The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-02-13
A BLOODY CONFLICT.
A Three-Cornered Fight Between
a Man, Indians and Bears.

You will see by the map that the
Salmon River, of Idaho, has its rise in
the Salmon River Mountains. Two
small creeks, meeting at the north end
of the mountains, form the Salmon,
but it is not much of a stream until it
receives Wild Cat, Bitter Sweet and
oJhcr creeks down toward the Bitter
Root Mountains.
| had i0urneyed to the forks of The
Upper Salmon with a band of hunters
and trappers, and, while they had
spent the winter in trapping for furs
and pelts. | had developed the fact
that coal, mica, slate, marble, copper
and other minerals were to be had for
the asking in the mountains. Owing
to the depth of snow and severity Of
the weather, l had not finished my
work Of prospecting when spring
came, while the trappers were ready
to abandon the exhausted field and
move east into the foothills of the Bit
ter Root.
On the first day of May | was left
alone, had a horse, two pack mules,
4 rir', two reyolyers and plenty Of food
and ammunition. As soon as the men
left me | pulled up stakes and moved
around to the cast side Of the mount
ain where there was less wind and
more sunshine. Between the foothills
and the mountain was i long, narrow.
winding valley, varying in width from
ten to fifty feet. The snow was just
leaving this valley, and the grass of
last season had been preserved in pal
atable shape for the horses,
Nothing Of special interest occurred
until the second of June. On that
morning. while cooking breakfast, q
monster grizzly, the first one seen dur
inc the winter, suddenly appeared
within two hundred feet of my camp
lire, coming up the winding valley
from the south. | was between him
and the horses, but the latter We're 50
terrified that had they not been %stoutly
staked out they would have made their
escape,
The bear halted, as | said, and as he
displayed no intention to come nearer
did not wish to provoke him by any
act Of hostility. He was in lean con-
dition, with his shaggy coat in anything
but presentable shape, He stared at
me with curious eyes, shifted the air,
grew uneasy after q few minutes and
finally numbered off down the valley
out Of sight, | was thoroughly glad to
be rid Of Bruin, but before | had fin
ished my breakfast he returned and
brought two other grizzlies with him,
all full grown.
Wei armed as | was, | realized that
l stood no show against th" three. The
horse was wild with terror, and the
mules were SO overcome that they lay
down with weakness, | piled on the
brush, and as the fire blazed and
cracked the bears took alarm and gal
Hoped off, looking back IS if to see if
they were pursued.
The presence of the monsters an
noyed me more than | can explain. |
was more uneasy than as if had dis
covered three Indians providing about.
A grizzly bear is the natural foe of
everything that lives. He is without
fear. His strength is something as
founding. He will fight twenty men
as soon as one. Fire all the bullets
from the chamber of a Winchester
into him and not One may strike. vital
spot. The sight of flame and smoke
had kept them from attacking ME, but
I was by no means satisfied that they
would abandon the field.
The only plan to save the horses vas
to build another fire above them. In
one spot the valley narrowed until it
was not more than eight feet wide. and
here | built solid fire of heavy limbs
one which would last for a whole
day, \ quarter of a mile below the
camp | found another good spot, and
built another fire, and then felt COM
~pnrativcly safe. The only fear was that
| would keep the bears away to bring
indians down upon me. The heavy
could be seen for twenty miles,
md if seen by red men they would GER
,ainly investigate.
| did not leave camp that day, being
)usy with specimens and in making re-
pairs to my clothing, and the day and |
light passed without an alarm of any ,
ort. This put me in good spirits. and
permitted the fires to die down to y
,reat beds of Goals, which would retain I
heir heat all day, and soof after break v
asst shpuldered my rifle and started off =
own the valley to prospect and inves- d
gate. You may believe that | kept b
ny eyes open for sight of grizzlies, but 8
hey seemed to have left the n~eighbor. II
God for good, q
AZ lAa end n ahoNt hye mills lAs B