What follows appeared in the December 28, 1900, edition of the MAINE WOODS newspaper. Formerly named the PHILLIPS PHONOGRAPH, the paper covered Franklin County with a strong emphasis on the outdoors. The popular publication was frequently mailed to subscribers throughout the eastern United States who had fallen in love with the region and wanted to keep up to date on the goings on here just as many of the Highlander’s folks do today.  The MAINE WOODS featured regular submissions by Cornelia Fly Rod Crosby, as well as prominent guides like Daniel Heywood and John Danforth. This issue of the paper shares the annual report from Maine’s Fish and Game Department. We hope you enjoy this 125-year-old ‘snapshot’ as reported at the close of the year 1900.

Contemporary commentary appears in italics.

Registered Guides.

The law court has declared the guide law constitutional in the case of State vs. Snowman. 

Many guides have been convicted of gross violations of the game laws. The report says: “In the future no person will be deemed suitable to act as a “guide” who is not in fact a fish and game protector.

In 1897 guides were employed 51,918 days; in 1898, 63,901; in 1899, 75,000 and in 1900, 81,225 days; this at $2.75 per day amounts to $749,771.00, or $187,442.00 per year on average.

They strongly advise guides not to carry rifles while guiding parties hunting, as it is no part of their duty to kill game for their employer.” 

During the seasons of ’99 and ’00 a severe drought occurred in September. Numerous forest fires occurred during September this year, and in no single instance can a fire be traced to a party in charge of a guide. We have carefully and thoroughly investigated every fire that has occurred. One to a party of blueberry pickers camping near a bog. One of the large fires seemed traceable; another, a colony of bees was smoked out and a large fire resulted. Locomotives, undoubtedly, caused several. State vs, Snowman was a challenge to the law passed two years before requiring guides to become registered. Much to the chagrin of many of her local guide friends, Fly Rod Crosby herself was a powerful advocate and quite instrumental in the passing of the Guide Bill. So much so that the legislature awarded her Guide Badge #1 and despite the fact that she was not a guide herself. Many of her local guide friends formed the Rangeley Guides Association to help thwart the bill’s passage. The Rangeley Guides Sportsmen’s Association remains a great organization to this very day and despite her receiving a ton of flack, FRC knew it was the right thing to do. 

Wardens

There are 74 wardens in the state.

There have been 134 prosecutions. Aggregate of fines imposed $2200. Amount paid, $2012.73.

Jail sentences imposed 1500 days.

Forty-nine deer dogs have been killed.

Ten cases of accidental shooting while hunting have been reported, six of which resulted in a fatally. Four were mistaken for a deer, one for a white-faced bear, one hunter missed a deer and shot his companion, the others were purely accidental. There have been no prosecutions for these occurrences. In each case where a person was mistaken for a deer the shooting was fatal.

The report copies approvingly editorials from the Kennebec Journal and Bangor Commercial, editorials advising a law to specially prosecute such cases of gross carelessness.

Those are some astonishing statistics, and I have never heard of a ‘white-faced bear?’ Thanks to target ID and blaze orange as well as mandatory hunter safety courses, hunting is one of the safest sports in terms of injuries per participant.

Miscellaneous Excerpts

Twenty-seven persons have been licensed to deal in deer. One half of them report selling 59 deer. 

Nine have been licensed to deal in deer skins; they report having bought 609 skins; average price paid 46 cents each. 

Of sixty-three licensed hunters and trappers, one-half have reported. These reports show 12 bears, 100 martin, 19 wild cats, 24 fishers, 90 foxes, 10 skunks, 108 mink, 2 coons, 834 muskrats, and 15 otters killed by them this year.

One hundred and seven persons have been licensed as camp proprietors. Seventy-five have reported as having purchased 34 deer for consumption at their camps, and 261 as being consumed for food at their camps. 

There are 34 licensed taxidermists. Only half have reported. They report 1 moose, 79 moose heads, 44 deer, 674 deer heads, 47 bears, 64 foxes, 3 turtles, 27 squirrels, 7 porcupines, 1 wildcat, 22 coons, 9 mink and 351 birds being received for mounting. The red squirrel comes in for brief mention relative to his propensity to destroy the seed of the spruce. 

My guess is that these figures not only lacked reports from the other 50% but were also grossly under-reported for any number of reasons. This might include a trapper not wanting his competitors to know the areas they were working were productive, or to mitigate fees or taxes, as well as a general feeling of resentment given the passing of the unpopular new guide bill. It is a bit sad that Maine had 107 sporting camps in 1900, whereas there are roughly only 45 still in operation today. 

Have a wonderful week as you create a measure of notable outdoor history of your own!