Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-06-04
4 Mountaineer's Fight with a
GriZZlv,

4 Mountaineer's Fight with
Grizzly.
From the wilds of Pasadena, CAL,
.sporting correspondent OF the Spring
ield [Mass.) Republican writes:
"Grizzlies?' replied an old ranch
man in answer to our inquiry made in
;he Puente hills, just back of the Hotel
Raymond, and not far from the grim
vail of the ras-"Grizzlies?" re-
peated the old-timer. "Wall, gents,
ook at that" and the speaker held
up a dilapidated hand that might have
passed several times through hav.
cutter. "That's what got tor foolin'
around grizzly. I've had all Iwant.
I'm as chuck full OF experience as a
aew convart in the revival, and if you
Jake my advise you'll let 'em rest.
The way I got fooled was something
ike this. When l fust came out
here / was a reg'lar tender loot;
but I'd shot black bear till you couldn't
! rest in Pike County, Pa, and nothin'
would do but must kill grizzly. I
had kinder hankerin' after it; SO be,
lore I'd roof over my head hunted
Up a chap that lived up in the mount
aims that had all the pints, and one
morning off we went for q three days
trip. It was something that wasn't
used to-all up hill. Instead Of walk
ing up the canon, where there was a.
trail, that old cuss led me right up
the face OF the mountain and headed
Tor the upper range. It was like
climbin' the roof OF an old-fashioned
house made for shootin' of snow,
and for five mortal hours we dug and
and climb. finally got up and l lest
laid down for the rest of the day. I
was completely outdid.
"The next mornin' we started along
the range and pretty soon struck into
the bush. Here and there you could
walk, and then you'd strike a place
where you had to 60 down on your
knees and crawl-Pd noticed the ole
man was awful polite, a-lettin me 60
ahead, and ali at onct, when l had
crawled along about half a mile on the
ground, happened to cast my eyes
on the bush on each side and saw that
it was covered with hair. Ipicked
some of it off. handed lot to the
old man behind, and says I, What's
that? Grizzly fur says he, land this
eres a grizzly rum says L. You've
! hit it,, says he. He was too perlite
fer me, and made him go ahead, and
by and by we came out into an open
and in the soft ground l see q bear
track. I Wouldn't say how big, and
the old man said he snelt bear To
git out we took to another trail, jest
a. hole through the grease woods that
! the bears had made, and this time l
! crawled ahead. carrying my gun. 1reck-
! on we'd done about fifty yards when we
came to a grass patch about SIX foot
high, and made break into it, and
jest nigh stepped on the biggest old
grizzly you want to see. He must
have been sleein', but was up on his
legs in q minute. | fell back so quick
that ] nigh onto knocked the old man
over, but he see the bear comm, and
he dropped his rifle right over my
shoulder an let fly. This all kinder
confused nae, and afore Icould recover
! the bear was on me. [ got Ivy feet
foul in the grass, and down we went,
the bear on top; I got my knife out
and pricked him for all Was worth,
but the critter got my hand in his
mouth, and chawed it like you see,
and if the old man hadn't stepped up
and blown his brains out it would
have been a. gone case with me. As it
was, when he shot the critter its full
weight, about eight hundred pounds,
. came on me and near cleaned me out.
1t took all the old mans nerve to roll
him off, and tell you, gents, was a
picture. Talk about yonrgory scenes,
Twas blood from head to foot. I'd
been a fortune to one one OF these
dime-novel tellers. One look at me
would hev given him food for refec-
ton for q year. My clothes was torn
into rags, and the critter had scratched
me so that I looked like xebry for
months to time: but it didn't cure me,
and I've shot a good many since"
The upper ranges OF the Sierra Mad
res abound in game, the grizzly, brown
bear. deer, wildcat, coyote and mount.
ain lion being the largest, and afford
ing fine sport for the hunter. The
huntingground can now be readily
and easily reached from the Raymond
Hotel, and next season some fine sport
is promised. The easiest plan is to
leave the hotel early in the morning,
following the arrayo seco to the ar
rayo canon, about five miles away.
Here pack horses or burros are taken.
and q ten mile ride followed to the up.
per range. The ride is delightful, and
III three miles the writer forded the
stream twenty-five or thirty times,
which will give some idea of the wind
ing character OF the road. At some
points the trail winds around the edge
OF rocks, where, if a. burro was inclined
to balk, it would go down two thou
sand feet. Here is the old Solidal trail
that was commenced before the Sierra
Madre range was tunneled to admit
the railroad.
In riding over the old trail, now fall
en- into disuse, q friend told me an ex-
perience that he had with a grizzly.
He was employed at work on the trail
some years before, and had engaged g.
raw German to 60 up the trail and
bring down some surveying instru-
! ments. The man started down at
about 3 in the afternoon, and on sud-
denly rounding a curve came lace to
face with grizzly and two cubs The
place was too precipitous to Jump
over, so he turned to run, and the
grizzly made after him. twas short
heat. He had not gone twenty yards
on the upgrade before the animal
cau::ht up to him and struck him a
terrific blow in the back, tearing the
flesh away, as we'll as clothes, and
pushing the luckless man from the rail
over the edge of the canon, where he
struck the bush and rolled and slid
down several hundred feet, there re-
covered himself, and ran into the
camp as demoralized a specimen as
Could be well found rChis Eniahad h ;a