The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1873-06-26

centre of his tracks shows that he car
ried the wolf on his back, and the bum
die of kinikinic wood he used as a staff
for support, and catching q wolf shows
that he had traps" But" | asked,
how do you know it's wolf? Why
not a fox, or even a deerw Said he:
"If it had been a fox, or a coyote, or
anv other kind of small game. he would
have slipped the head of the animal in
his waist belt, and so carried it by his
side, and not on his shoulders. Deer
are not caught by traps; but if it had
been a deer he would not have crossed
this high hill, but would have gone back
bv way of the ravine, and the load
would have made his steps still more
tottering."
Another Indian track we saw twenty
miles west of this he put this serious
construction upon: "He's an upper
Indiana prowling horse thief-carried
a double shot gun, and is rascal that
killed some white man lately, and passed
here one week ago, for" said he, "a
lone Indian in these parts is on mis-
chief, and generally on the lookout for
horses. He had on the shoes of a white
man whom he had in all probability
killed, but his steps are those OF an
Indian. Going through the ravine the
end of his gun hit the deep snow. A
week ago we had very warm day, and
the snow being soft he made these deep
tracks" l suggested that perhaps he
bought those shoes. Indians don't
buy shoes, and if they did they would
not buy them as large as these were,
for Indians have very small feet" The
most noted trailer of this country was
Paul Daloria, a halfbreed, who died
under my hands of Indian consumption
last Summer. have spoken Of him in
a former letter. At one time | rode
with him, and trailing was naturally
the subject of our conversation. |
begged to trail with him an old track
over the prairie in order tolearn its his
tory. hardly made the proposition
when he drew up his horse. which was
at a ravine, and said: "Well, here is
an old elk track. Let us get off our
horses and follow it." We followed it
but few rods when he said it was ex-
actly month old, and made at 2 o'clock
in the afternoon. This he knew, as then
we had our last rain, and at the hour
named the ground was softer than any
other time. The track before us was
then made. He broke up here and
there clusters Of grapes that lay in the
path of the track, and showed me the
dry ends Of some, the stumps of others,
aud by numerous other similar items
accounted for many circumstances that
astonished me. We followed the trail
over mile. Now and then we saw a
wolf, fox and other animals had prac-
ticed their trailing instincts on the
elk's tracks. Here and there he would
show me where snake, rat and a
prairie dog had crossed the track. Moth
ing had followed or crossed the track
that the quick eye Of the Daloria did
not detect. He gave an account OF the
habits of all the animals that had left
their footprints on the track, also, of
the state of the weather since the elk
passed, the effects of sunshine, wind,
aridity, sand storms, and other influences
that had bearing on these tracks.
The old man, like all other trailcrs,
was reticent, but on this occasion, Sec
ing that was interested, became es-
pecially communicative.