The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-06-11
A Mariposa Bear Story.

They tell awful large stories up in
the Msriposa country. 1t is a large
country, and the boys up in that region
arc terrible fellows. Our friend H.,
who arrived the other day from Horn
itas, "set the table 10 roar" by relat.
ing bear story which. for greatness
of conception, beats by long odds any
thing We ever heard of in the course of
our natural life.
It appears that two of the miners are
IN the habit of enlivening the tedious
hours of nights by trying which can
tell the biggest--well. we'll skip
the hard words. One evening, not
long since. when q jolly party had
gathered round bottle of "red-eye"
Tom told bear story which, to say
the truth, was considerable in its way.
For instance. the bear weighed only
1900 pounds. Toms adventures with
the bear were truly astonishing. But
Dick laughed the matter to scorn.
That bar wasn't . circumstance to
the one he had seen back amongst the
hills of Visslia.
why" said Dick. "he was SO fat
that he coulden't stand up. He resides,
Dick continued, "on the top of q
big hill, and hasn't been off for two
years, to my certain knolledge;' and
Dick looked as wise ana grave as an
owl
1t wouldn't do: the company voted
the whole thing lie, and intimated to
Dick that he was not talking to green
'uns,' but to men who were supposed to
know something about grizzly bears.
"How much did he weight" asked
Tom.
why, isupopse," quoth Dick. AS
if weighing the animal in his minds
eye. i suppose that the critter must
weigh about five-five an Q half-ax
lonesome where about thar
"Wsll, but,' said Tom. If the critter
can't stand. how the d. does he get
to his foody'
You see the bear rolls over and
over under the oak trees, and feeds on
the acorns, which are very plenty in
them parts. and are about the size of
your fist
Tom asked various other questions
respecting the habits of this singular
animal, but Dick towed the mark every
time. and gave satisfactory replies to
each interrogAtory. At length be said,
Dick. what does the bear do when he
gets thirstyT-there isn't no lake on
the top of the hill, 10 thei:'
0'Lake! Nor answered Dick; but
thar's gully at the bottom Of the hill,
always full o. water, and the bear,
whenever he gets thirsty, rolls over
and over down the side OF the hill
until he gets to the water, and then he
satisfies nature; have seen him do it
q hundred times
Toms last question, il was thought
by the crowd. who manifested the
greatest interest in the matter, would
be a sumner but Dick extricated
himself from the difficulty with a
marvellous dexterity.
Perhaps suggested Dick, thar's
some other game. Tom, you play
better.
No. Was Toms answer I've got .
pretty strong hand yet I'll ask you
one more question; you've got the
bear down the hill; now. Dick. do you
pretend to say that old fatty rolls him
self back to the top agsinf'
AND why not?-nothing easier,
was the cool rejoindsr; You know the
bear is . mighty cute animal. and this
old fellcr was particular sharp on all
matters per-
Hold ont interrupted Tom; I'll bet
you the toddies all round that you are
going to make the animal roll straight
back again; il so permit me to draw
out aose. for the idea of bear rolling
up a seeep hill is certainly
Ridiculous" put in Dick. But as
l was going to say. this bear knew all
about the difficulties of this kind of
locomo,ion. He used 10 avoid the
steep ascent that he would have
had to encounter in rolling directly up.
by rolling some fifteen times round the
hill before reaching the top / have
seen him do it fifty times. You see
that makes the ascent quite gradual.
and the feat not at all surprising.
Tom made no reply. but quietly
passed his hat across the table to Dick.
st the same time intimating by an un-
mistakable expression of oountenance.
that the man who could roll bear
down q hill, and to save his reputation.
roll him up again by the same process.
was better entitled to the tile than
its owner. who coald show no other
claim to il than that of having bought
and paid the money for it.