The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-02-04

per cent. OF lne grlZZly stOrleS WOulu
turn out to be fiction. ! do not think
a grizzly is carnivorous from choice.
He seldom descends from his mountain
home to the creeks and rivers in search
of wild plums and chokeberries (the
favorite diet of brown, cinnamon, and
black bears), but prefers to remain
aloft and feast upon the stores laid up
for winter use by his industrious
neighbors, the gophers and mountain
squirrels. Pine nuts are plentiful high
up. and then the grubs and worms
found beneath old stones and moss
oyergrown boulders are good enough
for King Bruin while they last. When
the mt, berry and plum supply runs
short none of the family hesitate to
fall back upon diet Of pork, beef,
mutton or venison. A recent report
from the Highwoods, in the neighbour
hood of Arrow and Wolf creeks, says
that more bears have been seen this
year than for ten years past, and that
quite a number of cattle have been
killed by them of late. A few months
ago, at Mullery's ranch, near Gorham,
Il big silver tip came down out of the
mountains one night, invaded the hog
pasture of that industrious ranchman,
and in a very short time laid out no
less than thirty fine porkers. The hogs
squeaed, made great fuss. of course,
and as long rs there was q show of resist
ance the bearnever stopped boxing their
ears. One blow of his mighty paw was
enough to kill hog, and there is no
telling where he would have stopped
had he not been interrupted in this
pleasant pastIme.
The grayback of the Rockies is rather
a different brute from his cousin Of the
Adirondacks and the Pennsylvania
hills. Perhaps the Eastern members
Of this interesting family never weigh
more than four hundred or five hun
dred pounds, but out this way many of
the grizzlies and silver tips caught
have touched the beam at one thousand
and twelve hundred pounds and even
greater. Mr.. Charles Sopcr, Of Boze-
man, thriving city short distance
west Of here. is said to have shot one Of
the largest grayback3 ever seen in the
West The hide was something tre-
mendous. The beast having been
killed late in the fall, at time when
he was plentifully supplied with ''bear's
grease it would not be wide of the
mark to estimate his weight when alive
at sixteen hundred pounds. Certainly
the enormous hide justified these fig
ures, and the claws and head preserved
would justly entitle him to the credit
of being the father Of the family.
As proof of the wisdom of the old
hunters warning about going in arter
bear alone" the following narrative
will best illustrate its truthfulness:
"A party of gold hunters started out
from Deadwood some years ago to
prospect the country to the north and
west of that mining camp. The men
in the party were old timers, with
one or two exceptions, and among the
latter was a Swede, full of grit, who
stood nearly seven feet in his stockings.
The Swede, however, whose family
name was Franck. was by no means
'tenderfoot,' having dwelt some time in
the Leadville mining camps and boosted
that he had killed bar in his day and
was afraid of no four-footed critter
that roamed the mountains The
party of twelve were climbing steep
mountain, darkness was coming on,
and prospects of a supperless night were
in view, when the seven-foot Scandina-
Wan volunteered to push on ahead in
the hopes of securing an elk, deer, OF
mountain sheep. The foreigner was
good shot with his rife, had plenty of
grit and courage, and his immense
strength and powerful physique rem
dered it extremely improbable that he
would find his match in the timber
ahead. The hunter disappeared, and
the others toiled on behind, climbing
the steep ascent YEARLY and footsore
At one place the road wound around
steep precipice, the sheer descent of the
cut basaltic walls on the left being
something like thousand feet Far
below the tops of giant pines could be
discerned, but in the awful depth they
appeared like stunted shrubs and
bushes. Near the summit and to the
right the free land broadened or
widened out, and this was covered
with dense growth of willows and
stunted pines. from which proceeded
the most awful grumblings and bowls
imaginable. just as the party appeared
on the top all at once out from the
stubble came retreating the big Swede,
followed by an enormous silver tip,
who was driving him slowly backward
toward the edge Of the precipice. The
man was bleeding badly. nearly all of
one side Of his face being torn away,
the result of wicked blow from the
huge paw of the vicious monster. The
bear, on the other hand, was quite as
badly wounded as his antagonist. His
head was mass of gore, the lower jaw
was simply hanging by a few shreds,
and one OF his hind legs was
broken. The Swede was backing slow
ly, holding in his right hand large