My Dear Sir,

To you, in testimony of my friendship, I inscribe this little volume.

On a pleasant morning in May last, I awoke from a piscatorial dream, haunted by the idea that I must spend a portion of the approaching summer in the indulgence of my passion for angling. Relinquishing my editorial labors for a time, I performed a pilgrimage which has resulted in the production of this volume, and I hope it may entertain those of my friends and the public who have heretofore received my literary efforts with favor. The work will be found to contain a record of adventures in the valleys of the Hudson, St. Lawrence and St. Johns, and along some of the rivers of New England.

Truly, your friend,

CHARLES LANMAN.

New York, Autumn of 1847.

The Catskill Mountains—South Peak Mountain—A thunder storm—Midnight on the mountains—Sunrise—Plauterkill Clove—Peter Hummel—Trout fishing—Stony Clove—The Kauterskill Fall—The Mountain House—The Mountain Lake

A spring day—The sky—The mountains—The streams—The woods—The open fields—Domestic animals—Poetry—The poultry yard

Lake Horicon—Sketches of its scenery—Information for anglers—Sabbath Day Point—War memories—The insect city—Death of a deer—Rogers’ Slide—Diamond Island—The snake charmer—Snake stories—Night on Horicon

The Scaroon country—Scaroon Lake—Pike fishing by torchlight—Trout fishing—Lyndsay’s Tavern—Paradox Lake

The Adirondac Mountains—Trout fishing in the Boreas River—A night in the woods—Moose Lake—Lake Delia—The Newcomb Farm—Mount Tahawus—The Indian Pass—Lakes Sanford and Henderson—The McIntyre iron works

Stage coach—The Winooski—The Green Mountains—The ruined dwelling—The White Mountains—The Flume—A deep pool—The Old Man of the Mountains—The Basin—Franconia Notch—View of the mountains—Mount Washington—The Notch Valley

The Saguenay River—Storm picture—The Hudson’s Bay Company—Eminent merchant—The Mountaineer Indians—Tadousac—Ruin of a Jesuit establishment