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The Ulysses S. Grant Association |
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The Ulysses S. Grant Association |
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Note: This article was printed in the Lafayette, Indiana, Morning Journal, on 3 July 1896. There is also a reference to the New York Press, but no date is given. Anyone having information on other printings of this story is encouraged to contact the Grant Association at jsimon@lib.siu.edu.
"This stream flows through the northwestern part of Potter county, one of the wildest forest sections. At that time I was living at Kane and spent all my time in the woods hunting and fishing.
"General Grant usually was accompanied by one or more companions, but this time he came to Kane alone. It was then, prior to leaving Kane for Oswayo creek, that General Grant wrote his letter to Secretary of State Fish concerning the belligerency of Cuba. We were delayed 24 hours on account of that letter, because General Grant spent the whole day in thinking the situation over. The general was glad to get the subject off his mind for the time being, as he remarked to me, 'Well, that settles Cuban matters with me until I return from this trout fishing trip.'
"I had the general's rod and flies in shape. We got on my old spring wagon and started for a farmhouse near Sharon Center. The roads were rough, and by the time we had covered the distance of 87 miles we were tired out, and the old horse lay down. It was about 10 o'clock at night when we reached John Habersteen's home in the country. He had been expecting us and assisted in putting up the horse and showed us the rooms we were to occupy. We did not go to the trout stream the following day. 'Rest is more desirable than trout,' is the way the general put it.
"While Habersteen was not acquainted with Grant prior to our arrival, he was a fast friend of mine, as we had gone to school together. General Grant soon made a warm friend of Habersteen.
"The first day's fishing along Oswayo creek was successful, and we returned with a number of trout. It was a difficult place to reach, and the country simply abounded with wild game. The general was fond of seeing deer go through the woods and was not a bit afraid of bears.
"General Grant was an expert fisherman and could whip a stream with any of the pot fishers. He would never fish for trout with bait. But if it so happened that he had lost all his flies, he would put on whatever he could find and continue to whip the stream. The two of us in five days' fishing caught 712 trout, all good sized ones. We ate some of them, and the rest were packed in ice to be sent to friends.
"I shall never forget our return from Sharon Center to Kane. We had everything on the spring wagon, including the iced trout. After traveling about four miles we passed through an exceptionally heavy woodland, and when we were about 200 yards from the woods two bears made their appearance. They trotted along after us at a gait that showed us that they were gaining on the horse. They evidently had scented the fish and were wishing for a good meal.
"We did not feel much afraid until we came to discover that our guns and revolvers were left behind at Habersteen's house. The bears were gradually gaining on us, and it was time to be thinking about doing something.
"'What's to be done in a case of this kind?' queried the general.
"'The only thing I know of is to drive so fast that they can't catch up,' I replied. But the faster we drove the more rapidly the bears ran.
"'I know how to get away from them,' exclaimed Grant. 'We will throw trout to the ground, a few feet apart, and as the bears stop to pick them up we will gain so much by every fish.'
"Well, that looked like a great scheme. We began throwing the fish out, two or three at a time. The bears began to pick them up, but I'll be contwisted if they didn't start to give the trout the go by and hasten their steps to catch up to the wagon. All the time we kept throwing choice trout into the road to coax the bears to quit the chase.
"We concluded that the old horse would have to hurry. The whip was applied. We lost the bears, and in the village related the story of the bears following us to several farmers, who got guns and started after them.
"Do you know what those confounded bears were doing when they found them? They stopped at the end of the trout trail and for a distance of a mile and a half back had eaten nearly all the trout. They evidently wanted bigger game, and when they saw they could not get it they were content to eat trout. The bears were overtaken and killed.
"At the village we looked to see how many trout we had left. To our surprise we had only 250 out of the 700."