The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-04-10
CALIFORNIA BEARS.
Taking Breakfast With .
Shasta Grizzly.
= YOUNG hunters FIRST CUE.


,
your 6rst crop. and in little while 1.-THE
other districts begin 70 be heard from"
add you are surprised with unexpected
wealth Of reveiationsn The curious ursine
tales which | sent you have been widely
reprinted A prominent young Californian
has just added his contribution to the list.
The gentleman in question is John l..
Beard. regent of the state university and
relative Of Mr.. Roswell Smith. OF the
Csafuyy Mrgnssae. Mr.. Beard is one OF the
few men who know how to accentuate .
good story. and this 10 the way il hap
pened.
good many years ago. in Alameda
county. young Mr.. Beard became infected
with the desire to kill . bear He was
at that time student in the old College
OF California" Of which Henry Durant was
president, Professor Brewer. afterwards OF
Tale, being head of the natural science de-
partrnent- Professor Brewer had jsst re-
turned from . vacation about Mount
fyndaii. in the southern Sierras. aud he
had happened across some old hunter who
had unloaded good many tall grizzly
stories upon him. He took his revenge by
telling them to the senior class, one Of
whom was John l.. Beard, who went back
TO his home in the shadows of Mission Peak
determined TO make reputation as q
grizzly killer
Mission Peak. in Alameda, is almost as
large rs Monte Diablo great barren
height looking westward. and fiji of
wooded ravines, which long proved q re-
fuge for the last grizzlies OF the Coast
range. Young Beard took his rife and
went into the rugged canons behind the
peak, where hunters said the biggest bear
of the wilderness, .'old Scar-face," could
be found. Now, s.Scar-facen was . bat
tered old monster. who had lived on the
cattle ranges of the township for q quarter
Of . century, and had laughed To scorn all
the wiies of hunter and trapper. Beard.
foolish and audacious, as is the wont of a
college senior. climbed into the very lair of
old scar-face. 1t was at the head OF q
guich. where mass of rocks formed . sort
of archway or cave. and in the soft soil at
the entrance, necessarily moist from q
Maynard spring he saw the great SPRAYING
tracks of the giant OF Mission Peak
The young hunters impulse was 70 drop
his gun and retire with discreet rapidity to
the valley below. Just a. this iaudable
resolution was well settled in his mind and
the FIRST backward step was taken, rattle
on the dry hillside started him, and looking
up be saw close above him huge grizzly
bear looming against the sky hardly fifty
feet away. There was evidently no escape
from, the impending struggle. He aimed
his rife at the animals heart, fred, and
saw it fall dead on the ground. Stunned,
unable TO believe the witness of his own
eyes, he climbed to the spot. picked up the
dead bear, put il on his shoulder. and car
ried it two miles to the camp. liz Was .
four months old grizzly cub, about as large
~ . shepherd-dog.
Poor little thingW says some one who
hears the story.
'.Ah." replies Mr.. Beard, the calm and
sedate "but l felt myself in danger of my
life. That miserable cub doomed mp above
me on the hillside, IS large as . megather-
ium and as savage IS Bengal tiger. /
thought was gone. and l braced myself
up for the shock when pulled the trigger.
never expected TO see Professor Brewer
again. He got me into the scrape, you
know"
My second story is rather more serious in
it, outcome.
Away up in Trinity county, the land of
the placer miner, an almost forgotten re-
gion, reached only by horseback trails the
old prospectors Of 10 live and die. Timothy
Woods. drunken old miner, had seen
Hardscrabble Guich dwindle from 500
voters to less than . dozen, and his for
tunes had dwindIed with the camp. Once
he had owned the newspaper; now the
worn type was piled in hopeless ''pi" in the
corner of his cabin Once he had run the
leading saloon; all there Was left of that
affair was little cut-glass ware and q bot
tie of old rye.
As Woods grew drunk he always grew
reminiscent, and his remembrances were
always oil Mrs. Woods. who had ruled him
with rod of iron during her lifetime
Its lucky" he used to say. that the ouid
woman isn't at home to receive me this
night as he staggered out of some crony's
| cabin and sought hisown.
One night when Woods was worse gone
than usual, two of the boys went with him
| to the foot OF the hill, and started him
safely up the path hundred yards TO his
house. By the half moonlight they saw
him reach his door and heard his muttered
| exclamation:
An is il you, Mrs. Woods7 Sure. an
| I've missed We this long while, me dear. /"
A tall, indistinct form rose in the oren
doorway.
How we've grown, Mrs. Woods said
| the miner holding on to the doorpost-
stand still. won't yer It's long ways
| round yer waist. 7"
Suddenly, with crash that fright
| ened his sronies into soberness. Timofhy
Woods rolled down the slope with broken
shoulder-h.ade, white an immense grizzly
walked iiesurely past and into the pine
| forest To this day the old shaniy is
known far and near as AIRS. Woods
CABIN
/ | used ia known very intelligent Nor
/ wegisn in shasta county who had the rare
| faculty OF gathering birds aud small am
nals around HIM at Will Many time l
have seen him persuade The chipmuaks
aud gray squirrels in The Sserras 10 come
| and feed from bis hands. ! asked him
whether he had ever tried 30 control
| grizzly, and he told nse that grizzlies we're
excellent company-he knew. for be had
once ridden swenty miles with ono"
IL WAS the year OF the great floods. ISL.
ard Petersen. my Norwegian besr-tamer,
wss living IN hut on the tharn Greek
Hats IL VAS swept away. and out into the
main Sacramento. about O'Clock IN tho
morning. Just as they got into the open
| river. some large animal which was swim
/ ming caught on and climbed UP on the
1 roof. where Petersen sat As daylight he
/ gan to gseam across the yellow waste OF
sail rising waters. he sAw thai his CON-
/ panicn Was remarkably large grizzly sf
sery peaceful dcuseAnor. Who sat On the
rsdgepoie and balanced himself like an