The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-04-07
GIGANTIC BEARS.
The Grizzly and the Silver Tip,
the Black, the Brown, Etc.
Plenty Of Them In the Northwestern Ter
ritories--A Fierce Encounter Where
Man and Bear Both Went
Over the Precipicss

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
land 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 tho 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. think ! 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
bornhess 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
ut times for various members of that
bold pioneer party. There are no
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 q winters sleep. take upon
themselves a dirty, yellowish-brown
color, which, at distance and in a
snow-covered country. might readily
be mistaken for white bears whose coat
of fur badly needed q bath. In one
place, after coming upon 4 so-called
white bear. the journal describes him
as possessing small black eyes (almost
like jet beads), hide of bright yellow.
ish brown, the front Of the fore-legs
near the feet being quite black. and
the animal itself of q ferocious and
warlike nature. This description ol
the white bear Of l8O4-5 TALES with
the cinnamon bear of 1887, which
makes him about the same ugly Gus.
toner that he was hundred years
ago. There are few black bears in
this immediate vicinity. most of them
inhabiting the western slope of the
Rocky Mountains and the forests thai
thence continue to tho Pacific Ocean.
The woods Of Oregon and Washing
ton are overrun with black. bears
The largest black fellow / ever saw il
my life was in the woods of Washing
ton Territory, near Mount Rainier
The black bears of Montana, as wcll q,
the cinnamon. as rule inhabit Low
places. such as creek and river bottoms
willow marshes. and timbered spots
but grizzlies and silver tips stick t.
high attitudes. from which even hunger
pressure seldom drives them. Grizzlie,
are generally credited with highly-culti
waited appetites for carnivorous food
Campfire stories excitedly tell of tn,
bloodthirsty diet these monsters habi
tually thrive upon, but were all the
blood-curdling yarns aired around thu
cheerful blaze carefully sifted dowI