plentiful, and afford abundant means for the poor marksman or unsuccessful angler to replenish his larder. The cruise extended from Red Bluff to Colusa, a distance of seventy miles, and lasted a little over a week.

A cruise of a different nature from either of the two already mentioned was one undertaken, and by dint of great labor and trouble successfully carried out, by Geo. A. Warder and Hervy Darneal. The Eel River takes a northerly course from its source in Mendocino County, and empties into the Pacific Ocean near Eureka. Launching a canoe near the headwaters of this stream, the brave voyageurs began what they thought would be an easy passage down stream, through a beautiful, picturesque country. The country was all there, also the beauty and picturesqueness, but the river in places far too numerous was a raging torrent. The poor canoe was dashed against many a rock, portages were frequent, capsizes of daily occurence, an expensive camera was lost, ammunition all wet, and provisions spoiled. Here are four days from the log of the cruise by Warder :

water from three to five miles, enormous rocks, swift

rapids, big mountains; both wet ; canoe leaking like
a sieve from continual pounding on the rocks; ran
some fightful rapids, waves came clear over our
bows, and flooded canoe two or three times. Had
lunch at I P. M., dog and jelly and boned turkey.
Not through cañon yet. Will this gorge never end?
Saw no house today, and no man. Caught seven trout
for supper, small ones, none are over seven or eight
inches long, in the river. One bad mishap—we were

lowering Snark down a fall and she went at a terrific
rate, and yanked Darneal off the rocks into the swirl,
as the rope got fast round his hand. He went in
over his head, but fortunately grabbed a rock and
bacon last night. All the upper river has been vir-
was not swept over. A coyote stole most of our
gin forests of hard wood, then pine, then redwood,
then mixed, etc.; seems to change constantly. Don't
wonder no one ever ran the Eel, he would need a
We will keep patch-
cast iron or aluminum canoe.
ing the Snark and going down, till we are forced to

abandon her.

June 23d. Supposed we were to get into more open country, but the river is as rough as ever if not rougher. Ran some frightful rough rapids, and had to land twice and patch up canoe. Once we stove in her side. Cut sail cloth off our tent, and melted our tallow candles and saturated cloth. All our tacks are used up. Snark leaking like a sieve. We bail and wade, and rope over the worst places. Tonight we ran on till nearly dark looking for a camp-site, till we struck a waterfall right in a deep box cañon. It looks as if the cruise was ended here. Have seen

no such stream as Indian Creek yet. Maps are not correct, for they show river to be pretty straight, whereas it is quite tortuous. We will go into the forest tomorrow for pine pitch, to patch canoe with. The country is absolutely alive with deer. We counted fourteen today and then quit keeping track of them, for we saw them in twos and threes. One of them on the right bank lay quietly on a rock, and watched us pass not more than sixty yards away. We could have killed eight or ten and not left the canoe. Never saw such a country for game. It is a we can't make the trip (of course). We came through virgin wilderness, and in all probability no man has cañons today and dropped some 400 feet.

June 20th. Ran the Devil's Elbow. Not bad at all. Beautiful scenery. Sanhedrim mountain, 6,000 feet high, on our right. River runs down hill all the time. Lots of bad places. Had to portage only one. "Snark" sprang a leak. Copper tacked it. Bad rapids; kept us bailing and jumping out often. Both of us wet to the waist. At 5 P. M. reached Watson's. 20 or 30 miles. Watson says

June 21st. Launched about 9 A. M. Capsized on first rapids. Lost the camera, a rubber blanket, and hunting coat. In the afternoon came to an awful rough place, falls of some 6 or 8 ft. in height; walked down two miles, very broken high mountain, box cañon. This is the roughest country I ever tackled. It is as bad as the French Broad, North Carolina, which is practically impassable.

Snark leaking badly. We worked two or three hours patching her up; will probably have to abandon her, as she cannot stand the racking.

June 22d. Let Snark down first of all by ropes and carried bags. Lost our big coil, seventy-five feet of rope; had to cut tent ropes off; heavy quick

ever set foot here before. Trout jumping everywhere, but small. Now and then a big fish breaks water, but we have not caught any over seven or eight inches long. Saw several indications of coal today. We saw a great many hooded mergansers (ducks) with young broods every day. Darneal calls them flappers, and we drive them for miles down the river.

And so on for a week, until finally Eureka, the terminus of the cruise, was reached.

This cruising is but one side of the subject. The comparatively quiet waters

of three sails. It was unsuccessful, however, one sail taking the wind out of the others.

house to sixteen feet by thirty-eight inches.

Several prizes are raced for by the boats of the club. The contest for the Mayrisch badge takes place every three months, and it is the property of the winner only until the next race, when it is contested for again. In the races for this trophy all the boats are in one class and the best boat wins. Of a different kind are the races for the Holiday cup, a neat prize presented to the club by three of its members, the contest for which takes place on every holiday. The canoes are here divided into classes, following out the line of division laid down above, and an allowance is made for the more slowly-sailing cruisers.

Another type of boat is the Whisper, a good example of the cruising canoe. She is fifteen feet in length, and has a thirtyseven inch beam. By means of an open cockpit seven feet long, and a centerboard folding up in the keel, plenty of room and comfort are secured. The advantages of this boat for cruising and easy sailing are apparent, while for racing purposes the first named has the call. It is impossible to reach a compromise between the two that will give us as a result a canoe adapted equally well for both cruising and racing. These two types occur not only in California canoeing but wherever the sport exists. The This corresponds to handicapping, a strong summer" zephyrs" of San Fran- custom devised to encourage any sport cisco and vicinity have encouraged the by giving a slight advantage to novices use of larger cruisers than in the East. and to recognized inferiority. Applied The Oakland Canoe Club was obliged to canoeing it encourages the slow boats to limit the size of boats admitted to its to take part in races, and adds greatly to

VOL. xx-2.

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stable craft, the big boat sailors did not finish their race without a few capsizes.

the enthusiasm of the day. Although of the occasion. Accustomed to more opposed to the idea of having the best man win, it is manifestly best for the development of the club. For the Mayrisch badge, the most exciting contests have been between the Dart, a 16 x 30 boat; the Gnat, already described, and the Jack, 16 x 34, owned by W. W. Blow. These boats are about evenly matched as regards speed, and the skillfulness of the skippers generally decides the race. The Jack, ably sailed by that veteran canoeist, Commodore Blow, has more races to her credit than either of the others. Of boats of the second class, the Gipsy, sailed by A. H. Blow, maintains a supremacy.

The Crescent Boat Club of Oakland was organized by some amateur sailors to whom the canoe represented too small a water area. The large cruiser Amalia is eighteen feet long and four feet wide. Built like a canoe in all respects but size, this boat gives to its owner greater comfort and safety in rough water than could be expected from a regulation canoe.

The Encinal Boat Club has its house on the Alameda shore of San Francisco Bay, and thus affords open water to some canoeists for whom the calmer waters of the estuary of San Antonio, are not sufficiently "speedy."

In our Western waters a strong bond of friendship exists between the smallest yachts. The Corinthian Yacht Club of San Francisco, and the Oakland Canoe Club have had many joint meets. The cut shows the Canoe fleet on its way to welcome the Corinthians to Oakland Creek. High jinks in the evening was followed by racing the next day: a canoe race by yachtsmen was a feature

The growth and prospects of canoeing in California suffer from many disadvantages that do not exist in the East. In the imnediate vicinity of San Francisco, where naturally it would have its headquarters, the facilities for the sport are somewhat limited, and the means of enjoying these facilities a little hampered by very strong summer winds. In the East, good cruising is more abundant and within easier access than in California. On the other hand, in the far West outdoor sport is possible the year round. While the Eastern canoeist is keeping warm beside his fire, telling yarns of past adventures, thinking out schemes for improving his boat, and waiting for the thaw, his nautically inclined fellow-citizen on the Pacific Coast is enjoying most delightful sailing. In the year of 1888 there were but two Sundays when the weather forbade a pleasant day's sail.

The rivers and lakes of California are far from San Francisco, and for the canoe, difficult of access. When the railroads are extended to more of the mountain lakes, and the necessity of transporting the canoes in wagons is obivated, cruises will be more frequent. In the large rivers, at points like Stockton and Sacramento, canoeing should prosper, and these are the places where new clubs and new canoe life should start. With these possibilities we do not take too much for granted in looking forward to seeing in the near future a canoe meet such as that of the American Canoe Association, in August of last year, on historic Lake George.

W. G. Morrow,

Commodore of the Oakland Canoe Club