The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1888-02-02
GIGANTIC BEARS.
The Grizzly and the Silver Tip
the Black, the Brown, Etc.
Plenty OF Them In the Northwestern Ter
ritoTies-A Fierce Encounter where
Man and Bear Both Went
Over the Prcclpicc.

Plenty of Them In the Northwestern Ter
ritories-A Fierce Encounter Where
Man and Bear Both Went
Over the PreclpIcc.
The big grizzly bears found all
through the canons of the Rocky
Mountains and spurs of the great range
seldom descends from lofty attitudes.
where they manage year in and year
out TO exc out subsistence near the
perpetual snow line. An old and ex-
perienced hunter has said that ANY
mans fool TO go in arter bear alone.
The bruins of the East and the bruins
of the West are almost totally different
animals. The .'Ursa Majors of this
latitude are monstrous in size, endowed
with ugly dispositions and prodigious
strength, and as for grit. they dispute
and very often successfully, too-the
sovereignty of the mountains and
forests with the king OF American
beasts, the mountain lion. Hunters
disagree upon the point of how many
different species of the bear tribe we
have in the Northwest. There are at
least three distinct types of the family
in Montana, namely, the grizzly,
brown and black bear. Beside these,
there are also gray bears, cinnamon
bears, and the Rocky Mountain gray
back. The true gray is seldom, if ever,
seen now as high as the forty-fifth
parallel, and as far east as the main
divide; the cinnamon is simply a cross
between the brown and black bears,
and the mighty silver tip is neither
more or less than mongrel of the
brown and grizzly, partaking strongly
of the nature of the two, particularly
of the latter In fact, l think l am
justified in asserting that all the men,
bers of the species intermarry, and
that the silver tip is the king of the
family. This big fellow, springing
from the grizzly and the brown, COM
bines all the ferocity and tough strength
of the former with the agility and stub
bornness of the latter, each distinctive
trait being more prominent in him, and
possessed to greater degree than by
the very ANIMALS from which he bor-
rows them. The silver tip is unques-
tionably the ruler of the family, by
reason of his great size and belligerent
disposition. Lewis and Clarke, in their
narrative of their journey through this
region nearly one hundred years ago,
speak of meeting not only brown and
black bears, but also numerous white
bears, who made it perilous travelling
at times for various members of that
bold pioneer party. There are nc
white bears in Montana, Dakota, Idaho
or the bordering possessions of the Can
adian Northwest. Probably the abb
nos referred to were cinnamon bears
who, early in the spring after coming
out of winters sleep, take upor
themselves a dirty, yellowish-browr
color, which, at distance and in ;
snow-covered country. might readily
be mistaken for white bears whose Goa
of fur badly needed bath. In ont
place, after coming upon a so-callet
white bear, the journal describes hin
as possessing small black eyes (almos
like Jet beads), hide of bright yellow
ish brown, the front of the fore-leg
near the feet being quite black, anC
the animal itself of a ferocious ant
warlike nature. This description 0
the white bear of l804-5 tallies witt
the cinnamon bear of 1887, whicl
makes him about the same ugly Gus
toner that he was q hundred year
ago. There are few black bears il
this immediate vicinity, most of then
inhabiting the western slope of tn
Rocky Mountains and the forests tina
thence continue to the Pacific Ocean.
The woods of Oregon and Washing
ton are overrun with black bear;
The largest black fellow / ever saw i
nv life was in the woods of Washing
ton Territory, near Mount Rainier
The black bears of Montana, as wcll a
the cinnamon, as a rule inhabit 10y
places, such as creek and river bottoms
willow marshes, and timbered spot.
but grizzlies and silver tips stick
high attitudes, from which even hunge
pressure seldom drives them. Grizzlie
are generally credited with highly-cult
waited appetites for carnivorous foot
Campfire stories excitedly tell of tn
bloodthirsty diet these monsters hab
tually thrive upon, but were all tn
blood-curdling yarns aired around tn
cheerful blaze carefully sifted dow
for facts am afraid that fully ninet
per cent. of the grizzly stories woul
turn out to be fiction. ] do not thin
a grizzly is carnivorous from choic,
He seldom descends from his mountai
home to the creeks and rivers in scare
of wild plums and chokeberries Oh
favorite diet OF brown. cinnamon, an
black bears). but prefers TO RENAL
aloft and feast upon the stores laid u
for winter use by his industriol
nolghbors. the gophers and mountal
squirrels. Pine nuts are plentiful hig
up, aud then the grubs and worn
found beneath old stones and mos