ining.Wcl~~ornc!
T w o things o f spcc.i;~lsignific.:uic.c~have rvolvcel at
the M i ~ s c u r nwithin the I):ISI two years. .I'llc first is the
~ ) ~ ~ r c Io lf ~o ~
u rs ~c x r ~ n ; i r l c nhorn(-,
t
inclc~jcntlcntof any
o t h e r o r g a u i z ; ~ t i o no r i ~ l s t i t u t i o ~-1'hc
l . sc.c.o~itlis t h e
elr\~clor)rncnto f o u r National Eshil)it Program.
O u r new hc$acl(l~~:irtcrs, slnown o n I his l)agcb,
are o n the m a i n street of
M:tnc~liestcr,V e r m o n t ,
a(ljac.c~ntto the, historic.
Ecluinox I I o t c l (wl1ic.h
is c . ~ ~ r r c ~ nilntlcrgoi~ig
tly
an c~iglltcen-nlillio~i-clol1.'11 . ~. c s t o r ; ~ t i o n~) I. n t i l
1!)84 t h e M t ~ s c u n renteel
l
cs1iit)it ion sp:ic.c nebst to
thcOrvis retail storca,;11)ot1t ;I lialfnlilc~from o u r 1)rcSscbnt
cluartcrs. T h i s I c ~ c lm:tny 1)col)lc t o t h e c 3 r r o n e o t ~ s
c.onc.li~siorithat we3 wtSrc:ill "Orvis M I I S ~ I I I I 'I'lie
~."
111ncric.anM t t s c i ~ mof Fly Fisliing is, o f cot~rsc,:I tot;~lly
iiielcl~critlcntinst 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. I n pr~rc.h:isingo u r new I)~iilelingin
November of 1983, the Board of Trustees took a major
s t e p ill c n l i a n c . i ~ i go r ~ rinlitgc, a s a n i11tlcpcntlc.nt
organization.
N o w , for the first tirnc, cxhiI)itio~is,thcc~ollcction,
oul- lil)rary, a n d :~cIrninistrativcfunctions are all uneler
onr. r o o f . A l s o f o r t h e first t i m e , the* M u s e u r n is
; i c l e q ~ : ~ t c l cyo v e r e d by sophistic.ated s y s t e m s f o r
pIlysic.al s t ~ c ~ ~ r:1ncI
i t y fire protc(.tion, linked tlircctly t o
the nc;~rhypolice :inel fire elc~)artrncnts.
A C:al)ital Funcl, s c ~ , ; ~ r a tfrom
c
a n y o1)crating
funds, w a s csta1)lishctl ill 1983 t o ~)urc.hasc,rel)air,
rc~uov:itc, I u r n i s h , anel o t l l e r w i s c ~(.over tllc c,osts
assoc.i:itctl with o ~ new
r 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;itclyto p c r ~ n i toc.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 d u r i n g
1987 o r sooner.
O u r new h e ; ~ d ( l u a r t e r soffer a solitl I ~ a s cfor ;I
scc-onel important tlc~vc~lo~~nlcnt:
the National Esl1il)it
I'rogram. In 1983. rc(.ogni/.ing I lie M~IS(,IIIII'S
(.o~lstittlcnc,y to I)e, nation;~l--c~\~c.n intr.ruationaI, thc~'1'rtistccs
;~elol)tcclits a 111;itte*rof o n g o i n g policy t I i ; ~ t ri111sc111n
c ~ l i l)its
i
l ~ cl ) l ; ~ c . c ~ c lI'rorii t i ~ i i ct o t irlic* ;1rot111(It he'
c.o111itry in ~ ~ o ~ l j ~ ~ n ~c vt i tol irot11c1.
l
r ( ~ s ~ ) o ~ ~ si~lstiil)lc
t ~ ~ t i o n.I'llc
s . c811tirccoilntry c.:in't ( ~ ) n i to
c t l i c ~M L I S ~ Y I I ~ I .
so the M ~ I S ~ TisIgIo~i nI g 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 ~ ) ~ ) its
l c ' is 1)rac.tic.ally ~x)ssit)lt~.
For cs;inil,le, i l l it(lclition to rn;tiiitaining c.sllil)its
in M:unc.hcstc~r,we now c~sliiI)itc*vcbrysumlncr at thc~
I n t t ~ l ~ n a t i o n ;Fly
~ I Fishing ((:c-ntcr( ~ n a i n t a i ~ i cI)y
~ dtiltFeelerat i o n of I:ly I:isllc~rs) i n West Y c l l o w s t o n c ~ ,
Mo~ltaria-one o f the, t r i ~ cc.i~ossl.oatls
~
o f c.ontc.ml)orary
fly-fislling. \4'c also re(.e~itlyl):~rticip:~teclin slio\vs ;I[
the (:atskill I;ly 1;ishing <:crite~rin Kos(.oc, New York,
the, Atltlison (;;~llcry ill i\ntlo\~cr,Massac~hi~setts,
:inel
the, Bc1.kshi1.c.M ~ ~ s c ~ uinr nPittsl'ir.ltl, Mi~ssat.lir~sc~tts.
IZ'c*arc now ~ v o r k i n gwit I1 the i\c-:~tlc-rriy
ofS(.ic.nc.c-s
in Sari Fr;ulc.isc.o o n a ~ n a j o cr ~ s l ~ i I ) i t i osc.llc~elr~lc~el
ii
to I)r.
Ilc,ltl there (Illring the summc,r of I!)85. 0 r 1 r ~ ) l ; ~isnfor
this s l i o ~ vt o si11)sc~cluc~ntly tri~vclto other ~ntisc~11111s;~ci-osst h e ( . o i ~ n t r y
c111ri11g1985 ;tntl 1986.
,111 o f these ac.ti\,itics ;ire c~sl)c~isivc-.
I t Ilas
l)cen t l i r o r ~ ~tllc
l i gcncbroils si~l,portof Inany intlivielu:~ls ; ~ n t lc.orl)or:tI ions t hat o u r opebrat i n g
l)~icIgt~t
h:~sgrown to illlow tllc~sccs~)antlc~tl
~)rogriuiis.I n 1979 I IicMusct~rnI l ; ~ t l
all ol)el.;~ti n g I)t~elgctof$255,00. For o u r ( . L I I . I . ~ I I I1 !)8~1-85
fisc.ii1 yesat.,o u r I)o;~rtlatlo~)tt~cl
a n operating I)r~clgctof
$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-ti1nc8sti~l'fo f 11i1.c-c:~tllici.(-sstri(-tly t o 1)rofcssio1i:11
st;inelarcls o f Inrlsctlni c.ontluc.t anel c ~ ~ r a t o r i(.:ire.
a l \.lie,
also l)cslong to anel work with sr~c.llorg;~niz:~tions
as the
i\nicric.an ilssoc.iation o f Muse-urns.
st:ifl'. New hc~:itlclt~:~rtc~~.s.
K:ipitlly
A ~)~-ol'c-ssio~i:~l
growing cslli1)ition ~)rogr;~nls.
Fin:~n(.i:~lso1111c11ie~ss.
M'ca'\.c ;~c.c.ornplisIictlrn11t.h in o u r sistc~cn-yearIlistory.
But thearc's 111r1c.hriiorc t o 1)ctlonc. IVe elcpcnel totally o n
clircct 1)11l)lic.s ~ ~ l ) l ) o :inel
r t , the- fig111 for iitle.cluatc ft111cIi n g is 11c\.crencling. If yoti iire~~i't
a incrnl)c~i.o f the M u sculn, you'll fintl ; t r i al)l)lic.ation forrn o n thc~fac.ing
1);1gc.O r pcrl1:rps yo11have a fric>ntlivho s h o t ~ l t1)cc.ornc
l
;I ~i~c~iil)r.r-i~ntL
i.ccc*ivcthe ,.I I I I ( ~ Y I ( ~Fly
I I Fi.sltor ( I ~ I ; I I - tcrly-our lanel~narkpi~l)lic.;~tion
that has t\vic.c Ivan
clcssign aiv;trds frorn the, ~ ) r i n t i r l ginelr~stry.
C;ifts to tllc M ~ I S ~ *c.an
I I I 1~ )I ~~ i i i i e l ( in
* ril~iny\v;tysfrom 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 fishi n g a1.1-fo1. \.c8ry gc.nc.i':~l o r \.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;ISs ~ ) ~ . o \ ' i t l c ' c1'l01. I)y law. Y o l ~ r
m u s e u m needs the s u p p o r t of all its friends-old a n d
~ l c ~ \ v - i ~ this
i
tinie~o f i.;il)i(I groiv111.
Annual Meeting News
Excerpts from the
Execut iue Director's
Annual Report
:untl I'irn R<~tlfortl
with 1'1.esitlcnt's Pills in
I I i g l ~ l i g l ~ ot sf then M I I S ( . I I ~;111n11al
's
1.c.c.og11itio11 o f thc.ir sc.rvic.c t o thc. MuI ~ ~ ~ \ i n c 111c.t.ti11.c:
.ss
ill ItI;~r~c.hc*stc*r.
\'(*I.?,c~lllll.
m o n t , o n S c ~ ) t c . ~ n I ) c8. .r I!)XS, ~ ' c 1 . c;IS
'
Kc.(.ogni/ing tI1;1t $1 75,000 ~ ~ . I I I ; I ~ Ito
IS
follo\vs:
f o ~the.
. Mr~sc.ilrn's<:;~pit;~l
Funtl,
'1'rustc.c~~
c.lcc.t(~lto a thrc.c,-ye;tr trr111: I)(, ~.;~isc.tl
a (:apir;il Funel
1N'~UOD~I~~I'ION
D a n ( : a l l ; i g h a n , K o y I). < : l ~ ; ~ l ) iJnr . , t h r tt~ustccscst;~l~lisl~ccl
'I'hr Anleric.;ln M u s r r l ~ no f Fly Fishing
<:hristophor C:ook, C:harlc.s R . Eic.llcl, <:o~nrnittec.co-c.h;~irc.d by Ko1)c.r.t Ruc-kh a s cnjoyc.tl a n c.straortlinarily s~rcrc.ssful
J o h n I<r~stic.cs,A r t h r ~ 'I'.
r 1:rc.y. Samuel <:. m;tster ant1 C;:trclnc5r C;r>unt.
11Polic-y Kcview C:om~nittc.c.,c.o-c.haircbtl
y w r . .I'Iie officers, trustees, staff, mcmJ o h n s o n . D;~vitlR . I.ctllic, l l l i o t 1.iskin.
l ) c ~ s ant1
,
I'rirntls of t h e Milsc.ilm have all
LV. H:~r~.ison
M c h n , M.D., C;:trI A. N:tv;~rre I)y I;tn Mackay ;untl <:h;~rlrsEic.1ic.l. was
c.ont~-il)ictc~cl
sul)stantially to this suc.c.ess,
JI.., \Villard F. Koc.k~\.c~II
J r . , S r t h Koscsn- e s t a b l i s h e d to review c u r r e n t m u s e u m
I ) ; I ~ I IKcitll
I ~ , RUSSCII,I'c.tc.rMf. St1.011, Kc.11- polic-irs iuntl by-la~vs,w i t h sl)e(-i;~l1-rI'cr- c.ac.h in his 01-h r r o w n wily. A m o n g many
rnc.cst o thc. c.ollcc.tio~~,
LIIICI to ~.c.c.orn~nc>nclotlirr things, w e have rczachc.tl o u r longncbtt R. I ~ ~ I S O
;lnd
I ~ Sanl
,
Van Nc.ss.
s t a ~ ~ t l i ngoal
g of intlcpc-ntlrnce from the
Nc.~\roffic.c.1-s c.lrc-tc.tl t o ;I oncb-ycS;~r
term: c h ; ~ r ~ g eats the, I l c s s t ; ~ n n u a l~ n e r t i n g .
O r v i s <:orril,;~ny, w1iic.h n u r t u r c t l t h c
An o l ) r r ; ~ t i n gI)utlgct of $244,700 was
( ; ; ~ r ( l n c r I,. C;I.;III~( < ~ I ~ : ~ i r r no :f~ tnh r
adopted by the Trustees for the 1984-85 Mrlserrrn rxtensivc*ly for sixteen year-s.
130;1rcl), Art1111r'1'. 1;l.c.y (I'rc~sicI(~nt),
\V.
. I l ~M
e r r s c ~ u ~now
n st;~nelso n its own as a n
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ol)cr:~tingcsntity i n virtu;~llyevery aspc'c't,
.I'liat c~vcningthe. first ar~c.tion;tlinncsr
12eigh 11. P r l - k i n ? ( ' l ' ~ - r ; ~ s i r r cI~a)n, D.
r;111gi11gfro111 1);1per clips to 11ayroll.
of o u r c.urlcbllt series was li(4tl in M;IIIM;~c.kay(Sc.c.rrtary),; ~ ~ l d ( : h a ~ - K.
l ( aEic-11c.l
s
A m o n g the highlights of t h e past ycSx
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el.. At tc*ntlanc.c.was ;I I-c.c.ortl75 1)c'1'(,\ssist;~ntSc.c.rct;~~-y
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have 11c.c.n: Rvc-o~ninginclcl~cr~tlent
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tl
Kol)cs~.tBrrc.kni;~stc~r $1~1,000.;1ls0 ;I rc.c.01-(I.
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 M u s e u m of Fly Fishing.
T h e M u s e u m is the only national, nonprofit institution
devoted exclusively t o the collection, preservation
a n d exhibition o f fly-fishing history. I n addition
to o u r q i ~ a r t e r l ym c m h c r s h i p magazine, t h c
obtain a s a m p l e copy of o u r p u b l i r a t i o
please use the c o u p o n below.
Join the Museum!
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[ ] $20
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In the Galleries . . .
Below, o u r " R o d Shop," w h i c h is a display collection of late-nineteenth-century
r o d m a k i n g paraphernalia. Included is a n original Leonard rod from Bangor and
a few tools w e belieue t o have c o m e from H i r a m Leonard's first r o d m a k i n g s h o p i n Maine.
Beloul (i?~.set)
zs o u r receptzon area at t h e entrance. T h e galleries are con.stantly attended
by our staff durzng publzc hourr. T h e larger photo s h o w s a portzon of a rod dzsplay case
and a lo-i~elyKrzder z~alzserod ( a recent acquzs~tzon).T h e bottonz p h o t o zs a long zjzezu
of o n e gallery, zn z ~ ~ h z cahz~zsztoreuamznes o u r 1893 Mary Onlzs Marbury fly and
photo panels, o n e of o u r m o r e popular dzsplay ztems.
John Vrids ( p m P h @
& mr'**
AllpFIIIWW*
-d&e"d l Q :fa
continued Excerpts from th:e Executive Director's Annual Report
Orvis
Purchasing, renovating, occupying, and opening o u r building Closing o u r fiscal year o n J u n e 30, 1984, with
Successfully coma balanced budget
pleting the first phase of o u r C a p i t a l
Increasing o u r memFund Program
Aggresively b e g i n n i n g o u r
bership
ContinuNational Exhibit Program
i n g to r u n a n d expand o u r very successful
Auction/Dinner fundraising events.
In every aspect of o u r operations, T h e
American Museum of Fly Fishing is i n
better c o n d i t i o n n o w t h a n ever before,
with a n increased visibility both at home
a n d across the country that helps to fuel
o u r sustained a n d exceptional growth.
ORVIS AND T H E MUSEUM
T h e late A r n o l d G i n g r i c h , a former
president of o u r board, wrote in 1973:
T h e fact t h a t t h e Mu.reum i.r
c o m p l e t e l y separated from t h e
O r z ~ iCompany,
.~
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 iCompany
has perforce done more for it, in
getting it started, t h a n anybody
else. But the O m i s Company has
made it c l ~ n rfrom
,
the ozttset, that
the ultimate aim is a completely
self-sufficient organization."
I am delighted toreport that during the
past year, w i t h considerable assistance
and encouragement from Orvis, that selfsufficiency 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-
pany president Leigh Perkins, whose
vision helped to establish the Museum i n
the first place and whose perserverance
a n d patience have helped to bring us to
t h e i n d e p e n d e n c e t h a t we presently
enjoy.
MEMBERSHIP AND MAGAZINE
We had a slight increase in members h i p d u r i n g the year.
O u r magazinecontinues to beof exceptional quality, especially when considered in the light of o u r relatively small
membership. Trustee David Ledlie, our
editor, is doing a n outstanding job in
maintaining a n d upgrading the quality
of o u r publication.
It is important to remember that for
people w h o d o not see the Museum itself,
the magazine is the most visible sign of
o u r existence. We c a n all be p r o u d of
projecting such a n excellent image.
NATIONAL EXHIBIT PROGRAM
At o u r 1983 Annual Meeting, i n addition t o voting to purchase permanent
headquarters i n Manchester, Vermont,
the Board of Trustees wisely recognized,
since our constituency is essentially a n
international body of fly fishers, that a n
aggressive National Exhibit Program
would be appropriate. T h a 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 i n conjunction with responsible institutions. T h e a i m of this prog r a m is t o r e a c h a s m a n y p e o p l e a s
possible.
Since that time, we participated i n
exhibitions a t the Addison Gallery i n
Andover, Massachusetts, and at the Berkshire Museum i n Pittsfield, Massachu-
setts. Wc also fulfilled o u r cornmitmcnt
to exhibit in conjunction with the Federa t i o n of Fly Fishers a t their facility in
West Yellowstone, Montana.
T h e most immediate a n d important
project un[Icr this program is thc tlevelopment of a large exhibit at the Academy
of Scienccs in C;oldcn Gates Park in San
Francisco to be shown from J ~ l n through
e
Sevtember of 1985. It it o u r intention that
San Francisco will he the first stop for
this exhibition a n d t h a t it will travel
from city t o c i t y , possibly P o r t l a n t l ,
Denver, Cleveland, Detroit, a n d New
York, o n its way back to Manchester.
T H E CAPITAL FIIND
At o u r 1983 Annual Mccting we established a short-term capital funtl goal of
$75,000. I'm delighted to report that from
cash donations, donations of securities,
ac.crued interest, a n d pletlges we reachetl
that goal. Note that the total t)udget for
the C;al~ital F u n d 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 o u r mortgage, which prcscsntly stands
at $1 19,000.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
We have embarked this year o n o n e
special project that I expect will eventually produce a substantial a m o u n t of
income for the Museum, i n addition to
providing a service to the angling community i n general. In my last Annual
Report, I suggested that we m i g h t at
some time publish catalogs of the Museum's collections a n d sell same. O n e of
o u r members, J i m Brown of Stamford,
Connecticut, is a n authority o n antique
n his expenses, he has
reels. In r e t ~ ~ rfor
agreed to assist us in putting together a
A Brief History of Equinox's Spa and Pavilion Builchngby M a y Bort
Fmnklztz O n u s at the drrk of the
Equznor Hotel, czrtn 1870
I n Manchester, Vermont, o n Main
Street and north of the Equinox House ( a
splendid, enormous old hotel-the heart
of the complex that is presently undergoi n g extensive restoration) sits a modest,
white clapboard building that houses the
new headquarters of T h e American Museum of Fly Fishing. T h e Spa and Pavilion 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
E q u i n o x complex a n d formerly C. F.
Orvis's tackle store) that now houses the
Johnny Appleseed Bookshop. T h e build-
i n g has a many-windowed pavilion at the
rear that was attached to a n enclosrd
front courtyard where products of the
E q u i n o x S p r i n g Water C o m p a n y were
displayed.
A drinking fountain fed directly from
the springs o n Equinox Mountain was
the central feature of the spa. T h e Equinox Spring Watcr Company advertised
its product as highly beneficial to one's
health a n d producecl laboratory analysis
ant1 numerous testimonials commending
its restorative powers. Naturally effervest e n t , 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 o u r reel tollection, which we
h In 1985. This will
expect to p ~ ~ b l i slate
be a descriptive catalog of o u r approximately 400 reels and will contain blackand-white photographs of a majority of
thern. T h e r e is a t present n o such catalog
in existence, and all of us are in Jim's
debt-not only for his contribution to
o u r knowletlge of t h e h i s t o r y of flyfishing, but for what will also ;lnioLlnt to
a substantial financial contribution.
President's Report to the Mern bership
T h e executive director reported o n o u r
progress for the past year, and you can see
part of what we have accomplishecl in o u r
new heatlquarters here in Vermont. T h e
Anieric-an Museurn of Fly F i s h i n g has
atlv;~rlc.c~tl
to the point w h r r c it has a
vial~lc.1)rograni t o e x h i h i t a t m a j o r
l)o1)11lation 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
IN CLOSING
lnrlst exprcss my personal gratitude and
I wish to direct some closing remarks to
that of the Muscum to those who have
two specific areas. O n e is is the acknowm;~tlcall of this possi1)lr:
ledgement of two friends. T h e other the
'1-0my fellow .I'rustees, past a n d
role of the Trustees i n general.
prcscnt, who have given their time, their
O n e of these friends is Garclner Grant,
financ.ial s u p p o r t , ant1 their expertise,
who will n o longer serve as president of
ancl w h o willingly shoulderrtl so many of
the Museum, but will become chairman
~ L I It;~skswhen :lskcd to Icntl :I hand.
of the board. Gardner's tenure as presitlent of T h e American Museum of Fly
'Ii) Laura Towslt>e,o u r longtime
secretary, w h o kept o u r l ~ o o k sant1 reFishing has been a time of revitalization
c.ortls. She kept LIS o n roursc arid clid so
ancl progress. My hat is off to o u r new
~ n u c hmore for 11sthan the title implieschairman for the trementlous energy he
;ill without compensation ant1 proper rehas directed toward the Museum's growth
c.ognition.
during the past few years.
'I'o P:iul S c l i ~ ~ l l c r oy u, r f o r m e r
I welcome also a new friend to the prese x e c ~ ~ t i vdirector,
e
w h o estal)lished the
idency of the Museum, Art Frey of San
standartl of escrllcnce and I)I-ofessionalFrancisco, w i t h w h o m I havcs enjoyctl
isrn that c.ontinurs in o u r magazine, our
working d u r i n g the past year, who cercuratori:11 d~~ticas,
ant1 o u r exhibition protainly is a n eminently q~lalifiedatltlition
gl-am.
to a distinguished line of museum offi'1'0 Ilick FinI;~y,liow ;~ssoci;~te
c11r;lcers.
Finally, it is my sincere hope that all
tor, tIi:tt Inan of all seasons, our secret
1)c.nc.h strength, who fills in so wc5ll in so
the Trustees realize that as the Museum
Inany arc3;lswhen wc n'ctl him.
grows, their roles as the Museum Trustees
T o David Ledlie, o ~ editor,
~ r who
t)erome more-not less-important. It
h ; ~ sc.ontinued a n effort that rnystifiesme.
has been through the efforts of the trusI can't untlerstand how a n organization
d.
tees that the Museum has ~ ~ r o s p e r e'I'he
with such a small mcmbrrship can pubcontinuation of o u r prosperity clrpentls
lish a magazine of this quality without
o n the c o n t i n ~ ~ a t i oofn that effort.
Rrsprctlz~lly.sz~bn~ittrd, going broke. David does it!
Jotrn hlrnoin
E . Y C ~ I LI)irfctor
~~~JC
T o J o h n M e r w i n , o u r executive
director, whose first year o n the job has
brought such achievements that o u r
e n t h u s i a s m for t h e M u s e u m ' s f u t u r e
under John's direction has to be at a n
all-time high.
T o M a r t h a Poole Merwin, whose
marvelous design skills are so much i n
evidence in o u r headquarters and magazine. If J o h n plays his cards right, she
will influence o u r exhibition program
and future expansion.
T o Leigh Perkins, whose vision recognized the role and the need for this
m u s e u m . H i s leadership a n d s u p p o r t
made it a reality. Leigh and Romi have
been the heart a n d 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, o u r leadership a n d s u p port are now coming from all sections.
We are a national institution, and o u r
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 n u m b e r of people across this
land.
Although I a m 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 tomorrow, given your help.
Gardner L. Grant
Prr.cidrnt
the Museum's New Headquarters
then, aftrr a successful concert series by
cnterprise did not prove to he of lasting
artists of international reputation was
financial benefit to thc cornpany, ancl it
held in the pavilion in 192.5, many such
was a1);uidonetl in 1927.
concerts followed. Literary readings by
T h e spa was a favorite gathering placc
local authors, inclucling Robert Frost,
for hotel gursts, a n d the pavilion area
Walter H a r d , Sally C l e g h o r n , Dorothy
became the f o a l point for summer comCanfield Fisher, Zephine H u m p h r e y
munity activity. A successful exhibition
Fahnstock. were uresented there. For
of work by loc;~lartists, sponsoretl by
some years free movies were shown in the
liotc~l patrons in 1923 ant1 held o n the
pavilion o n Friday afternoons, open to
lawn of t h e E q u i n o x H o u s e , was folall the children of Manchester. A n u m b e r
lowed hy similar exhibitions heltl in the
of Manrhestrr's most respected seniors
p;~vilion for t h e next ten ycsars. T h i s
fondly recall "Our Gang" comedies they
sl,o~isorshipled to the formation of a forwatched in the Equinox pavilion. Sorne
rn
mal organization, the S o ~ ~ t h c ,Vrrmont
Artists, which providetl a means t l l r o ~ ~ g l i of these same Manchesterites enjoyed
Arthur Murray dancing lessons there in
which Vermont artists coultl be s u p the 1930s.
ported and have their work exhil)ited. A
In addition, the pavilion was usecl for
number of early musical concerts were
garden c l u b meetings ant1 fundraising
heltl in the E q u i n o x Music H a l l , hut
events. It functioned as sort of a community building until the early 1940s. Commercial use dominated the little building
d u r i n g the next thirty years. Memorable
ventures included Anna L i p p a ' s gift
s h o p , T o m Fitzsimmons's wood carvings, a n d Robert Deeley's art gallery. I n
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 transformed into a doctor's office. A year later
the Deeley Art Gallery moved back into
the building, ancl shortly thereafter, the
d the Inventex
building was o c c ~ ~ p i eby
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.
The
American
Museum
Fly Fishing
P. 0.Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254
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
TRUSTEES
Jmeph Spear Beck
Tam Bedford
Paul Hofinger
Stenley E. Bogdan
R o k t 8. Buckmaster
Dan Callaghan
Roy D. C h a p ~ njr.
Christopher Cook
C h a r l s R. Eichel
John Eust~ce
C. Dick Finlay
W. MI&& Fitzgerald
Arthur T. Frey
Lawrence J. Gilsdorf
C a r h r L.Cram
Suste Isakscn
Roben J o h n m
Samuel C. Johnson
Marun J. Keane
Richard F. Kresr
Met Krieger
Don Labbe
Dana S. Lamb
David B. Ledfie
E ~ I O Liskin
I
Nick Lyons
Ian D. Mackay
L w n L. Martuch
W.Harrrson Mehn, M.D.
Ckrl k Navarre Jr.
Mchaet Owen
Leigh H.Perk~ns
R o m ~Perktns
Willard F. Rockwell Jr.
Theodore R o g o ~ ~ s l u
Seth Rosenbaum
Ke~thRussell
%vanSchlofl, M.D.
Paul Schullery
Erncvl Schwlebcn
Stephen Sloan
P n u W. Stroh
Bennerc B. llpson
R. P.Van Gytenbepk
Jlm Van Loan
Sam Van N e s
Dickson L.Whalney
Edward G h r n
John Merwin
Executive Assrttant,
Paula Wyman
Jr~crnalEdilor
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
B
A s a follow-up t o Dorothy McN e i l l y ' s b i o g r a p h y of Char1e.r
L a n m a n ( T h e American Fly Fisher, 1~01.11, no. 3 , p. 14), w e are
pleased to publish a chronological checklist of Lanman's writings that w e haue been working
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 t w o categories. W e
make n o pretentions for exhaustiz~ene.cs.
W e haue endeavored to be as complete as
po.ssible; hower~er,rue k n o w that there
are, u n d o u b t e d l y , s o m e items 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~ero n the
gentle art, but those that d o 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 ) r o u t i n e l y flyfished for salmon, trout, and a ~ e nsome
-
-
.mltwater .species. H i s uiuid descriptions
of rivers, lakes, modes of trarlel, and local
scenery, interspersed w i t h 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 wildernes.s of the United States and Canada
prior to the Civil War. T o thereaderof his
day, these vivid account.s provided information o n wilderness outposts and other
i n f r f q u e n t l y visited areas of o u r thenyoung country before they became routinely accessible via rail lines and then
ultimately via the ubiquitous automobile. I n order to put Lanman's writing in
proper perspectiue, w e remind our readers that J . V. C . S m i t h , 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 Angler's Guide (1845) and Frank Forester's
Fish & Fishing (1849, first American edition i n 1850). "Uncle" ThadNorris'sepic
American Anglers Book did not appear
until after the Civil War(1867).Andallof
these were essentially how-to books.
W h i l e Letters from a LandscapePainter (1845) and A Summer in the Wilderness (1847) mention fly-fishing briefly,
Lanman's fir.st book of real interest to t h e
fly fisherman is A Tour to the River Saguenay (1848, published simultaneously
i n L o n d o n under the title Adventures of
an Angler in Canada). T h e English edition contains a wonderful fronti.spiece, a
steel e n g r a u i n g t h a t d e p i c t s a y o u n g
Charles L a n m a n i n his fishing 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 a n 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 L a n m a n book is Adventures 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
enthralling. Unfortunately, L a n m a n ' s
books are difficult t o obtain. Angling historians must compete w i t h collectors of
Americana for these scarce editions. Presently, 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
w i t h this project.
Books Authored or Edited
E.s.sny.s for Stimnzrr H o z i r . ~ .
Hilliard, Gray rintl C:o.
(several subsccluent editions)
I2rtlrr.r from n Lnnd.sc.nfir
l'ni71trr. Boston: J a m e s 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~piK 17~rra n d
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 rSn,q~crtzn)i,
i n Lo71ic.r Cn,~ctdn.Philatlelphin:
C:rircy ant1 Hart. Issrcetl
sirn~cltancorlslyiri Idondon by
Bcntlcy ~rntlc'rthc title
Ad7~rnt1trrsof n n i l n g l r r i n
C n n n d n , N o - i ~ nS c o l i c ~nnd lllr
1rr1itc.d S t n t r . ~ .
Let1rr.s from 1 I I P A / I P , ~ / I P ~ ~ ) ~
A1ozintnin.r. New York:
C;. P. Putnarn
H a w - k o - n o o ; o r R r c o r d s of n
Touri.rt. Philatlelphia:
L i l ~ l ~ i n c o tC;~arnl)o
t,
ant1 Co.
P r r . ~ o n n IA1rnzorinI.s of I > n n i ~ I
l/I/rb.vlrr. Philatlrlpliia:
Lippincott, G r a m h o ant1 Co.
(srcontl edition in 1852)
T l l r Pri-c~nlrL i f ~of I>nnir/
Illrb.rtrr. New York: Harper ant1
Brothers ( a n cnlargctl vcrsion
o f the previous entl-y; several
rdit ions)
Ad71rnturc.r 711 tllr Il'~ld\ of
Nortlz Amrrrcn. Etlitrd by
C . R. Welcl, London: Longman,
Brown, Green and Longman5
(second e d i t ~ o nln 1863)
Charles Lanrnan
Ad71rnturr.r 117 tllr IVi1d.s of t l r ~
l i n i l r d Stntr.5 a n d Rriti.sl~
A m r r i c n n Pro7~iner.s.
Philatlell~hia:J . W. Moore.
Issued in two volumes, it
inc.luded materi:~l from the
previo~lsentry 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~pincottand Co.
(many ctlitions)
, / o z ~ r n n lof 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 I V i l l i n n ~
MJoodbridgr. Washington:
Blanchartl ant1 Mohun
Srrn7on.r. by Rev. Octr~virls
Perinchief. Washington: W.
Balantyne. Etlitcd 11y Lanman.
Srrn1on.v P r m c h r d i n Alanlorinl
C11urc11,R n l t i m o r r . New Yor-k:
D. Appleton a n d Co. Editetl by
Lanman.
T l l r 1ir.d R o o k of Miclrignn, (I
ci7~i1,nzililnry, a n d hio,qmplric.nl
11i.story. Detroit: E . B. Smith
ant1 Co.; Washington: P h i l i p
ant1 Solomons
T h r Jnpnnr.sr i n i l m r r i c n . New
York: Ilnivrrsity Publishing (10.
Editcd by L a n m a n . ( 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 fiftyfour pages longer and lor which
L a n m a n is listcd as author.
1876 Hiogrnpl1ieal nnrlnl.r of tlrr Ci7jil
(;o7~rr?1n7~?11
o f llrr l1nila(l
S t n t r . ~ I>ltri)l,q
,
i1.s Fir.c.1 Crnfziry.
Washington: James Anglim
(I-e~isetl
in 1887)
1879 Ocln7~izi.sI'rri~1clriqf: H i s L i f r of
T r i n l rind S l c p r r n ~ rFnith.
Wnshingtori: J . Anglim
i o ~Clcrio1c.s
~.s
1881 l < ~ ~ c ~ o l l r c t of
Clrnrnctc~r.~
rind P l c n . s n ~ ~Plncr,.s.
t
Etlinl~r~rgli:
Drtvitl Douglas
1883 I2r(rdi?1gAlrn of J a p n n , 7oit11 n?l
Ili.rloric.01 Szctnnzory of t h r
f.'nlpirc. Boston: D. Lothrop
:rntl C:o.
1885 Fnrtlrc,.st Nortll; or T l l r L i f r n77d
E.:.sf~lornliotl.sof I ~ i r r i l r n ( r t ~ t
,/nn1c~.sRoollr Lockzooori, of t h r
G r r r l y ilrctic E.sPrd1tI0~1.NCW
York: D. Al~plctonant1 Co.
( s c v e ~ i ctlitions)
l
1886 Ilap1rn:crrcl 1'rr.sonnlifies;
C:lrirfly of ? ~ o l r d11 1?7rricn?1.s.
Boston: Lcc ant1 Shrlx~rcl;New
York: C:. .I'. Dillingham
,/nf?nn, i1.s L r n d i l l g 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 ohas
n I~crn
qrcc~~tionc~cl.)
ci~.ca T l l r Slor?] of n R o o k . A
I880 ~)amphlct.thought to have been
l)ul)lishctl in Washington.
C1larle.t L a n n z a n , d m u ~ nby J o h n F. C r a n ~ p t o n
Magazine Articles Authored by Charles Lanman
1840 " T h e Poet's Pilgrimage."
G o d e y '.s L a d y '.s R o o k , 22: 175
"Thoughts o n Literature."
S o u t h e r n Litrrary Me.s~en,grr,
6296
"Michigan." S o u t h e r n Literary
A.le.tsengrr, 6602
"Evening Walks in the City."
S o u t h e r n Litrmr?] Me.tsen,qer,
6:720
"Autumn." S o u t h e r n L i t e m r y
Mes.trnger, 6:723
1841 "A Fireside Essay." Soutlzern
Literary Mes.senger, 7: 129
"The Old Indian," S o u t h e r n
Literary Mes.srnger, 7:199
1848 " T h e Game Fish of North
America. T h e Striped Basse or
Rock Fish." S o u t h e r n Lzterary
M essenger, 14:682
"On the Requisites for the
Formation of a National School
of Historical Painting."
S o u t h e r n Literary Messenger,
14:727
1850 "The Tourist in the LJnited
States." Rentley's Mi.scellaneou.r,
28:289
"Rattlesnakes." S o u t h e r n
L i t r m r y Messenger, 16:27
"Our Landscape Painters."
S o u t h e r n Literary Mes.rrngrr,
16:272
1846 "The Lead Region." H u n t ' . ~
Merchant's Magazine, 16:181
1855 "Our National Paintings." T h e
C m y o n , 1:136
1847 " T h e Hermit of Aroostook."
T h e American W h i g Rmiero,
6:263
1859 "Day With Washington Irving."
O n c e a W e e k , 2:5
"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 e u 16:56l
,
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
"Novelties of Southern
Scenery." A p p l e t o n ' s Journal,
2: 1 (continued o n 2:296 and
2:327)
"Peter Pitchlynn, Chief of the
Choctaws." T h e Atlantic
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
" T h e Shooting Meteors."
Magazine of History, 2:210
"The Maiden Moon." Magazine
of History, 2:273
" T h e Dancing Ghosts."
Magazine of History, 2:424
"Origin of the Choctaws."
Magazine of History, 3:40
" T h e Peacemaker." Magazine of
History, 3: 1 15
1868 " T h e Annals of Angling."
G a l a x y , 6:305
"Forest Recollections."
L i p p i n c o t t ' s Magazine, 2:516
Miscellaneous Items Authored by Charles Lanman
1874 " T h e Salmonidae of Eastern
Maine. New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia." Report of t h e
Commi.s.rioner [of Fish and
Fisheries]. Washington: I1.S.
Government Printing Office
1874 " T h e Shad and Gaspereau or
Alewife of New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia." Report of the
Commi.ssioner, ibid.
1882 "An Aged Artist at Home-A
Day with Asher B. Durand."
T h e T r i b u n e , Washington, DC,
newspaper, letter to the editor
The Deerfield River:
A Fish Story
by Edward R. Hewitt
edited and introduced by J i m Merritt
nnnolnlrd 11y I f rrcritt. A m o n g t h r n ~ n r g i Slnlrs c.on,qrr.s.sninn.)
11olr.sn.s
Hrzoill zoas n n 1889grndtrntr of Prinrr- nnlin i n Iris lrn~1rl7c~ri1i~ignrr.suclr
t o n lJnj7rrr.s1l?l. z01rrrr m a n y of h i s nn- " n o 1 pirbli.s/rrd." " n o / prinrrd," " n o t
,qling-rrlatrd mnnzc.script (2nd rr~rnrclr .soIrl." n n d " r r j ~ c l ~ d .T" h r mnlrrin1.s n1.so
i n c l ~ t d rn lrllrr t o Hrzclitl from J . E. Ford.
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.ttonr n.s,socintr rrlilor of O u t d o o r L i f r i n llir
Library. T h r collrrtion runs donntrd t o m id-l93O.v, "rr,qrrtfzclly rrturning" o n e of
r i p f ~ It? hnpprnrd l o
I'rincrton h?l Hr10it1'.s litrrnry rxrcutor, t I I P r n n ~ ~ ~ i . s t ~11rcnu~r
zoith mat(,prolific author, 11r conlrih~tte(Irr,ql~lnrl? Carl O t t o 7lon h ' i r n h ~ ~ . s c nh ,1906 Priner- br nor^ t h a n ZOP~!-.szipplird
l o tlrr A n,qlrr.s' (.'/1i/) o f N P Z IYork
~
BLII- t o n ,qrnd~tntrnnrl, likr Hrzoitt, a n inzlrtrr- rinl of tlri.s /?fir." ( A n g l i n g ulritrr.~can
ntr nnd l o n g - l i z ~ ~ (nnglrr
1
for troul and tnkr .solner of .sorts thnt rrlrn crlrhmtrr/
I(-tin ntid t o o u l d o o r nin,qn:inr.s. I n 1ri.s
.snlmon. ( K i r n O u ~ c hdird i n 1976 at n,qr n1tl11or.t nrr r r j r e f ~ dn, n d t h a t r d i t o r . ~ '
l o n g Iifr ( h r lir~rdl o h r 80). Ilrz~liltrclrolr
~ X C I L S P hn71r
S
not rltnngrd oz~rrt h r yanrs.)
n i n r Oook.~,srzlrn of 7c1lricl1zci~rrdr7~otrd 91 .)
A ,qln?~crt h r o u g h t h e mntrrin1.s rr7rml.s
T l r r nrticlr zllr p u b l i s h hrrr-"Tlrr
l o fly-fishin,q: Scc,rrts o f tl~csS a l m o n
z~llrymosl of thr.sr nrnntc.script.s nmlrr snzcr
( 1 9 2 2 ) ; T r l l i n g o n rht. .I'rour ( I c ) 2 6 ) ; Ilrrrfic~ldHirwr: A Fish Story"-npp~nr.s
t o hr Hrulill's o n l y n l t r m p t nl angling 11rinI. AInny of l h r m drnl nlitlr fi.sh culH n v i t t ' s Hantl1x)ok o f Fly Fishing(1933).
fiction. (Hrzoill 711a.cn o t shy about bonsl- titrr i n n hi,qIiIy trchnical urny. For r x n m S t r e a ~ nI m p r o v r m c ~ n t(1034),T r o u t Raisin,q of Iris fly-fishing nccompli.shmr~ils, p l r , ns n lrninrd c h r m i s t . Hrzcritt 7on.s
i n g a n d S t o c k i n g ( 1 9 3 5 ) ; N y m p h Fly
~ c o n t r n l of l r o z ~ l
r , llrrrr urrrr thosr ulho knrur oO.sr.s.vrd roil11 t h fnt
Fishing (193-1); and h1.s c ~ i l ~ n i ~ i n t iAn g 1 i o z ~ m ~ rnnd
h i m 70110 m i g h l 1 t n 1 ~ ~ ~ ~ 1 , q ~ r . s t r d t t t n t . s oflr.s/r
n a r nnd roith somrtlring h r cnllrd "Far.I'~.otct ant1 Salmon Fishcrrnan lor Scvcntor 11," 1111 (,.s.srntinl rlemrnt i n t h r dirt of
fiction crrpt i n t o hi.s prrsonal talrs of
ty-Fivr Yrars (IO-IS). l I ~ ~ ~ ~ i/ l7 0t 0' .olhrr
s
7clild trozrt thnt h r drtrrminrd zons mi.s.7books ulrrr prr.son(r1 rr?~~irzi.scrncr.saboz~tnn,qlin,q rxploits!)
t ~ t o hntckrry trout.
T h r undatrd .story, urhich as far ns u1r i n g i n t h r p ~ l l r frd
1ri~pnlricinn rifiOringin,q n.s a .sr?o?iof o n r
can t r l l kn.7 nr71rr before n p p r n r r d i n Szrch topic.s con ntakr ciwn t h r most drdiof Nrzo York C:ily'.s 1rndingfnmilir.r of t h r
p r i n t , c o m r s f r o m n b o . ~of H r z o i t l enlrd fly fi.shrr'.s ryr.7 glaze orlrr.
G i l d r d A g r . (Ni.5 ntnlrrnnl gmnrlfnlhrr
,I.s n toritrr of a n g l i n g fiction, Hrulill i.s
ninnzc.script mntrrinls i n t h r Kirnbusch
runs P r l r r C : o o f ~ r r 0. 7 1 ~of N e ~ e lY o r k ' s
or
most r o l o r f ~ rnrid
l
i n f l ~ r r n l i nn1nyor.s;
l
11i.s collrclion. T l r r mntrrials include n tnhlr .scnrerly i n Irn,qur zcrilli Hrmir~,q~-tclny
of conlrnt.t lhnl urns ob7riou.sly typrd and Z n n r (;rn?l. " T h e Drrrfirld Hizlrr" i.s
fnthrr u1n.s nlso mnyor n.s rc~r11as n I'riilrd
Edzclnrd Rin,qzcroorl Ilrrc~ill(lR671957) i.s 7c~rllknozcln t o nio.st fly
fi.slrrrmrn. Tlrr c r m l o r of tlrr Rj71i.sihle.1Vr7~rr.sinkS k n l r r , nnrl
o l h r r ~ ~ o l l ~ rIrr
n . 70n.s
~ , n/.so n n
m r l y proponrnl of nyrnplr ji.r/iin,q arid n tirr1r.s.s r . ~ ~ ) ~ r i r n r ni nI r r
interesting less for its literary quality
than for what it tells u s 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 Hewitt had afair ear
for dialogue, although it is rather mechanically 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 i m self.
H e w i t t also m a k e s 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 h e l p u s here, or was t h e
a u t h o r m e r e l y e x e r c i s i n g h i s artistic
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.
Silas W r i g h t looked a l o n g t h e wellremembered valley and remarked to his
son Abner, "Well, there it is-the finest
valley and the best trout water in Massachusetts. 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 O l d 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 answered. "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, sometimes he thinks he is alive and then again
he wishes he was dead."
"Well, there is a m a n called S i l a s
Wright w h o wants to speak to h i m a
minute."
"You d o n ' 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 kitchen, a n d it did not take her a second to
greet her o l d friend. "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 m e 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 o n the way
back and see all the old friends I left. But
fate willed otherwise a n d that sunken
culvert down over that hill just did folour 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 o p e n fire after supper.
"Evenings can be cold in early May in
Massachusetts, a n d a little fire feels
pleasant."
"Well Si, during the war I did fine. Got
fifteen rents a q u a r t for my milk a n d
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
o u 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 borrowed ten thousand dollars from him.
expecting to pay it back in about three
years, and then this depression came o n
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 glacine 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 g o 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 Commission d o anything about it? There must be
some law they could work under."
" T h e r e w a s a d e p u t a t i o n of local
fishermen who went to Boston to see the
commissioner, a n d 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 Godgiven pleasure and recreation, and n o one
has any right to destroy it. T h a t ' s the way
I feel, but I a m almost the only one that
feels that way. Most say just let the trout
go-we've got the mill a n d 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 a n d past interest and that he
threatens to foreclose if you don't pay u p
by December, a n d 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 n o
~,
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, a n d 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,
a n d 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 i n many
places. O n the Test i n 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 a n d fifty dollars a
season a n d has t o t u r n 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. W h y , m a n , y o u a r e o n l y
seventy-five miles from Boston, a n d 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
<groupof responsible gentlemen come to
you a n d make you a flat offer for the
f i s h i n g o n y o u r w a t e r of twenty-five
hundred dollars a year for a term of ten
years, provided the trout fishing can be
made good again. They p u t 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 i n the water."
"But how does that help me o u t with
Pete Flint? L o n g 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
right; I will have a talk with J u d g e
Thayer, who knows all the fishing nuts
in Boston, and I guess if I explain to h i m
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 i n
New England for ten years. N o onecould
kick at their postingit after they made the
fishing where there was none. People
w o u l d say, they made it a n d 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 forgive a dirty trick like that even if it happened as a boy."
T h e next morning, while Abner wrestled with the local repairman a n d t&phoned for parts to be brought out from
Boston, Silas wandered along the Deerfield River with his rod-the first trout
rod seen o n this water i n many a year. H e
visited the old pools a n d tried all the
favorite holes of his boy hood with never a
rise o r a strike. H e grew madder a n d
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 uneventful. T h e y f o u n d 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 consideration, as was his wont i n any legal matter,
a n d o n t h e 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 causing, 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 m e n w h o will
lease the water from your friend, a n d 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 a n d will also take a share
in the syndicate."
" T h e 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 M a l c o m b will m a k e 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 a m o u n t i n g to fifteen times
the yearly rental that Abe is offered for the
fishing o n his waters. T h i s would amount
to thirty-seven t h o u s a n d 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 o n Flint and offer to fix
his sewage for perhaps ten thousand dollars. H e will want to save that twentyseven thousand dollars mighty bad, and
he won't take l o n g 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
T h a y e r a n d Wright; they h a d fishing
luncheons and dinners at most of the sporti n g clubs in Boston. Gradually the
syndicate took shape, not so much from
those who were ardent fishermen as from
those w h o believed that pollution of our
waters must stop and here was a good way
to make a beginning without any newfangled a n d untried laws. T h e i r English
ancestry had abiding faith in the old English common law, a n d they felt that in
these times of New Deals and laws of
doubtful legality, here was a chance t o d o
something i n the way their forefathers
did.
T h e newspapers carried editorials o n
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 t h a t J u d g e
Thayer drafted was simplicity itself. T h e
Deerfield R i v e r w a s a n a t u r a l t r o u t
stream, famous for two hundred years as
the best stream i n Massachusetts. H a d not
all read Daniel Webster's famous letter
ahout his fishing t h c ~ e ?Fishing hat1 seven t h o u s a n d tlollars. If t h i s were
remained good until the glacinc. mill harl
allowed, he further askecl that damages be
assessed for the time [luring which the
been established, a n d s i ~ i c etlicn trout
coulcl not live in five rnilcs of thcz wattnr. pollution was not ren~ovedsufficiently to
Peter Flint had refused torcbmovetht.~)ol- allow trout to live in the stream, as during this time the complainant was kept
littion from the watersheti. alleging that
there was n o law rcqlriring this to 11o out of his offered income.
T h e defense was deciclecily weak. T h e
done. Abe Malcornb statetl that he hat1 a
genuine offer from resl~onsihlt~
parties, attorney alleged that there was n o law to
backed by a bond and with sec.uritics tlc- oblige the removal of pollution, that the
mill gave work to many people, and that
posited at the Shawmut Bank, to pay hirn
twenty-five hundred tlollars a ycsarfor tcsn requiring it to remove the pollution
would close thc mill permanently. They
years for the fishing rights o n his part of
could not refute the damages represented
tht, river, to begin as so011 as the Fish
by the offer for the fishing rights. T h e
Commission reported that the water was
~."osecution, in closing, further showed
suitable for trout. Copic-sof thc bond anti
offer and ~)roposedlease were sul)rnittc~tl that the firm of Dow and Company, the
celebrated chemical engineers, would
to the court.
T h e attorney for the plaintiff statctl agree to put in a sewage-ciisposal plant
that n o law was necwsary t o o b l i g c ~ ~ ~ o l l ufor
- this factory for ten thousand dollars
and contrart to deliver a n effluent to the
tion to be removed from it strt3arlli f such
pollution caused money darnagc, to ttic. river in which trout could live.
p r o p r t y owners. N o man has a right to
T h e jury was out just fifteen minutes
damage his neighbor's property. 'I'lit, and gave a verdict in full for the plaintiff.
damage has been shown ant1 thr moncny with full damages.
value proved. H e clemantlt~dit jrrdgment
O n the way out of court. Silas Wright
of the full capital amount of this tfam:tgc~, I1rus1it.d past Pete Flint and whispered in
which a t six percent woulcl 1 ) thirty~
his ear, "I guess that n1akt.s u p for your
cheating at ~ n a r h l e sant1 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 g u n fired by Silas Wright. Cameras 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 i n P m n i n g t o n , New Jersey,
and u~orksin 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
lp
171 7 1 0 1 . 11, n o . 2 of t l ~ Arncric.an
r
Fly Fishc,r, zor rrprintrd n portion
of Au.sti~1Frart(.i.s'.s<:atskillKivers
tltnt di.scri.s.srrl.sonzr of tltr brltrrkrtouln, pri7lntr fi.slritt,q cltd/~.s
tltnt
Itad flrrir Irmriqttnrtrr.~ irt llrr
Catskill r r ~ i o r t . T l t r C,'cc[.skill.s,
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Ortr of 11rr /nr,qrr (.IttO.s ( i n l~rr?z.sof
n c r m g r ) rc1n.s tltr B l o o n t i t ~ , qC;roz~rPark
As.vocintio~i,foundrd 171 1871. Tlrc,cltch i.s
.still in r s I ~ t r ? t c r ,Irnz~i?r,qc.lrn?t,grd it.s
nnnzr t o llrr R l o o n ~ing C;rorjr f l t c t ~ t i ~b
zg
Fi.sltin,q C l u b in 190-I. (;l~rcrl~.s
ffnllock,
foztndrr, ~ d i t o rnrtri
, pziblislror ofForest &
Stream and au11tor of ? ~ Z L T ~ ~ P ~ Os j~ 3L o. S~ t i n g
books, 7on.5 it.? fir.st c ~ o r r e s / ) o ~ t r i i.srcrr~tg
tnry. 011rrr officrrs i ? i c l ~ i d r dFnyrltr .5'.
C ; i l r ~prr.tirlrn1;
,
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.
nrld
J o l t ~ h1.
r T n v l o r , rrcorrli~t,q.vr~.rclnrv.
Tltr
follourirrg accozcnt hy f f n1loc.k 7on.sori~qzn n l l ~pztbli.cltrd,
~
zclr h(,lic-clr. in nn 1873
i.s.srtr of Harper's n1ngn:irr~.
II'r nrr i ~ t d r / ) t floFr(ctik
d
I*. Fron~rrztof
tltr R l o o n ~ i n , q( ; r 0 7 ~I, I t ~ t ~ t i t ta, nq d Fislting Club for tlrr fi.sr of l/rr n/107~r
Pl~ologrnp1t.s and t o Mrs. O.sOornr Cot~tr.s
Jr., n
longtirnr nzrmOrr of Rloonairlg (;ro7~r,
for tltr illtc.stmliort.s o n pn,qc, 28.
It has been ascertained to a n 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
u p 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. T h e
same conditions are relatively true of
salmon, o r any other description of
genuine game-animals o r 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 u p 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 imposed upon the sportsman's indulgence.
T h e only way to cheapen his amusement
is to "encourage home industry," and
make fish abundant in all neighborhood
localities. Pisciculturists have accomplished much toward re-stockingexhausted and depleted waters, but their efforts
have not yrt been productive of important economic results. T h e work of propagation has not been sufficiently diffused
over the country to reduce the market
price of trout, o r place good fishinggrounds within easy and inexpensive access of the public.
T h e "Blooming Grove Park Association," so far as its own territory is concerncd, has fulfilled both of these conditions. It has a domain of more than 12,000
acres [current holdings are now approximatrly 18,000 acres] within a few hours'
ride of New York City by the Erir Railroad, where its members may not only
fish, but hunt, ad libitum, freeof charge.
T h e sportsmen may leave New York, or
any other adjacent city, and in twentyfour hours return with a saddle of venison, a bag of birds, or a basket of trout. T o
active businessmen whose time is precious, this is an advantage worthy of consideration. 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 h u n t i n g 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 appreciating the necessity of more accessible
sporting-grounds, two gentlemen of New
York, well known to sportsmen and the
public generally, Fayette S. Giles, Esq.,
a n d G e n i o 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 Fontainebleau, a n d t h e Grant! D u c h y 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 Gcrmany, while Mr. Scott has always been
regarded good authority in matters piscatorial, 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 Pennsylvania. 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. O n e 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 Railroad; and the sportsmen who had conccivect the idea of establishing a n American 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 inclutie all the finest of the lakes, the mountainous 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."
T h i s Association now included about
one hundred members from a dozen different States, principally married men
with families. It has a large new clubh o u s e o r h o t e l , r o m a n t i c a l l y located
u p o n the borders of o n e 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 department, with several live specimens, bathing-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 theAssociation 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 thegreatest 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-
tion are the importing, acclimating,
propagating, and preserving of all game
animals, fur-bearing animals, birds, and
fishes adapted to the climate; the affordi n g of facilities for h u n t i n g , shooting,
fishing and boating to members o n their
own sgrounds; the establishment of minkeries, 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;
a n d 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 exterminating o u r game.
There is n o personal liability o n the
part of any member or officer of the Association 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
a n d 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
Notlt
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i n g are defined i n the charter, a n d 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 Association. 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 d u r i n g the two years of
its existence. I n addition to theerection of
a most attractive club-house, eighty feet
long and three and a half stories high,
with a n 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 a n d refreshment house
therein; stocked three of the large lakes
w i t h black bass from Lake Erie: r o m menced trout works; introduced a few
landlocked s a l m o n ; erected rustic gateways a n d summer-houses; built roads,
laid o u t avenues, paths, a n d a croquet
lawn; created a fleet of boats and canoes;
a n d imported a kennel of dogs of best
stock and approved varieties. Altogether,
it is a vast enterprise for this continent,
a n d its present condition reflects great
credit u p o n 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 c o n s u m m a t i o n . It has
received u n u s u a l l y favorable endorsem e n t f r o m t h e n e w s p a p e r press, a n d
seems to meet with the greater favor from
the fact that it holds out inducements to
ladies to participate i n t h e sports a n d
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 camp a i g n s a t S a r a t o g a o r L o n g Branch.
There is n o reason why a lady should not
learn to cast a fly a n d ensnare the wily
trout as skillfully as the most expert male
angler, a n d with a light rifle they would
soon learn to enjoy a wait upon a runway for a final crack at the spotted deer.
N o more sensible, healthful, or rational
e n j o y m e n t c o u l d be p r o p o s e d t h a n a
month's out-door sport i n a locality so
well stocked with game, and it is to be
hoped that such a pastime may find more
favor i n 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 "Bloomi n g Grove Park" is entitled to a prominent place a m o n g the sporting resorts of
America.
Gone But Not Forgotton
1.
Ever s i n c e its i n c e p t i o n , T h e
American Museum of Fly Fishing
has been working hard todevelop
and refine its procedures for handling accessions and for cataloging
~ t ever-expanding
s
collection. We
have made great progress in this
area, largely d u e to the efforts of o u r
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. I n a very
short period of time she gave the Museum
-
-
a professional system for h a n d l i n g 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
k e e p i n g , e a c h m u s e u m , o b v i o u s l y , is
quite different-especially ours, as there
is really n o other like it. T h u s , in addition to adapting schemes of other museums to suit o u r needs, JoAnna had to
develop many new systems o n her own.
We also mention that she did a n excellent
j o b of m a n a g i n g the day-to-day operation of the Museum when we were between executive directors. We are most
qrateful for the job JoAnna Sheridan has
d o n e for the Musuem. H e r dedicated,
b e h i n d - t h e - s c e n e s efforts w i l l greatly
facilitate o u r preparation for m u s e u m
accreditation.
We regret to say, JoAnna has made the
decision to leave the Museum i n order to
pursue a number of other professional
interests. Jo, we wish you well in these
future endeavors and, of course, thank
a n d applaud you for all that you have
done for us-you
will be missed.
but certainly not
forgotten.