The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-09-15
A HUNTERS PLIGHT.

was broken, white man could get al
most any sort of adventure west OF
Omaha at a very early hour in the morn
ing. The Blue Mountain country of
Oregon, in which rise two of the
bran ches ofthe Columbia river, was
once q hunters paradise, and here it
was the cinnamon and the grizzly bears
grew the largest and were always ach-
ing for row with some one. The first
white men in there after pelts Glanced
so many perils that it was almost a mir
aclc if any of them got out alive. The
Indians were numerous and watchful,
bears and panthers as thick as mice in
farm house, and an adventure of some
sort was sure to occur daily.
! had been in bit of cove or valley
on the eastern side of the noun tain.
for ten or twelve days before got any
thing like scare. 1t was within forty
miles OF the south line of Washington
Territory, and the country for hun
dred miles around me was in the same
savage state as when Columbus dis
covered the continent. The Indians
were further east, on the Snake river,
or further west, on the Columbia and its
branches, and only detached parties
were to be feared. While this was
great burden off my mind, the bears
and panthers were so numerous that
was in state OF constant alarm through
the day, and dared not shut both ewes
to sleep at night. had a pack and a
riding mule, and on the first night of
my arrival, while l had bright fire
Turning, and the animals were tethered
within a stones throw, apanther sprang
upon old Bob, my riding mule, and
clawed him in terrible way before l
could get near enough to settle him
with q bullet. Three or four bears
prowled around my camp all night,
and the screams Of panther kept my
eyes open until daybreak. However,
after had thinncd out the colony by a
dozen or fifteen, the varmints began to
give me rest.
On the 10th or 18th day of my stay /
left camp at an early hour in the morn
ing loaded for bear. followed the val
ley upfor a half mile, and then turned
into ravine which was the bed of q
creek during the melting of the SHOWS.
1t assembled very gradually, and had
been following it for half an hour, when
it took sharp bend to the right. At
this point there was a hole il the right
hand cliff, and as halted to look at it
wondered if it was not the home of
some savage beast. had moved on
about 500 feet, when a grizzly, which
had been lying down among the broken
rocks, suddenly rose before me. Twas
looking for his kind, but his appearance
was so sudden, and he showed fight so
quickly that my heart was beating alto
gether too fast as / pulled up for shot.
1t had to be snap shot, for not more
than 80 feet separated US. Mine was
single barrelled rife, and l also had
knife and revolver. The bullet struck
bruia in the left shoulder, and he spun
around dozen times like top. Twas
reloading when he got ready to form a
closer acquaintance. He had worked
up the ravine and had worked down.
and wo were now 100 feet apart l
knew could not finish loading before
he reached me, and there was no other
way but to run for it and hope that he
was too seriously wounded to overtake
me.
In those days could run like horse,
and l was accustomed to all sorts of
ground, but ] hadn't made ten Jumps
on this occasion before my foot slipped
on a stone and 1 went down with a
crash. Old grizzly wa, within twenty
feet OF me when l got up, and pitched
my rife into hi, face as 1 took a new
itart. The roar he uttered lifted me a
foot high, and l made dozen extraor-
binary leaps, but it wasn't minute be-
fore l realized that he was holding his
ground, if not gaining little. No man
can guess how far wounded and en-
ragged beast will pursue him. 1 believe
l could have kept clear of this bear
down to the mouth of the ravine, but if
be pursued ne far enough he would be