The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1882-04-01
vail poured . gelid brook. 80 cold that

| wall poured a geld brook, 80 cold that
4 it benumbed the hands. Never before were all
the requisites Of q camping place so perfectly
| supplied. The whole area occupied by the
| lake, the grove, the lawn, and the foaming tor.
rent, was less than q mile in diameter A
| ringe of pine trees stretched across the inle,
| at tho head of the lake, like the drop curtain oj
J a theater, and hid the impetuous stream above:
I but the noise of is roar was heard unceasiup-
| ly day and night. just where it shot into the
| still water was the anglers fayorite fishing
| ground. The unsophisticated trout never once
refused the lure of bait or fly; they were caught
| by hundreds, and averaged pound apiece,
| Over by the foot of the cliff which dropped al
most plumb into the lake, heavier fish were
caught among the detritus and boulders which
had fallen from above, some of them weighing
| two pounds and a quarter. On the shadows
where the lake sloped to the margin, was a
growth OF weeds, at the edge of which the front
skulked like pike, and were easily tempted ont.
In fact, wherever the line was cast the offer was
responded to at once. All the previous expert
ences of veteran anglers were thrown int the
shade. These fish were the biack-speckled trout
OF the Rockies, with crimson slashes acress the
gill-coyers which has now become almost as ia
miliar to the angler the erimson-spotted IA
vorites of the east. They are trife less act
i've, but gamy enough in the impetuous water
OF mountain canyon where the pools are
bristling With protruding brush and over
hanging trees, and no footing to be obtained
except in the slippery boulder-coyered bed of
the stream. Under such conditions caught
five big fish above the lakes, but the capture
involved some tumbles in the food, and many
bruises. followed up the creek until the
canyon became so contrac ted t at the impris-
oned torrent had scarcely room to flow, and
further progress seemed impossible. We were
now within seventy miles of the famous Nation
al park. but the gates were closed. mighty
barrier of rocks and snow-capped mountains
interposed, which only the big-horn sheep can
traverse. So cool was the Temperature OF the
morning air that the vapors condensed into
frost; twice in single week snow covered the
ground, but melted after the sun had ri en-.
Everywhere signs of elks and bears were
found. Behind our camp there was hardly tree
whose bark had not been rubbed by the elks to
rid their tingling horns of their discarded vel
vet The experience was worth the long jour-
ney to enjoy.
Similar in character to the Rosebud are the
headwaters of all the mountain tributaries of
the Yellowstone; sequestered little parks al
ternat'ng, with areas of forest and rugged can
yons, with background of mountains frown-
ing in somber grandeur, or flashing in sum
light where they are mantled with snow. The
streams generally flow north, and run about
seventy-iye miles. As soon as they leap their
mountain barriers, the walls which confine
them gradually spread out into gentle slopes
lnclosing grassy valleys, and sweep in far
reaching undulations toward the table land
which forms the SUBMITS of the divides. The
river bottoms are filed with trees of different
varieties and luxuriant underground. The
coulees are carpeted with green grass, and up-
holstered with shrubbery, in which bull-ber-
ries, choke cherries, juicy rosebuds, and 1uxu-
rlous piums predominant. In the season of
ripening the grizzly bears come down from
their faStnpSGpa rapala hon, 4I,n
fruit, and become an easy prey to the hun ter
Last August, a Mr. Jennison, of Dublin hunt
ng for sport, killed t~enty-nine. Red and
black-tall deer are very numerous in the thick
cts, into which the hunters ride on horseback
and jump them from their beds. On the
higher slopes of the foothills are elks and
mountain sheep. Antelopes throng the open
plains in autumn. Better fields for sport
were never known. A ride over these sweep
ing swales is like a holiday jaunt through Cen
trail Park or the Bois de Boulogne. At times
one discovers broad avenues worn smooth by
horses hoofs, and apparently Travelled by wag
on-wheels, which he learns are lodge pole
trails where migrating bands of Indians have
passed. When Indians move camp they
fastenv their lodge poles to their saddle
girths,, and let the endsdrag behind.
These ends, having been crossed by par
aliel bars, and the lodge-covers thrown
over them and fastened at the edges, a capa-
cious bag is formed, into which domestic chat
tells like decrepit old women, pappooses, sick
dogs, and kettles, which cannot be conven-
iently carried on pack horses, are thrown pro-
mscously. Almost cons stantly narrow trails
are seen, deeply worn into the grass and gen.
orally running in parellel lines. These are
old buffalo trails. There are no surer guides
for the traveller are more certain paths to
water. practicable fords, or rich pastures
Once, sur ting out from Fort Custer, with
some officers of the post, we followed up the
Little Big Horn river some twenty miles to
Lodgegrass creek, and then like distance up
that stream, where we camped for week. This
brought lis into the heart of famous game
country. Unfortunat tely, fires had burned the
grass over large area, but the thickets fairly
swarmed with deer, and occasional bears and
elk. The results averaged three saddles of
yenison per day to five guns, besides prairie
chickens, ducks and hares Had the quest
been more for meat and less for pleasure, the
trophies of the chase would have been greatly
multiplied Speaking of bears, there is an old
time hunter who has lived on the Sinking
water for many years, not far from Fort Nc
Kinney, some forty miles from Custer One
day, early last September, he deserted stray
buffalo bull near his rancho, and started out
with his Winchester rifle after rawhide. It did
not take long to bring the animal to his knees,
but the noise of the shot which struck him
jumped two black-tails out of the bush. In a
minute old John Worth, that is the hunters
u,
two rifle balls out of his magazine and stopped
them running. He had taken his knife out of
his belt to skin the handiest, when q big
Ephraim, with four other grizzlies, waltzed out
of the bush, where they had been eating plums
and commenced feeding on the carcass OF the
other deer, scarcely three rods away. Worth
thought himself in luck. Meat seemed to rain
down like quail and mama for the Israelites
So he pumped away once more and killed four
of the bears in the tracks: but when he pulled
trigger on the fifth, he found that his maga-
zine was empty Before he could finger loose
cartridge out of his belt Ephraim had him
down and would have killed him had not a
little whiffet dog which was with him teased
his fanks and heels until he let go long enough
to let the man get in his cartridge. A shot at
close quarters then finished the bear; but
Worth was laid up at the military hospital for
a month.
Fort Custer is located on a commanding cliff
at the junction OF the Big Horn with the Little
Big Horn, now made historical by the lament
able Custer disaster. 1t is first-class post, in
charge of the 11th infantry and I'd cavalry,
larger than Fort KeOgb, but hardly as home-
like or pretty. 1t is cast in rougher mold
and stands in the cen ter of vast wilderness,
like oasis of civilization, extending its CRATE
ful projection over the fiedgling settlements
which nestle beneath it's sheltering arms, The
road from the fort to Lodgegrass creek passes
close by the nights where Custer fought his last
battle. A monument of cut granite inscribed
with the names of every man who fell in the
engagement overlosks the bloody ground, the
fatal ford which Custer foolishly attempted to
cross, and broad bottom beyond the river
where the camp of hostile Sioux extended
for nearly two miles. The retreat of the SOL
diers from the ford to the crest of the hight
where the last stand was made is marked by
stakes placed where their dead bodies fell. The
celebrity with which the guilty, panic-strieken
Indians abandoned their camp at the approach
OF Gen. Terry is indicated by the lodge-poles
and utensils which strew the ground even at