Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-06-22


county, Montana. writes from Silver Bow
in letter to friend in Independence,
the following story of his exciting expe-
rience with big game in the Rocky Noun
tains. Since leaving Bellevue ! have
travelled about four hundred miles through
the most inaccessible portions OF Idaho
and parts of Montana l have seen
great number of good mines and good
deal of fine mineral country | have kill
ed lots of game, consisting Of deer. one
ok, two mountain sheep, three bears.
, INA, and any amount of grouse and
small game. ! have caught numberless
salmon trout and reddish in the inacces ST.
BILE reddish lakes Of the Saw Tooth Noun
tains. The reddish are a variety OF sal
mon. and weigh from five to twelve
pounds each Their flesh is as red as
blood and they are delicious eating
superior 70 Wood River trout.
From the General Custer mine at b.
panza. | travelled alone to Teruk by the
way Of Challis. At Challis | took the
hidden trail through Secret canyon, and
down the Passmora. camping one night
in the Lost Sepulcher," the loveliest.
weirdest, widest little valley in the
RocKv NJ ia rs. The valley contain .
one hundred acres, perhaps more. and Is
decked with profusion of wild flowers
and an abundance of green grass. | en-
tered it just after a cooling thunderstorm,
and such world of perfume from the
many wild flowers greeted me with their
sweet-scented fragrance as ! never before
experienced. The valley for the moment
appeared to be perfect elysium. On
the east side of the valley beautiful
little trout stream wound its way with
many twists and turns. its moaning and
gurgling cascades adding to the charms
of the spot.
Alter having Jared sumptuously on brook
trout fred to a crisp, and taken a last in
spection of my horse and mule. rolled
myself up in my blankets. literally in a
bed of roses, with my trusty express by
my side and the watchful Nadia lying
coiled up at my feet. and gradually passed
away into the land of dreams. How lsng
had slept can only surmise, but it does
not matter Suddenly roaring growl.
coupled with barking yelp from Nadia
brought me to my senses. Grasping my
rifle, was about crawling out OF bed,
when heavy weight settled on my foot,
almost crushing it into the ground. The
pain was so excruciating that could with
CoItIOf SCH 81 as not W NiJ
out. Before had time to think the weight
was as suddenly removed. A rustling
sound. rafting among the dishes, the
ripping of sacks. coupled all the time
with an unearthly growing. mingled with
the distant stamping of horses hoofs and
the scared snorting OF poor JEFF and the
mule, awoke me to the consciousness that
large animal of some kind was making
sad havoc with my grub-bag. / kept my
head well covered and lay as still as a
mouse. and let it rip things its own way.
hoping all the while that it would take
me for some inanimate oject ond go off in
peace.
After scattering my flour all around,
tasting the tea, coffee, etc, chewing up a
few cans of fruit and baking powder, it
got hold of full can of pepper Lord
what sneeze it gave. 1t fairly made
the earth tremble. Such splitting and
choking was never heard. At last it got
hold of my sack of sugar, and then you
should have heard it smack its Jaws to.
gether as it devoured the sugar with evil
dent gusto. Then, with pleasing whine
like tickled dog, it commenced an in
spection on a sack of royal breakfast ba-
con; ripping of cloth few sat
isfactory smacks of the ponderous lips, a
half growl, and the internal thing settled
down partially on my bed, using the can
vas covering for table spread. and quiet
ly ate hog-devoured my bacon-using
my last piece of mountain sheep for des-
sert.
The weight of the brute. as it would
occasionally slap its huge paws down on
the bed. nearly broke my legs. From
the first growl |. of course, surmised it to
be bear OF some kind. A thousand
trains of thought passed through my mind
with lightning rapidity-whether to take
a shot at the brute's heart from under the
blankets, or keep quiet and chance his
going off in peace, or what to do-that
was the question. While cogitating the
matter the brute suddenly quit his growl-
ing. and sat up quietly listening for a
minute. A long drawn snort from the
distant mule the solemn boot of an owl
in tree close by was the only response.
Silently dropping on all tours, the brute
ambled off rs though possessed OF an in
definable dread of something beyond his
grasp. Thinking him gone for good, ]
gradually and silently drew the cover
from my head and peered round. There,
NOT thirty yards away. stood the brute-a
big, white-headed grizzly.-with his left
fore foot slightly raised, his larboard ear
crooked over toward the other end of the
valley. He stood as though in silent med
itaGion.
The sportsman's instinct in me was
aroused. Such fair shot; impossible to
miss him--not considering that the old
moons faint light might deceive me. ]
determined to take a shot at him, and
take the chances. come what might. !
gradually raised my rifle to an aim, and
then the question arose to my mind. where
to shoot-through the heart, lungs, or
head. The extreme tension to which my
nerves had been strung up now began to
lax. l began to tremble slightly, from
! the INDIGESTION in my mind where to shoot
him. Realizing from past experience
that must shoot quick or not at all,
took steady pull on the side of his head
and fired. In another second l had put
two more shots at random into his body.
Such an unearthly yell never heard be-
FORE And now Nadia put in an appear
ance from her concealment in the bushes
and began swapping and barking at the
huge beast as it roared, tumbled and roll
ed around on the green sward, until II
finally got into the creek in the dark out OF
sight, where it splashed,N floundered and
nx,