Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-06-21

tuc ctd-WOTu DDunuall6S Oh UtT claug-
| ing continents. AS you descend farther
down the ravine, s.o'er-hung with wild
woods tbickning green picking
your way daintily along the grassy
bank of the stream. whose bed of lime
stone lodges over whose smooth sur.
face its waters have flowed for ages,
breaking and wasting, by slow degrees,
these gigantic ribs of earth, you come
to succession of lovely cascades:
these increasing in size and pictur-
| esqueness until you reach the last and
largest, where the water is precipitated
in sprays and trickling streams into
a delightful basin at its base, full
twenty feet below. From here it wan
ders on through one of those wild,
weird, rayless ravines of nature, which
startle by their stiffness, turning itself
aside from the fallen trees that obstruct
its course and winding about the frag-
ments of the moss covered rocks which
have fallen from their firm base and
there remain unmoved through the
lapse of centuries, till it joins its tiny
tribute to the Platte--to the Mississippi,
and to the mighty ocean.
| But will not weary you with this
pen picture of nature, however delight
full may be the theme to the feelings of
the speaker. One incident connected with
these wonderful Red Dog Diggings and
| leave its now rich and cultivated farms
to the pillow shares of their owners and
its solitudes, fens, caves, and cascades,
to the admiration of those who may be
attracted thither, on some future sum-
mer day, as | was once, in search of
pleasure in the painless woods
| The Hon. Robert Glenn, of Wyalus-
ing, who is well and favorably known
throughout Grant county for his valua-
BILE services on the county board and in
the state legislature, once occupied a
miners cabin in these diggingssand wore
the miners yellow ochred clothes a!cir-
cumstance Which gave the miners good
credit in an early Jay las strong ochre
| always indicates the presence of rich
mineral. In the Fall of 1914, the
country was over-run with bears which
came down out of the northern wilder
ness in search of food Many of them
were killed by such famous hunters as
Tom Wier, Henry L. Massey and the
Harelsons and others as they were found
traversing back and forth through tile
county, occasionally falling in with a
bee tree, apiece of mutton or fat pig.
One of these, an old she bear and her
two cubs, not being so successful in her
raids as usual, found her way down to
the Red Dog Settlement. 1t so happen
ed on the same day the old bear came
came along, Glenn--who was in need of
a piece of hickory to make pick hand,
ventured out into the woods in
search of the desired timber. He was
young, husky and courageous then,
and SO he went alone, armed only with
an ak to cut the tree. He had not gone
far, however, when an enemy, he least
expected to encounter was full upon
him. Walking leisurely along and look
ing around, he heard the sudden crack
ling of u dry branch and saw advanc-
| ing upon him the ponderous form of the
old she bear closely followed by her
cubs. Hunger and maternal solicitude
gave speed to her clumsy motions and
with open mouth and glaring eyes she
made straight for the sleek body of our
| young friend Robert, whom, in her emo
| tional, starved condition, she felt would
fill q long felt want. Glenn immedat-
ly took in his perilous situation and
went at once for a refuge and place of
safety-a small sapling near by.
Mounting it with the celebrity of an aero
bat, he turned around only to look
down into the cavernous jaws of his
pursuer who was now at the foot of the
tree, standing upon her hind feet and
making desperate efforts to climb,
1t was cold November day but |
venture the assertion the hottest day
in midsummer, or the longest speech
Glenn ever made before the county
board, never caused more instant and
copious flow of perspiration than
started from his manly brow on this
occasion. The bear did not get him
however nor did Glenn get the bear.
Bruin growled and glared, and swung
her ungainly form around and up
against the tree, but all to no avail.
Glenn set up an equally hideous yell
that rang out clear and loud far over
the prairie. His cries of distress were
heard by my friends, Thos. Davies and
Christopher jackson, who were atwork
| not far off and who fastened to his re-
lief armed with pitchforks, guns, sticks
| and stones, and such other implements
of death as could be readily seized
upon. The bear was driven off and
the life of the honorable member from
Grant saved to make the hero OF this
tale.
BY another abrupt transition of place
and circumstances, 60 with me on a
days ride. into the woods of the Hurri-
cane. This densely wooded tract of
country, with its deeply shaded streams,
was the favorite resortof many varieties
of wild game that abounded at an early
day. 1t was "the happy hunting
ground" of the settlers, from whence
they obtained their winter supplies of
wild honey, their bear meat and
launches of venison-delicacie and
substantials which more than compen-
stated for the absence of the modern in
novation of sour canned fruit and
measly pork. Here, too, the large grey
wolf made his lair, and in its wild fast
nesses sought a safe retreat, to enjoy,
of game, whatever his ravenous appe-
tite required. Nor did they always
confine themselves, in their predatory
attacks, to game and food which were
the common stock of the settler, the
Indian and the beast of prey; but like
our boys in the South, when hunger,
helped themselves to provisions without
respect to ownership or priority of
claim. Thro would they often venture
into the ighborhood of the log cabin
in the Gle iring where poultry, sheep, or
some luckless bullock was sure to fall
a prey to their rapacity. Neither were
the settlers themselves or their families,
always safe from the attacks of these
ravenous brutes, when hard pressed bv
hunger
Following the dual system of creation,
wont, they have been known to secrete
themselves by the blazed wagon road
or oft-frequented trail, and there re-
main for hours to await the coming of
their unsuspecting victim. These places
of ambush were selected behind the
roots of uptrned trees, some huge
rock, or in the thick underbrush at ia
vorable bend in the road, where brute
instinct, animal cunning, or whatever
you please TO term the faculty, taught
them, was a favorable place for their
bold man9u,res, and safe rendezvous
from any approaching foe. Thus Sc
cured they would await the coming of
the benighted horseman returning from
town, the unlecompanied child or wo-
man going 10 or returning from neigh
boris cabin on an errand or friendly
visit. when these wary animals were
sure to scent their approach. wait till
they had passed their place of conceal